MSS 2/0029 Acc.1989-74
ASHMEAD, ALBERT S.
(1850-1911)
Papers,
1869-1910
Box Ser.
1 1 BIOGRAPHICAL AND GENEALOGICAL, 1894-1909
(1 folder) 1894-1909
2 CORRESPONDENCE RECEIVED AND SENT, 1875-1910
2.1 Correspondence received [filed alphabetically], 1875-1910
1. "A" (1 folder) 1896-1907
2. Alvarez, Luis F. (1 folder) 1896-1897
3. "B" (1 folder) 1894-1908
4. Bandelier, A. F. (1 folder) 1907-1910
5. Bigge, Sir Arthur (1 folder) 1896
6. Bingham, John A. (1 folder) 1875;1879
7. Bowie, G. M. (1 folder) 1896;1900
8. Bradsby, H. C. (1 folder) 1898;1906
9. Branson, C. H. (1 folder) 1910
10. Brinton, D.
G. (1 folder) 1891-1898
11. "C" (1 folder) 1894-1907
12. Carrasquilla, Juan de Dios (1 folder) 1896-1908
13. Carrasquilla, Sebastian (1 folder) 1897-1910
14. Conrardy, L. L. (1 folder) 1901-1909
15. Cox, J. H. [includes
photograph] (1 folder) 1896-1903
16. Culin, Stewart (1 folder) 1895
17. "D" (1 folder) 1894-1909
18. "E" (1 folder) 1894;1895
19. Edwards, C. J. (1 folder) 1908-1910
20. Ehlers, Edvard (1 folder) 1894-1897
21. "F" (1 folder) 1897-1910
22. "G" (1 folder) 1894-1909
23. Gepp, G. R. (1 folder) 1907-1910
Box
2 24. Goldschmidt, Jules (4 folders) 1895-1899
25. "H" (1 folder) 1894-1909
26. Haliburton, R. G. (1 folder) 1895-1896
27. Hansen, G. Armauer (1 folder) 1894-1909
28. Havelburg, W. (1 folder) 1896-1901
29. Hawaiian lepers (1 folder) 1903
Box Ser.
2 2.1 30. Hitt, A. W. [includes
photograph] (1 folder) 1896-1897
31. Hutchinson, Jonathan (1 folder) 1896;1908
32. "I" and "J" (1 folder) 1896-1904
33. "K" (1 folder) 1896-1909
34. "L" (1 folder) 1894-1909
35. Lassar, O. (1 folder) 1897-1907
36. "M" (1 folder) 1894-1909
37. McKinney, Luther F. (1 folder) 1894-1895
38. Moore, Clarence B. (1 folder) 1895-1903
39. Morrow, Prince A. (1 folder) 1895-1896
40. Mulhane, L. W. (1 folder) 1897-1904
41. Munro, William (1 folder) 1897-1909
42. "N" (1 folder) 1894-1909
43. "O" and "P" (1 folder) 1895-1907
44. Peypers, H. F. A. (1 folder) 1897-1898
Box
3 45. Polakowsky, H. (1 folder) 1898-1899
46. "Q" (1 folder) 1894;1910
47. "R" (1 folder) 1894-1906
48. "S" (1 folder) 1894-1910
49. Stille, Alfred (1 folder) 1891-1899
50. "T" (1 folder) 1890-1908
51. Tello, Julio C. (2 folders) 1907-1910
52. "U" and "V" (1 folder) 1897-1904
53. "W" (1 folder) 1894-1909
54. "Y" and "Z" (1 folder) 1902-1907
55. Unidentified correspondents (1 folder) 1897;1907
2.2 Correspondence sent [filed alphabetically], 1896-1897
1. General file (1 folder) 1896-1897
2. Ehlers, Edvard (1 folder) 1896
3. Goldschmidt, Jules (1 folder) 1896-1897
3 PHOTOGRAPHS, 1885-1901 (4 items) 1885-1901
1. "Japanese leper nurse" (1 item) [ca.1885?]
