Finding Aid for the Orville Harry Brown Papers 1886-1940

Processed by Pat L. Walter.

Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library History and Special Collections Division

History and Special Collections Division

UCLA

12-077 Center for Health Sciences

Box 951798

Los Angeles, CA 90095-1798

Phone: 310/825-6940

Fax: 310/825-0465

Email: biomed-ref@library.ucla.edu

URL: http://www.library.ucla.edu/libraries/biomed/his/

Descriptive Summary

Title: Orville Harry Brown Papers,

Date (inclusive): 1886-1940

Collection number: 188

Creator: Brown, Orville Harry 1875-1943

Extent: 0.5 linear ft. (1 document box)

Repository: University of California, Los Angeles. Library. Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library History and Special Collections Division

Los Angeles, California 90095-1490

Abstract: Orville Harry Brown was born in Kansas July 18, 1875 and died in So. California on July 25, 1943. In 1905 he received both a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago and an M.D. from St. Louis University. At various times Dr. Brown taught at the university level, served as Physician-in-Chief and then Superintendent of the Missouri State Sanatorium for the Treatment of Pulmonary Tuberculosis, and as Arizona State Superintendent of Public Health and Secretary of the State Board of Health. He was the editor of "Southwestern Medicine" for many years, and authored two books. These papers deal exclusively with Dr. Brown's professional life, consisting mainly of reprints and a few formal reports. They also contain many (crumbling) newspaper clippings on the Spanish American War, President McKinley, and considerable material on the Committee of One Hundred for National Health (an offshoot of the American Association for the Advancement of Science) and the Committee's supporting group, the American Health League.

Physical location: History and Special Collections Division, Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library, University of California, Los Angeles

Language of Material: Collection materials in English

Access

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

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Orville Harry Brown Papers, 188, Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library History and Special Collections Division, University of California, Los Angeles.

Acquisition Information

Gift of the Los Angeles Country Medical Association (LACMA) to the UCLA Biomedical Library.

Biography

Orville Harry Brown was born in Sabetha, Kansas, on July 18, 1875 and died in Arcadia, California on July 25, 1943. He attended Ottawa (KS) University, received an AB degree from the University of Kansas in 1901, and in 1905 a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago and the M.D. degree from St. Louis University. He did graduate work at the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole during two summers, and post-graduate studies in Vienna and London during 1906.

At various times Dr. Brown taught physiology, pharmacology, and medicine at the University of Kansas, the University of Chicago, and St. Louis University. From 1907 to 1909 Dr. Brown served as Physician-in-Chief and then Superintendent of the Missouri State Sanatorium for the Treatment of Pulmonary Tuberculosis, Mount Vernon, MO. In 1918 he was State Superintendent of Public Health in Arizona, and Secretary of its State Board of Health. For many years Dr. Brown was the editor of "Southwestern Medicine". In addition to numerous articles he wrote two books, "Laboratory Physiology" (1905), and "Asthma" (1916).

Dr. Brown was a Fellow of the American Medical Association, the American College of Physicians, and the Royal Society of Medicine, London, and he held memberships in the American College of Chest Physicians and the American Association of Biological Chemists. He was certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine. He was married, and had one daughter.

Scope and Content

The papers deal exclusively with Dr. Brown's professional life, but cover that in only very partial fashion. There are reprints of articles and a very few of the administrative reports he submitted to Missouri and Arizona institutions. There is nothing about his academic life nor, apart from published case reports, about his activities as a clinical physician. There is no correspondence or other documentation of his interactions with colleagues.

The mass of newspaper clippings reveal Dr. Brown's interest in the Spanish American War, especially focused on the policies of President McKinley. There is also considerable material dealing with the Committee of One Hundred for National Health, an offshoot of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Committee's supporting group, the American Health League. It is not clear what relationship Dr. Brown held with these groups, but he was possibly a member of the American Health League and was interested in its goals.

The collection is organized into the following series:

Series 1. Writings by OHB, 1904-1940. 3 folders
Series 2. Miscellaneous Materials, 1886-1908. 16 folders

Indexing Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.

Subjects

American Association for the Advancement of Science. Committee of One Hundred on National Health

American Health League

Brown, Orville Harry, 1875-1943

Physicians--United States--Archival resources.

