A. E. Bennett, Papers
Title: A. E. Bennett, Papers
Creator:
Bennett, Abram Elting, 1898-
Dates: 1926-1978
Quantity: 5 boxes (2.5 linear feet)
Collection Number: RG 20-11-01
Language: English
Restrictions: None
Copyright: To inquire about usage, please contact Archives & Special Collections, University of Nebraska–Lincoln Libraries. For more
information see the Use Guidelines
Preferred Citation: A. E. Bennett, Papers (RG 20-11-01). Archives & Special Collections, University of Nebraska–Lincoln Libraries.
Biography:
A.E. Bennett was born on 12 January 1898 in Alliance, Nebraska. He graduated from the University of Nebraska with a bachelor's
of science degree in 1919, and from the former University of Nebraska College of Medicine in 1921. He interned from 1920-1921
at the University of Nebraska Hospital, and from 1922-1923 at the Philadelphia General Hospital, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
His residency was at the Philadelphia Orthopedic Hospital and Nervous Infirmary and at Johns Hopkins' Phipps Psychiatric Clinic
in Baltimore, Maryland.
Bennett practiced medicine at Clarkson Memorial Hospital in Omaha, Nebraska from 1924-1948, specializing in neurology and
psychiatry. He was also on the University of Nebraska College of Medicine faculty from 1928-1947. In 1945, he began the A.E.
Bennett Neuropsychiatric Research Foundation. When Clarkson's psychiatry department closed, Bennett moved to Berkeley, California,
working at the Herrick Memorial Hospital and as a professor of psychiatry at the University of California, Berkeley. The tragic
death of Foster Bennett, one of Bennett's three children, inspired the Foster Bennett Memorial Lecture Series.
A.E. Bennett was a member of the American Psychiatrists Association (APA), American Medical Association (AMA), American Neurological
Association, and was an AMA National Board Medical Examiner. He received AMA awards for science exhibits in 1940, 1946, and
1958, and developed medical uses of curare, a tribal poison and curative. Bennett pioneered modern therapy for the mentally
ill and researched effects of alchoholism on the brain.
Scope and Content:
The Bennett papers document roughly the fifty years of Bennett's academic career and his research and publications related
to his interests in neuropsychiatry, alcoholism and it's effects on the brain, and the use of curare as medicine. Documents
include correspondence, exhibit photographs, articles written by Bennett and materials associated with his professional activities.
Subjects:
Bennett, Abram Elting, 1898-
Alcoholism
Alcohol -- Physiological effect
Brain damage
Curare
Neuropsychiatry -- History
Psychiatry
Psychiatric nursing
Hospitals
Series Description:
Series 1: Professional Research and Correspondence, Box 1
This series includes professional research and correspondence. The overall content relates to Bennett's professional work
on psychiatry and neurology, with supplemental personal correspondence to and from his colleagues. The correspondence is arranged
chronologically, though related letters or letters of reply do not follow chronological order.
Series 2: Publications, Exhibits, and Presentations , Box 2-Box 3, F6, Box 4
This series includes a copy of a "Who's Who in the World" application letter, with a detailed sketch of Bennett's life through
1978. Photographs related to Bennett's exhibit entitled "The History and Development of Modern Psychiatric Nursing,"
provide historical pictorial views of psychiatry from the primitive period to modern times. All photographs relating to this
exhibit are housed in Box 4. Selected presentations were captured on reel-to-reel tapes. These tapes are housed in Box 4 of
the collection and listed by title. A biography of Foster Bennett, M.D., written by Bennett, is a poignant two-page illumination
of his son's life and the rationale for the Foster Bennett Memorial Lectures founded in 1969. This is located with the A.E.
Bennett Neuropsychiatric Research Foundation materials in the professional research and correspondence.
Series 3: Personal Materials, Box 3
In addition to practicing medicine, Bennett wrote letters to celebrities who demonstrated opinions discordant with his own.
There are letters to presidents Richard M. Nixon, regarding his proposed deficit spending program, and Jimmy Carter about
his "Marxist administrative policies." Also included is a heated letter to Merv Griffin about a program on the death penalty.
The collection also includes a response letter from Ronald Reagan, which states: "I must confess, it is impossible for me
to recall the circumstances in the signing of that bill." All of these letters are located with the correspondence found within
Bennett's personal materials.
Container List:
Series 1: Professional Research and Correspondence
Box 1.
Folder 1. Research, "Fifty Years in Neurology and Psychiatry," 1926-1975, undated
Box 1.
Folder 2. Research, Charles "Boss" Kettering, 1933, 1943, 1956, 1958, undated
Box 1.
Folder 3. Research, fever therapy, 1935-38, 1940-41, undated
Box 1.
Folder 4. Research, Clarkson Memorial Hospital Psychiatric Department closing, 1936, 1938-39, 1942, 1945-48, 1956-57, undated
Box 1.
Folder 5. Research, curare-metrazol therapy, 1939-1940
Box 1.
Folder 6. Research, curare, 1939-40, 1943, 1945, 1947-48, 1953 , undated (see also photographs in box 4)
Box 1.