2. "Dong Cong the leper" (1 item) 1901
3. "Plantar ulcers on feet of
Gunga" [see Series 2.1] (2 items) [ca.1896?]
Box Ser.
3 4 WRITINGS [filed chronologically], 1880-1909
1. Miscellaneous writings (1 folder) 1880-1909
2. "Pre Columbian leprosy" (1 folder) [ca.1899]
3. "Bumptious and barbarous Japan"
(1 folder) [ca.1909?]
4. "The nuclemic treatment of tuberculosis and
the science of it" (1 folder) [n.d.]
5. "The number of lepers in Japan"
(1 folder) [n.d.]
5 NEWSCLIPPINGS AND PRINTED MATERIALS, 1897-1908
1. Ambidexterity (1 folder) 1903-1905
2. Anthropology (1 folder) 1906
3. Leprosy (1 folder) 1897-1908
4. Miscellaneous printed material (1 folder) 1905
Box
4 6 COLLECTION OF SOME FOREIGN OPINIONS ON PATHOLOGICAL
MATTERS PECULIAR TO JAPAN, 1869-1893
1. Preface (1 folder) 1893
6.1 Leprosy
1. Erwin Baelz, "Contributions to the theory of
leprosy" (1 folder) [ca.1885]
2. Albrecht Wernich, "Occasion, extent
and general contents of the journey,
by way of preface" (1 folder) 1878
3. Albrecht Wernich, "Leprosy" (1 folder) [1878]
4. Albrecht Wernich, "Forms and clinical course
of leprosy" (1 folder) [n.d.]
5. Albrecht Wernich, "Aetiology, extinction and
hygienic treatment of leprosy" (1 folder) [1881?]
6. Albrecht Wernich, "Notes about lepra
anesthetica in Japan" (1 folder) [1876]
7. P. G. Unna, "Histology of the leprous skin"
(1 folder) [1885]
8. P. G. Unna, "Coloration of lepra bacilli"
(1 folder) [1885]
9. Durand Fardell, "Leprosy in China"
(1 folder) [n.d.]
10. Carl Friedel, "Report of Dr. C. Friedel,
Prussian ship doctor, as to lepra in
China, Japan and the Canary islands,
15 Nov. 1860" (1 folder) [n.d.]
Box Ser.
4 6.1 11. Alfred Wolff, "Leprosy reminiscences from
Norway" (1 folder) [1885]
12. E. Baron, "About lepra taurica"
(1 folder) [1885]
13. P. G. Unna, "Cure of a case of lepra tuberosa"
(1 folder) [1885]
6.2 Kakke
1. Heinrich Botha Scheube, "Contributions
to the history of kakke in Kioto"
(1 folder) [n.d.]
2. Tsunatsune Hassimoto, "The beriberi disease"
(1 folder) 1876
3. Thomas Hoffman, "The Japanese kakke"
(1 folder) [n.d.]
4. Charles Remy, "Kakke" (1 folder) [n.d.]
5. Albrecht Wernich, "Sero phthisis perniciosa endemica"
(1 folder) [1875]
6. Erwin Baelz, "Kakke (beriberi)"
(1 folder) [ca.1880?]
7. Albrecht Wernich, "Visit at the beriberi
lazarettos in Batavia, Campong, Macassar,
and Buitenzorg" (1 folder) [1875]
6.3 Miscellaneous subjects
1. M. deQuatrefages, "Observations on a note of
Dr. Maget concerning the Japanese race"
(1 folder) [ca.1889?]
2. Albrecht Wernich, "Japan race and
hereditary characteristics" (1 folder) [1875]
3. Charles Remy, "On the Japanese"
(1 folder) [1883]
4. C. Pfoundes, "The Japanese people, their
origin and the race as it now exists"
(1 folder) [ca.1881]
5. "Bodily structure of the Japanese"
(1 folder) [1878]
6. Heinrich Botha Scheube, "The length
of the intestine in Japanese" (1 folder) [n.d.]
7. Albrecht Wernich, "Japan nutrition"
(1 folder) [n.d.]
