History of Medicine Steering Committee, 2010

This collection consists of the professional and personal records of Ralph S. Crawshaw, M.D. Spanning 1938 to 2014, the records represent the time of his graduation from pre-med studies to his death. The papers and documents showcase Crawshaw’s philosophical evolution from his early romantic notions of medicine to later when he became disillusioned by what he saw as a heartless focus on technical skills. This collection thus shows the changing nature of medicine and of Crawshaw’s reaction to what he felt was an increasing de-personalization of the profession and his efforts to re-vitalize it along more personal and caring lines.

The records are a mixture of articles, artifacts, certificates, correspondence, diplomas, drafts, manuscripts, and military records. Two historical works from 1515 and 1787 are included. These two items were framed and on display in Crawshaw’s office and highlight his interest in medical history. The “Writings” series covers a wide variety of topics and includes his collected articles, as well as movie reviews he wrote for the medical journal Pharos. Two long-term projects Crashaw worked on, Civic Medicine and Uncommon Commons, works that share similar themes of taking a more humanistic approach to healthcare delivery, are also represented in this series.

Lastly, the three vinyl LPs of recordings of Soviet Doctors include information concerning Soviet medical professionals that Crawshaw received during participation in a physician exchange program in the USSR in the 1970s. The records were produced by the Soviet Academy of Medical Sciences, Moscow. These holdings had previously been kept as a separate collection, but have been added here for the sake of provenance and context. A program from the Ninth International Association of Gerontology conference in Kiev, dated 1972, is also included.