Container List

Series 1. Writings by OHB 1904-1940

Physical Description: 3 folders

Scope and Content Note

journal reprints and cut pages, reports, pamphlets

Box 1, Folder 1

Journal reprints and cut pages. 1904-1907

Scope and Content Note

18 items from "American Journal of Physiology", "Journal of the American Medical Association", and other physiological and clinical titles

Box 1, Folder 2

Journal reprints and cut pages. 1908-1940

Scope and Content Note

47 items from various clinical titles, especially, in the later years, from "Southwestern Medicine"

Box 1, Folder 3

Pamphlets. 1909-1918

Scope and Content Note

1) "Missouri State Sanatorium: Some information for persons desiring admission to the Missouri State Sanatorium for the treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis, by Dr. O.H. Brown, Physician-in-Chief. Mount Vernon, Missouri"; 2) "The Missouri State Sanatorium (first biennial report). Mount Vernon, MO, Jan. 1909"; 3) Bulletin of the Arizona State Board of Health", 6(8), Oct. 1918; 4) "Some facts about the climate of Phoenix and the Salt River Valley of Arizona; a collection of papers ... read before the Maricopa County Medical Society...."

Series 2. Miscellaneous Materials 1886-1908

Physical Description: 16 folders

Scope and Content Note

This series contains materials by and about the Committee of One Hundred on National Health and the American Health League, newspaper clippings from the 1880s and 1890, and various other clippings and reprints.

Box 1, Folder 4

Journal reprint. 1906

Scope and Content Note

"The economic advisability of inaugurating a national organization of health," by J. Pease Norton, "Journal of the American Medical Association", Sep. 29, 1906; read before the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Ithaca, N.Y., June 30, 1906

Box 1, Folder 5

Publications of the Committee of One Hundred on National Health, organized under the auspices of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and The American Health League 1907-1908

Scope and Content Note

publication nos. 10-16, 18-20, and five other pamphlets

Note

for publication no. 16, see [Box 1 : 6]

Box 1, Folder 6

"To the grewsome [sic] record of convictions set forth in this pamphlet your attention is respectfully invited".

Note

published by the Public Health Defense League, N.Y.

Box 1, Folder 7

Pages and articles from "The Literary Digest". 1891-1900

Scope and Content Note

subjects covered: human physiology, exercise, sleep; science and invention; eminent men; miscellany

Box 1, Folder 8

Articles about Charles Dickens.

Scope and Content Note

1) "The homes and haunts of Dickens," by Anna Leach, in "Munsey's Magazine", pp. 240-250, no date or volume no.; 2) two pages (13-14) of "In the footsteps of Dickens," no identification

Box 1, Folder 9

Pages from medical journals. 1891-1897

Scope and Content Note

1) "Proceedings of Societies" in "New York Medical Journal", Sep. 26, 1891: 353-354; 2) "Six-day bicycle races" in "The Medical News", Dec. 18, 1897: 801-802

Box 1, Folder 10

Pages from Harper's Weekly. 1886-1898

Box 1, Folder 11

Two unidentified columns.

Scope and Content Note

1) "The dog in India," reprinted from "Revue Scientifique", Paris, June 11, 1892; 2) "Is it a crime to be rich?" (no identification)

Box 1, Folder 12

"The cost of war," by George B. Waldron.

Scope and Content Note

p. 169-171, no other identification

Box 1, Folder 13

Newspaper clippings. 1880s

Scope and Content Note

from: "New York Herald" and its "Sunday Supplement", "Brooklyn Sunday Press", and "New York World"

Box 1, Folder 14

Newspaper clippings. 1890s

Scope and Content Note

from: "The Morning Press", Santa Barbara, Calif.; "New York Herald" and its "Sunday Supplement"; "Harper's Weekly"; "The Daily Telegraph", [London]; "The Argonaut", San Francisco

Box 1, Folder 15

Newspaper clippings. 1900s

Scope and Content Note

from Pueblo [Colorado?]

Box 1, Folder 16

Miscellaneous newspaper clippings.

Box 1, Folder 17

"Some old visiting-cards".

Scope and Content Note

from: "The Strand Magazine", p. 401-406 (no date or volume)

Box 1, Folder 18

Poem, "Morituri salutamus," by Henry W. Longfellow.

Scope and Content Note

from: "Harper's Magazine", p. 442-[446], no date or volume

Note

poem for the fiftieth anniversary of the Class of 1825 of Bowdoin College

Box 1, Folder 19

Poem, "Grey kitty's fortune," by L. W. K.

Scope and Content Note

no other identification; handwritten copy

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