8. Albrecht Wernich, "Japan climactic
relations" (1 folder) [n.d.]
9. Alexander I. Woeikoff, "China and Japan"
(1 folder) [1887]
10. Albrecht Wernich, "Glances at the mental
life of the nation" (1 folder) [n.d.]
11. Albrecht Wernich, "Japan adult men
and women" (1 folder) [ca.1876]
Box Ser.
5 6.3 12. Albrecht Wernich, "Japan characteristics
of the different ages" (1 folder) [n.d.]
13. Albrecht Wernich, "Japan constitutional
diseases" (1 folder) [n.d.]
14. Albrecht Wernich, "Japan infectious
diseases appendix: materia medica
and physicians" (1 folder) [n.d.]
15. Charles Remy, "Medical notes about Japan"
(1 folder) [1883]
16. Erwin Baelz, "Infectious diseases of Japan"
(1 folder) [ca.1882?]
17. Thomas Hoffman, "The medical situation
of Japan" (1 folder) [1874]
18. Charles Anglada, "Scarlatina considered as
a new disease" (1 folder) [1869] 19. Albrecht Wernich, "Japan about the life
of foreigners there" (1 folder) [n.d.]
20. Albrecht Wernich, "Japan journeys in
the interior Kobe, Kyoto,
Nagasaki departure" (1 folder) [n.d.]
7 RESEARCH NOTES AND TRANSLATIONS, 1887-1910
1. Miguel Rueda Acosta, "Clinical study of
some cases of nervous leprosy of
tropical countries" (1 folder) [n.d.]
2. Apoplexy (1 folder) [ca.1908?]
3. Berlin Anthropological Society debate on
pre Columbian leprosy (1 folder) [ca.1897]
4. D. G. Brinton, "Anthropological notes"
(1 folder) [1896]
5. Chinese medicine (1 folder) [n.d.]
6. Espada, "Some considerations on leprosy
its curative treatment" (1 folder) [n.d.]
7. Gangrene (1 folder) [n.d.]
8. Alfredo Garces on leprosy (1 folder) [ca.1893?]
9. Goitre (1 folder) [n.d.]
10. Wolff Havelburg, "Estudos sobre a anatomia
pathologica e o diagnostico differencial
da lepra nervosa" (1 folder) [ca.1895?]
11. Japanese medicine (1 folder) [n.d.]
12. "Lepers and cagots" (1 folder) [n.d.]
13. "Lepra" (1 folder) 1893
14. Leprosy (2 folders) [n.d.]
15. "Leprosy in Peru" (1 folder) [ca.1894?]
16. Lima on the diseases of Indians
(1 folder) [n.d.]
17. "Memoria del Virrey del Peru" (1 folder) [ca.1901?]
18. Ernesto Odriozola, "Le maladie de Carrion,
ou la verruga peruvienne" (1 folder) [ca.1898?]
Box Ser.
5 7 19. Vincente Restrepo, "Fue conocida la lepra
en America" (1 folder) [ca.1895?]
20. D. Enrique Robelin, "Es o no contagiosa
la lepra?" (1 folder) [ca.1887?]
21. D. Enrique Robelin, "La lepra es
contagiosa" (1 folder) [ca.1887?]
21. Torquemada, "Monarchia indiana"
(1 folder) [n.d.]
22. L. Wolff on American syphilis (1 folder) [ca.1910?]
8 MISCELLANEOUS, 1874-1875 and n.d.
1. Japanese documents (1 folder) 1874-1875
2. Jesse James memorabilia (1 folder) n.d.
1869-1910 8/15/1989
5 boxes jde
MSS 2/0029 Acc.1989-74
ASHMEAD, ALBERT S.
(1850-1911)
Papers,
1869-1910
Biographical
Albert Sydney Ashmead, Jr., was born in Philadelphia on
4 April 1850. His parents were Albert Sydney Ashmead, amerchant,
and Elizabeth Graham. After receiving his primaryeducation
at the Hastings Academy in West Philadelphia,Ashmead received
his M.D. from the University of Pennsylvaniain 1869. He then
took an auxiliary medical course at theUniversity as well as
a post graduate course at JeffersonMedical College. From 1871
to 1873, Ashmead practicedmedicine in Philadelphia.
