Series IV. Philip Showalter Hench

Containers:
Box 34-55
Extent:
21 boxes
Scope and content:

Series IV. Philip Showalter Hench primarily consists of materials that Hench created or collected while researching the U.S. Army Yellow Fever Commission. Items in this series date from around 1850 to around 1865 with the bulk of the items dating from 1937 to 1960. Researchers who are studying the yellow fever experiments will be particularly interested in the materials (e.g. interviews, autobiographies) that document first-hand accounts of the events surrounding the experiments. Other researchers may be interested in items that document Hench's role in shaping public memory of the commission and its experiments. The materials in this series include, but are not limited to the following:

  1. Hench's correspondence and interviews with participants in the yellow fever experiments and their families including: Emilie Lawrence Reed, Emilie M. (Blossom) Reed, Walter Lawrence Reed, John J. Moran, Albert E. Truby, Jefferson Randolph Kean, John H. Andrus, and John R. Kissinger;
  2. autobiographical accounts of the experiment's participants and their families;
  3. notes, reports, correspondence and other materials relating to Hench's search for the original site of Camp Lazear in Cuba;
  4. correspondence with Cuban government officials and members of the scientific community relating to Hench's campaign to build a Camp Lazear memorial;
  5. correspondence and other materials relating to ceremonies honoring Jesse W. Lazear at Washington and Jefferson College;
  6. newspaper articles, magazine articles, and other printed matter concerning the yellow fever experiments and its participants;
  7. drafts of speeches and presentations Hench gave on the history of the yellow fever experiments to various audiences;
  8. meeting minutes and other materials that document Hench's relationship with and participation in the Walter Reed Memorial Association;
  9. scripts for radio programs relating to the yellow fever experiments;
  10. notes, outlines, lists, correspondence, and other materials that document Hench's research about the yellow fever experiments and a book he had planned to write on the subject;
  11. and the gold medal that Congress posthumously awarded to Walter Reed for his work with yellow fever.

Materials housed in boxes 34-49 are generally arranged in chronological order by their date of creation. Materials housed in the remaining boxes of this series do not appear to have been arranged in a systematic fashion.

Access and use

Location of collection:
University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept.
Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library
University of Virginia
P.O. Box 400110
160 McCormick Rd
Charlottesville, Virginia 22904-4110
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Brenda Gunn
Phone: (434) 924-1037
Phone: (434) 243-1776
Fax: (434) 924-4968
Parent restrictions:
There are no restrictions on user access to any of the materials in the collection except where noted in the container list.
Parent terms of access:
Copyright restrictions may apply for some materials in the collection.

Contents