Radium

Abstract

This collection consists of a single volume scrapbook of clippings from newspapers, medical journals, and other publications, all on the topic of cancer. Many clippings relate to the use of radium and its efficacy in the treatment of cancer. Other topics include diet, various treatments and reported cures, tests, and discoveries surrounding the disease. Clippings date primarily from 1913-1914, with one clipping from 1911. A typed index is included at the beginning of the volume.

Abstract Edward Bell Krumbhaar (1882-1966) was a distinguished pathologist and cardiac physician, as well as one of Philadelphia’s leading historians of medicine. A founder of both the Section on Medical History of the College of Physicians and the American Association of the History of Medicine (AAHM), Krumbhaar also served as president of the College and of the AAHM. The E.B. Krumbhaar papers covers Krumbhaar’s accomplishments and contributions to pathology and cardiac physiology from the early to...

Abstract Frank Janczak Hartman (1893-1986) was a radium specialist and consultant who also worked as a “radium hound,” searching for pieces lost by area hospitals and industry until his retirement in 1956. The Frank J. Hartman papers provide an insightful view into the changes atomic energy brought to society. Hartman, who owned two companies dealing with radium, clearly saw the product’s value, but he also recognized the potential dangers and the damage that could result from the improper usage,...

Scope and Contents

The scrapbook in this collection contains correspondence, notes, certificates, clippings, and images related to early sales, experiments, and therapeutic uses of radium. Also included in the collection are folders of supplemental material, likely removed from the scrapbook. These materials include more correspondence, certificates of sale, case notes, printed material, and Robert Abbe’s autopsy report.