In 1873, he was called to Washington to attend Prince
Adzumo,brother of the Emperor of Japan. Ashmead was subsequently appointed
Foreign Medical Director of the Tokyo Fu Hospital in Japan.
He also taught the first class of students at the medical school
of the Tokyo Charity Hospital. Ashmead returned to the United
States in 1876. He then practicedmedicine in Doniphan County,
Kansas, was the first assistant surgeon for the St. Joseph and
Denver City Railroad, and examining surgeon for the U. S. Pension
Bureau. In 1882,Ashmead moved to New York City to practice
medicine.
In New York, Ashmead pursued his primary medical interest the
study of leprosy. He was a motivating force behind the formation
of the first International Leprosy Congress, held in Berlin
in 1897; representatives of twenty two governments were present.
Absolute isolation of all lepers was proposed but defeated during
the course of the conference. Ashmead was a firm believer in
the contagiousness of leprosy and was the author of the Platt
leper bill which came before the U.S.Senate on 22 January 1902.
The bill advocated the appointment of a national commissioner
of leprosy, the foundation of a national leper home, funding
for leprosaria throughout the country, strict isolation of all
lepers in American, and a ban on emigration of lepers into the
country.
Ashmead also pursued research in syphilis, insanity,pellagra,
and Asiatic diseases such as beriberi. He was a keen anthropologist,
particularly interested in the origins of diseases, and, in
the 1890s, became involved in a scholarly dispute with Rudolf
Virchow over leprosy in preColumbian Peru.
He was a member of the University of Pennsylvania medical club,
a corresponding member of the Berlin anthropological society,
and the Medical Society of Japan.
Ashmead married Florence M. Fleming in 1873. They divorced
in1880. They had one son, David Fleming Ashmead. Ashmead
then married Isabella M. Wale in 1883; they had three sons,Graham,
John, and Robert, and three daughters, Jean, Anne,and Allie.
Albert S. Ashmead died in Philadelphia on 20 February
1911 after an intestinal operation.
Scope and contents
The Albert S. Ashmead Papers (1875-1910) are a fine collection
documenting the professional experiences of a well known American
leprologist. The focus of the collection is Ashmead's correspondence
with other leprologist and international figures concerning
the 1897 Berlin lepra conference. The collection also contains
manuscripts of Ashmead's articles, the text for an unpublished
anthology on Japanese medicine, and research notes and translations
of articles concerning leprosy and anthropology.
Series 1, Biographical and Genealogical, contains newsclippings
and a typescript entry with Ashmead's mendations from the National
Cyclopedia of American Biography (1894-1909).
Ashmead's correspondence received (1875-1910) in Series
contains the most historically significant items in the collection.
There is extensive correspondence concerning the 1897 Berlin
Lepra Conference from Edvard Ehlers, Jules Goldschmidt, G. Armauer
Hansen, and Jonathan Hutchinson.
Other highlights include: Luis F. Alvarez, who describes
the use of Carrasquilla's serum to treat leprosy; A. F. Bandelieron
the illnesses of Peruvian Indians; G. M. Bowie's reports of
leprosy cures; C. H. Branson's extensive account of his experiences
as a leper (1910); D. G. Brinton's theories on the history of
leprosy; correspondence from Juan deDiosCarrasquilla and Sebastian
Carrasquilla; C. L. Conrardy's descriptions of his missions
to lepers in Louisiana and china; Francisco Grana's 1907 account
of inoculating llamas for syphilis; R. G. Haliburton on anthropological
matters; a 1903 letter from Charles Hartzell, Acting Governor
of Puerto Rico, concerning a scandal at the leper colony on
Cabras Island; correspondence and a photograph from A. W. Hitt concerning
leprosy in India; Luther F. McKinney on leprosy in Columbia;
an 1895 letter from Clarence B. Moore on
archeological evidence for pre Columbian syphilis;correspondence
from H. Polakowsky concerning the dispute with Rudolf Virchow;
correspondence from Alfred Stille describing his reactions to
Ashmead's published writings; and correspondence from Julio
C. Tello. Many items not written in English have Ashmead's
translations attached.
