George S. Crampton papers
Scope and Contents
This small collection of biographical information, correspondence,
photographs, maps, and awards, 1894-1988, highlights notable
events in the career of George Sumner Crampton.
Series 1 contains biographical information, primarily printed,
1894-1988, concerning George S. Crampton, his work, and his
wife's family, the Smedes family.
A miscellaneous collection of Crampton's correspondence, 1903-1959,
is in Series 2. Most of these letters are personal, though
many contain some professional information. There are several
letters documenting Crampton's professional appointments and
his development of the electric ophthalmoscope.
The bulk of the collection, Series 3, 1911-1919, contains details
of Crampton's military service during World War I. Most of
his movements, from his commission to his discharge, are documented
through military orders and memoranda. The series also contains
a detailed statistical report of casualties treated in the hospitals
of the American Expeditionary Forces during the final months
of the war; Crampton's own design for a latrine fly trap; and
twenty maps of France, including a detail of the order of battle
as situated at the conclusion of the war on 11 November 1918.
Some photographs of Crampton during World War I are contained
in Series 5.
Series 4 contains correspondence, newsclippings, and related material
concerning Crampton's awards and professional affiliations,
1897-1958. The receipt of two awards, the Gold Medal Award
of the Illuminating Engineering Society and the Edward Longstreth
Medal of the Franklin Institute, is particularly well documented.
The file on the Longstreth Medal contains a detailed report
to the Committee on Science and the Arts concerning Crampton's
development of the borescope.
Photographs of George S. Crampton, 1894-1958, including studio
portraits, some photographs from his army service in France,
and images of Crampton with the borescope, are contained in
Series 5. The series also contains two lantern slides, 1925,
showing architectural details from the restoration of the operating
theater at Pennsylvania Hospital.
Dates
- Creation: 1894 - 1959
Creator
- Crampton, George S. (George Sumner) (Person)
Biographical / Historical
George Sumner Crampton, Philadelphia ophthalmologist, was born
in Rock Island, Illinois, on 10 March 1874. He married Hazel
Smedes in 1907. Crampton died of cerebral thrombosis on 12
November 1962.
Crampton received his M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania
in 1898. He served a residency at Pennsylvania Hospital. During
World War I, Crampton was Director of Field Hospitals in the
28th Division of the U.S. Army.
He was chief of the eye clinic at Pennsylvania Hospital, oculist
to the Philadelphia Orphanage, attending surgeon to the Pennsylvania
Hospital for Contagious Diseases, and professor of ophthalmology
at the Graduate School of Medicine in the University of Pennsylvania.
Crampton was also the founder and owner of the Lenox Instrument
Company and known for his development of the borescope, an instrument
for the internal inspection of industrial parts, and an electric
ophthalmoscope.
George Sumner Crampton was a member of the American Medical Association,
American Ophthalmological Association, American Academy of Ophthalmology,
the Optical Society of America, and the Illuminating Engineering
Society. He was elected to fellowship in the College of Physicians
of Philadelphia in 1907.
Full Extent
.75 Linear feet
Language of Materials
English
Custodial History
The George S. Crampton Papers were donated to the Historical Collections
of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia by Mrs. Richard
S. Crampton on 19 March 1991.
The collection was processed and catalogued in 1991.
- Title
- George S. Crampton 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
