From the original Osler portrait he had painted and exhibited in 1909, the prominent American portraitist S. Seymour Thomas also painted a replica. Elmer Belt, M.D., instrumental in the founding of the UCLA School of Medicine and its staunch supporter, provided the initiative to raise funds for purchase of this replica and arranged its presentation to the UCLA School of Medicine by Thomas at the August 1951 opening ceremony of the new school. This collection consists of documents about the original portrait, and the acquisition and presentation of the replica hung at UCLA. There is also one folder of Osleriana assembled by Elmer Belt and letters to and from him and Willard Goodwin, M.D., Belt's nephew, who inherited the papers and gave them to the UCLA Biomedical Library.

S. Seymour Thomas was born on Aug. 20, 1868 in San Augustine, Texas and died in Mar. 1956. He studied at the Art Students League (1885-88) and at the Academie Julien, Paris (1888-91); was a pupil of Jules Lefebre and Benjamin Constant; and settled in La Crescenta, CA, near Los Angeles. He won honorary mention (1895) and gold medals (1901 and 1904) at the Paris Salon, and was made a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor, 1905. His memberships included the Paris Society of American Painters, the Los Angeles Art Association, Pasadena Art Society, and the Academy of Western Painters.

0.5 linear feet (1 document box)

Publication Rights

The collection is open for research. Contact the History and Special Collections Division, Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library, UCLA, for information.