Charles H. Frazier papers
Scope and Contents
The Charles H. Frazier Papers are divided into three series:
a general file, 1901-1941; medical manuscripts, papers, and
reprints, 1914-1942; and a medical case file [patient records],
1900-1945.
Series 1 contains biographical and bibliographical data of Charles
H. Frazier; his correspondence; instructional notes and other
documents related to his teaching of medicine; records of the
various activities, medical as well as social, in which he was
engaged; and personal and miscellaneous material.
Though occupying only one cubic foot, this series provides
a comprehensive and historical perspective of Frazier's career both
as an internationally renowned neurosurgical pioneer and as
a distinguished social activist. The collection documents his
commitment to various committees and departments at the School
of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania, particularly
his work during his terms as Dean of the Medical School and
as chairman of the surgical division of the University Hospital,
and the part he played in fund raising for both the University
Fund in general and the construction of an addition to the women's
surgical ward in the early 1930s. In the field of social service,
his activities are documented by material concerned with the Public
Charities Association of Pennsylvania and the Social Service
Department of the University Hospital.
Series 2 consists of medical manuscripts written or compiled by
Frazier, some of his medical theses, and reprints of either
his own works or works done by others in areas of his interest.
The most important item in this section is the manuscript of
Frazier's textbook material on trigeminal neuralgia. The manuscript
exists in several typescript versions, from "rough manuscript"
to "office copy," dating from 1932 to 1934.
Series 3, Frazier's medical case file or patient records, 1900-1945,
comprises 60 out of the total of 62 cubic feet. During the
mid 1920s, Frazier took responsibility as chief surgeon but
left the pre surgery examination and operational practice to
his assistants. Some senior assistants, among them Francis
C. Grant (1891-1967), played an increasingly important role
in the work. The assistants often answered inquiries from patients
on behalf of Frazier during his absence. After Frazier's death
in 1936, some patients who had been registered in his service
became the responsibility of his former assistants. Their case
records, however, remained in Frazier's file. This explains
why this series runs to 1945 instead of ending in 1936.
Another important feature of the file is that it is not constituted
only of patient records in the general sense of the term. Like
ordinary patient records, each case in this file includes a
history of the patient's illness; a description of his family
and social background; results of his pre surgical examinations;
the surgeon's operation notes; pathological reports; and, in
cases where the patient failed to survive the surgery, a death
comment by either Frazier himself or the surgeon who had actually
performed the operation. But unlike ordinary patient records,
this file is not confined to such routine and purely technical aspects.
In addition to records of the patient's illness, medical treatment,
and follow up matter, there exists in many cases correspondence
exchanged either between the patient and Frazier, or between
Frazier and other physicians who had referred the patient to
Frazier or had participated in consultations over the case.
Correspondence in this category often exceeds the scope of
medical consultation and extends into matters of social, humanitarian,
ethical, or economic concerns. Such concerns on the part of
Frazier provide valuable insight into his character and personality.
The medical case file is arranged in volumes numbered to 103.
The actual total of volumes is, however, between 20 and 30,
there being a gap between volumes 20 and 99 while the volumes
from 99 to 100 exist chiefly in listings of patients. Each
volume is sub divided into several sections; each section is
sub coded with additional Roman numerals or English capital
letters.
The ordering of the 20-odd volumes seems arbitrary and accidental.
The present order was finally set by Frazier himself in 1934.
Each volume was to concentrate on one particular disease or
a group of similar or inter related diseases. The demarcation
between volumes, however, is not absolute. In some cases overlapping
is unavoidable. In general, however, the whole file consists
of seven major groups: pituitary and other miscellaneous brain
and nerve disorders; brain tumors; epilepsy; neuralgia (facial, trigeminal,
peripheral, etc.); head wounds and injuries (concussions and
contusions caused in accidents, gunshot wounds); spinal cord
diseases; and thyroid diseases (goitre, etc.) . Some material,
unbound and unclassified, consists of cases which had been either
misplaced or only tentatively sorted or cases which were established
in 1935 and 1936, after Frazier had set the order for the records
established up to 1934. Material in these two groups has been
attached to the end of the file under the sub heading "Unbound
and Unclassified Records".