Series 2 also contains copies of Ashmead's outgoing correspondence
(1896-1897) concerning the 1897 conference. Major correspondents
are Edvard Ehlers and Jules Goldschmidt.
Photographs of lepers (1896 and 1901) and of a Japanese leprosy
nurse (ca. 1885), are contained in Series 3.
A small collection of Ashmead's manuscripts are preserved
in series 4. There is one folder of miscellaneous short pieces,mostly
newspaper submissions (1880-1909), as well as four lengthy manuscripts
on leprosy, tuberculosis, and Japan.
Series 5 contains printed materials and folders of newsclippings
on ambidexterity, anthropology, and leprosy. The leprosy folder
also contains a handbill, dated 22 January 1897, concerning
the proposed conference which was sent to international leprologists
from Ashmead as well as the text of the 1902 Platt leper bill.
In 1893, Ashmead assembled numerous translations of German and
French articles on leprosy, kakke [beriberi], and miscellaneous
Japanese medical and descriptive matters. Many of these articles
were written by Albrecht Wernich, and some were translated by
Ashmead himself. The collection was dedicated to the medical
profession of Japan, as Ashmead maintained that:
These valuable sources of information on subjects deeply
interesting to the Japanese people ought to be made easily accessible
to that large majority of Japanese physicians who speak English
and are not proficient enough in German or French to avail themselves
of some remarkable ideas and experiments published in these
languages.K
This extensive text, entitled "Collection of some foreign
K
opinions on pathological matters peculiar to Japan" does
not appear to have ever been published.
Series 7 consists of Ashmead's research files on several subjects,
principally leprosy. There are several texts and translations
and information on the Berlin anthropological society debate
with Rudolf Virchow.
j
A few documents written in Japanese, including a history
of medicine in Japan (1874) and a report sent to Ashmead on
sickness in the Japanese army in 1874-1875, are contained
in Series 8. This series also includes a newsclipping
concerning Jesse James and some leaves from a wreath
placed on James' tomb. K
Provenance
The Ashmead Papers were presented to the Library of the college
of Physicians by Albert S. Ashmead on 15 February 1910. This
gift also included some four books and fifty six pamphlets which
were integrated with the Library's holdings.In a letter, dated
4 February 1910, to Charles Perry Fisher,Ashmead says:
Altogether the collection represents to me many
years of persistent, hard study and almost unendurable
toil. It is a collection pertaining to the work of
one American physician. When we take into the account of work
done by so many others of us, we can foot up a sum in behalf
of American Medicine that would compare favorably with that
of any other country on the globe.K
The collection was roughly sorted by Lisa Frierman during
the winter of 1974-1975, and a calendar of the correspondence
was produced. The collection was fully processed in August
1989.
1868-1910 5 boxes
8/14/1989
jde
MSS 2/0029 Acc.1989-74
Series 3
ASHMEAD, ALBERT S.
(1850-1911)
Photographs,
1885-1901
1. "A Japanese leper nurse"
full length
albumen mounted
4. 25" x 6. 5"
U. Georg and Company, Chicago
[ca.1885?]
2. "Dong Cong the leper, taken at quarantine"
head and shoulders
black and white mounted
5" x 5"
R. D. Hudson?
1901-10-25
3a. "Plantar ulcers on feet of Gunga"
albumen mounted
4" x 6"
A. W. Hitt, [Mungeli, India]
[ca.1896?]
[see Series 2.1, J. H. Cox]
3b. "Plantar ulcers on feet of Gunga"
albumen unmounted
4" x 5"
A. W. Hitt, [Mungeli, India]
[ca.1896?]
[see Series 2. 1, A. W. Hitt]