Converted to EAD3 : Encoded Archival Description (EAD), Version 3 : Release: 1.1.1 : Release Date: 2019-12-16. Validating against latest version of schema.
Contact information: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/mss.contact
Catalog Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/mm78048058
Collection material in English
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the LC Catalog. They are grouped by name of person or organization, by subject or location, and by occupation and listed alphabetically.
The records of the American Medical Center for Burma, an organization incorporated and based in New York to support Gordon Stifler Seagrave and the Namkham Hospital in Burma, were given to the Library of Congress by the center in 1966-1967 Additional material was given by Weston Seagrave in 1967 and by Esther N. Mertins in 1968.
The records of the American Medical Center for Burma were arranged and described in 1966. The finding aid was revised in 2010.
Items have been transferred from the Manuscript Division to other custodial divisions of the Library. Sound recordings have been transferred to the Motion Picture, Broadcasting, and Recorded Sound Division. Some photographs have been transferred to the Prints and Photographs Division. All transfers are identified in these divisions as part of the America Medical Center for Burma Records.
The status of copyright in the unpublished writings of the American Medical Center for Burma is governed by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U.S.C.).
The records of the American Medical Center for Burma are open to research. Researchers are advised to contact the Manuscript Reading Room prior to visiting. Many collections are stored off-site and advance notice is needed to retrieve these items for research use.
Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Container number, American Medical Center for Burma Records, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
The records of the American Medical Center for Burma span the years 1945-1966, with the bulk of the material falling between 1959-1965. The American Medical Center for Burma, with a main office in New York, was a nonsectarian, nonprofit organization founded in 1946 to support the Namkham Hospital and Midwives and Nurses Training School founded by Gordon Stifler Seagrave, the famed "Burma Surgeon," in Namkhan, Burma, in 1922. The American Medical Center for Burma was reorganized in 1959 to give even greater financial support to Seagrave and the Namkham Hospital. The records of the American Medical Center for Burma consist primarily of correspondence between Seagrave and the staff, officers, and Board of Directors of the organization and are organized into the following series: General Correspondence, Special Correspondence, Financial Contributors' Correspondence, Newspaper Clippings, Printed Matter, Miscellany, Addition, and Oversize. The main body of correspondence is supported by administrative files of the organization, newspaper clippings, printed matter, financial records, and a galley proof of one of Seagrave's books,
The correspondence between the American Medical Center for Burma and Seagrave for the years 1946-1954 was originally held by the W. W. Norton Publishing Company and is the smallest segment of the records. With the reorganization of the American Medical Center for Burma in 1959, the records and files become more detailed and comprehensive. Following the death of Seagrave in 1965, the American Medical Center for Burma dissolved itself as a corporate entity.
Because Seagrave's personal papers were destroyed during World War II, the records of the American Medical Center for Burma became the only readily available source of material concerning Seagrave and his work at the Namkham Hospital. After his death, the Namkham Hospital was nationalized by the Burmese government. Any records at the hospital then became the possession of the Burmese government.
The records are rich in material concerning the last twenty years of Seagrave's life. His activities as a physician, his role in American foreign policy, and his financial difficulties with the hospital, with the procurement of supplies for the hospital, and with the Burmese government, are documented in the collection. His correspondence with the staff, officials, and Board of Directors of the American Medical Center for Burma, and his correspondence with his family and with members of the Burmese government, copies of which are generally included in the American Medical Center for Burma's files, indicate the problems involved in supporting, administering, and directing this charitable institution.
The files of the American Medical Center for Burma are concerned not only with Seagrave directly, but also with the problem of fund-raising and the financial support of the Namkham Hospital. The records contain correspondence, notes, and memoranda exchanged by members of the organization with officials of the Burmese government and members of the hospital staff at Namkham, especially the American doctors and their spouses who were sent to Burma by the American Medical Center for Burma to aid and assist Seagrave.
Of special interest in this collection is correspondence concerning the growth of the American Peace Corps in the 1960s, Thomas A. Dooley, revolutions in some of the semi-autonomous states of Burma against the central government, and the difficulties encountered by foreigners traveling or living in Burma.
In addition to Seagrave other correspondents include Joseph F. Newhall, Ruth Newhall, Barbara Olmanson, Myron Donald Olmanson, Marion Seagrave, and Sterling Seagrave. The collection also contains the correspondence of members of the American Medical Center for Burma such as Rothwell H. Brown, Fanny McConnell Ellison, John Scott Everton, David McKendree Key, Harold L. Oram, R. S. Radvin, Haldor Reinholt, John F. Rich, and Howard P. Wilson.
This collection is arranged in eight series:
Letters to and from Seagrave and the staff, officials, and Board of Directors of the American Medical Center for Burma.
Arranged chronologically.
Administrative correspondence files of the American Medical Center for Burma.
Arranged alphabetically by subject and therein chronologically.
Correspondence and records concerning donations received from the public and replies to the donors.
Arranged chronologically.
Newspaper clippings concerning Seagrave and the Namkham Hospital.
Arranged chronologically.
Magazines, articles, press clippings and releases, pamphlets, and journals concerning Seagrave.
Arranged chronologically.
Memoranda, financial records, maps, and galley proofs.
Arranged alphabetically by type of material.
Administrative files, corporate records, hospital drawings, and miscellaneous material.
Arranged alphabetically by administrative files and corporate records and therein chronologically.
Hospital drawings.
Arranged and described according to the series, containers, and folders from which the items were removed.