Series 3.1 contains six volumes of medical case files, spanning
1913 to 1933, which were added to the Charles H. Frazier Papers
in 1991. Like the volumes contained in Series 3, the volumes
in Series 3.1 are arranged in numerical order; each volume contains
cases pertaining to a certain disease and method of treatment.
The diseases represented in Series 3.1 include atypical neuralgia
(Volume 10 1/2), trigeminal neuralgia treated by alcoholic injection (Volume
11-B), and trigeminal neuralgia treated by a major operation
(Volume 12-F).
Volume 1, II A and Volume 1, III contain medical case files that
were reclassified in 1931. Volume 1, II A contains cases diagnosed
as pituitary tumors that were later reclassified as primary
pituitary, unverified at operation. Volume 1, III contains
files that were reclassified as primary pituitary, adenocarcinoma.
The medical case files contained in Series 3.1 contain the same
information as the files in Series 3, including correspondence
between Frazier and his patients, or between Frazier and other
physicians. Also present in some of the files are photographs
of patients taken immediately after surgery or treatment; these
photographs reveal the practice of drawing lines on the patient's
face to signify anesthetized areas.
Most of the medical case files in Volumes 11-B and 12-F contain
responses to a 1923 survey sent to Frazier's former patients.
The surveys provide information about the recurrence or non recurrence
of the patient's condition, treatment received from other physicians,
and the general health of the patient. These surveys provide
useful information about the long term effectiveness of Frazier's treatments.
Dates
- Creation: 1900 - 1945
Creator
Conditions Governing Access
The medical case files which comprise Series 3 may be restricted because they contain PHI (protected health information). While the Library is not a covered entity under Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) and therefore not subject to its regulations, the Library's policy reflects the principles of HIPAA’s Privacy Rule.
Under certain conditions, the Library may authorize access to archival and manuscript materials that contain health information of individuals. Access will be granted to qualified persons doing historical and other research, using statistical or quantitative methods, or methods ensuring that no individual shall be able to be identified from the results of the research.
For more information, please see the full policy regarding PHI at https://collegeofphysicians.org/library/policies.
If you wish to access these materials, please contact the Librarian or Archivist of the College.
Biographical / Historical
Charles Harrison Frazier, one of the pioneers of American neurosurgery,
was born in Philadelphia on 19 April 1870. He received his
A.B. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1889 and graduated
from the School of Medicine of the University in 1892. From
1892 to 1894, he served internships at the University Hospital
and Protestant Episcopal Hospital under J. William White and
John Ashhurst, Jr. To pursue his interest in surgery and surgical pathology,
he went to Germany in 1895 and studied under Rudolph Virchow
and Gustav von Bergmann. On his return in 1896, Frazier was
appointed to the surgical staff of the University of Pennsylvania
and to the teaching staff of the medical school.
In 1901, Frazier was elected Professor of Clinical Surgery and
Dean of the School of Medicine of the University. During his
term of office, 1901-1910, he modernized the faculty's teaching
methods in light of his experiences in Germany. In addition
to his duties as Dean, he had an active surgical practice and
established the University of Pennsylvania Medical Magazine.
Through his association with Philadelphia neurologists, S. Weir
Mitchell, C. K. Mills, and, especially, his classmate in the
medical school, William G. Spiller, Frazier developed a keen
interest in neurological surgery. In 1910, he succeeded in
cutting the sensory root of the trigeminal nerve for the relief
of pain in tic douloureux. His pioneering work led to the modern
operative treatment of major trigeminal neuralgia. His neurosurgical
interests ranged over such major areas as pituitary lesions
and brain tumors.
During World War I, Frazier served as Consultant in Neurosurgery
to the Surgeon General of the U. S. Army. He was in charge
of the neurosurgical service at the Base Hospitals at Cape May,
New Jersey, and at Fox Hills, Staten Island, New York. He represented
the Surgeon General at the Inter Allied Surgical Conference
in Paris in 1920, and presented a paper on the results of the
treatment of injuries to the peripheral nerves.f
In 1922, Frazier was appointed John Rhea Barton Professor
of Surgery in the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.
Under his chairmanship, the department established fellowships
for the teaching of young men and laid stress on the coordination
between clinical and research activities.
Outside of the field of medicine, Frazier was also very active
in social concerns. In 1910, he helped to establish the Social
Service Department in the University Hospital. In 1914, he
organized and was the first president of the Public Charities
Association of Pennsylvania. The Association focused on the
welfare of the handicapped, feeble minded, insane, and penal
classes.
Frazier was a voluminous writer. His works included 200 contributions
to medical literature, two monographs, and a textbook, Surgery
of the spinal cord (1918). In addition to his landmark
work on the surgery of the trigeminal nerve, Frazier's outstanding
contribution to medicine was his work on the section of the
anterolateral columns of the spinal cord [cordotomy] for relief
of pain. His work on surgery of the pituitary gland and suture
of the recurrent laryngeal nerve was also widely recognized.
Charles H. Frazier became a Fellow of the College of Physicians
of Philadelphia in 1897. He was also a founder and president
(1925-27) of the Society of Clinical Surgeons; a founder and
president (1922-1923) of the Society of Neurological Surgeons;
president (1928-29) of the American Neurological Association;
a fellow of the American College of Surgery; a member of the
American Society for the Study of Goitre; an honorary member
of the Deutsche Akadamie der Naturforscher; and an honorary
member of the British NeuroSurgical Society. He received the
honorary degree of Doctor of Science from Hobart College and
from the University of Pennsylvania (1925). In 1934, he was
elected a trustee of the University of Pennsylvania.
Frazier married Mary Spring Gardiner (d.1920) in 1901.
He died at his summer house in Maine, on 26 July 1936. Despite constant
pain, Frazier remained active during the last months of his
life. At the time of his death, he was survived by four children,
Mary H. Meade, Charles Harrison, William Doane, and Nalbro.
Full Extent
64 boxes
Language of Materials
English
Arrangement
The collection was processed by Kaiyi Chen in 1989. Processing was funded by a grant from the Groff Family Memorial Trust. The bulk of the papers were housed in loose leaf binders. The binders, being in poor physical condition, were disbound and discarded during processing. Material of the first two series has been sorted and divided according to subject matter. Folders in these two series have retained theirforiginal titles and headings and are arranged alphabetically.
In the patient record file, each volume represents a particular disease or group of diseases. In many cases, a volume comprising hundreds of cases of a major disease had been physically divided into several binders. Since the binders have been disbound, the individual patient records have been placed in separate folders. As each binder contained a list of all its cases, each list has been kept in a separate folder preceding the relevant folders of cases. Each folder is then marked with the number and title of the original volume as well as the number of the case in the order within the volume.
The files in Subseries 3.1 (boxes 63 and 64) were originally housed in loose leaf binders. The binders were disbound, and individual patient records were placed in separate folders. The volume distinctions have been maintained in the finding aid. An index of patient names, which Frazier kept at the front of each volume, is housed in a separate folder proceeding the case files from that volume. Subseries 3.1 consists of approximately one half cubic foot of material.
Subseries 3.1 was processed in 1992.
Custodial History
The Charles H. Frazier papers were donated to the Historical Collections of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia by
the Department of Neurosurgery of the University of Pennsylvania
in 1989.
The medical case files contained in Subseries 3.1 (boxes 63 and 64) of the Charles H. Frazier papers were donated to the Historical Collections of the Library of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia by the Department of Neurology of the University of Pennsylvania
on 2 October 1991.
Subject
- Public Charities Association of Pennsylvania (Organization)
- University of Pennsylvania. School of Medicine (Organization)
- University of Pennsylvania. Hospital (Organization)
- Title
- Charles H. Frazier papers
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the Historical Medical Library of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia Repository
19 S. 22nd Street
Philadelphia PA 19103 United States