Folder 7. Research, muscular dystrophy, 1940-1941
Box 1.
Folder 8. Research, Bennett Neuropsychiatric Research Foundation, 1947, 1953, 1958-59, 1966-67, 1970, 1973-74, 1979, undated
Box 1.
Folder 9. Research, cortisone, 1950, undated
Box 1.
Folder 10. Research, "alcoholism and the brain," 1953, 1956, 1958, 1977 , undated (see also photographs in box 4)
Box 1.
Folder 11. Research, Foundation for Research and Education on Eugenics and Dysgenics (FREED), 1969-74, 1977, undated
Box 1.
Folder 12. Correspondence, meetings, presentations, about 1929-1978
Box 1.
Folder 13. Correspondence, AMA, 1934, 1936, 1938-39
Box 1.
Folder 14. Correspondence, fever therapy conferences, 1935-38, 1940-41, 1943
Box 1.
Folder 15. Correspondence, APA, various, 1940-43, 1963, 1967-68, 1977
Box 1.
Folder 16. Correspondence, papers, APA reorganization, 1948-1949, undated
Box 1.
Folder 17. Correspondence, lists, APA breakfast, 1968, undated
Box 1.
Folder 18. Correspondence, reprint requests, 1927-1959
Series 2: Publications, Exhibits, and Presentations
Box 2.
Folder 1. Publications, reprint requests, 1927-1959
Box 2.
Folder 2. Publications, newspaper articles, 1922-1978
Box 2.
Folder 3. Publications, paper and article responses, 1933-1978
Box 2.
Folder 4. Publications, paper, "fever therapy," 1922-1947, undated
Box 2.
Folder 5. Publications, unpublished papers, 1950-1978
Box 2.
Folder 6. Publications, unpublished papers, undated
Box 2.
Folder 7. Publications, books and article announcements, 1955, 1972, 1977, undated
Box 2.
Folder 8. Publications, preliminary papers, drafts, about 1967-1970, undated
Box 2.
Folder 9. Publications, reprints, 1923-1939, undated
Box 2.
Folder 10. Publications, reprints, 1939-1948, undated
Box 2.
Folder 11. Publications, reprints, 1948-1951
Box 2.
Folder 12. Publications, reprints, 1952-1959
Box 3.
Folder 1. Publications, reprints, 1960-1965
Box 3.
Folder 2. Publications, reprints, 1965-1969, undated
Box 3.
Folder 3. Publications, reprints, 1970-1976, undated
Box 3.
Folder 4. Exhibit, Modern Psychiatric Nursing, 1937-1939 , undated (see also photographs in box 4)
Box 3.
Folder 5. Publications, "Letters to the Editor," 1965, 1967-73, undated
Box 3.
Folder 6. Publications, other writers, 1939, 1943, 1945-47, 1961, 1971, 1973, undated
Series 3: Personal Materials
Box 3.
Folder 7. Correspondence, practice offers, 1920, 1928, 1933, 1938, 1940, undated
Box 3.
Folder 8. Correspondence, Musser, J. H., 1922-1941
Box 3.
Folder 9. Correspondence, Morgan, A.C., 1926-1940
Box 3.
Folder 10. Correspondence, Ziegler, Lloyd, 1930-1945
Box 3.
Folder 11. Correspondence, Simpson, Walter M., 1934-1973
Box 3.
Folder 12. Correspondence, Alvarez, Walter, 1940-1978
Box 3.
Folder 13. Correspondence, personal, 1925-1953
Box 3.
Folder 14. Correspondence, personal, 1961-1977
Box 3.
Folder 15. Correspondence, "important events," 1932, 1934-36, 1943, 1970-74
Box 3.
Folder 16. Correspondence, "important people," 1935-1975
Box 3.
Folder 17. Correspondence, "important people," 1966-1977
Box 3.
Folder 18. Medical newsletters, misc., 1947-1978
Box 4.
Folder 1. Photographs, Ecuador (see related material in Box 1, Folder 6)
Box 4.
Folder 2. Photographs, "alcoholism and the brain" (see related material in Box 1, Folder 10)
Box 4.
Folder 3. Photographs, psychiatry, primitive period (see related material in Box 3, Folder 4)
Box 4.
Folder 4. Photographs, psychiatry, classical period (see related material in Box 3, Folder 4)
Box 4.
Folder 5. Photographs, psychiatry, transitional period (see related material in Box 3, Folder 4)
Box 4.
Folder 6. Photographs, psychiatry, modern period (see related material in Box 3, Folder 4)
Box 4.
Folder 7. Photographs, modern hospital (see related material in Box 3, Folder 4)
Box 5 (BennettAV1). Presentations, reel-to-reel recordings, 1959-1970
Item 1. Recording, Berkeley City Commons Club, "Repressive Sex Laws," 1959, Feb.
Item 2. Recording, Berkeley City Commons Club, "Alcoholism," 1962, Nov. 16
Item 3. Recording, APA, "Alcoholism and the Brain," 1964
Item 4. Recording, Berkeley City Commons Club, 1969, June 15
Item 5. Recording, Berkeley City Commons Club, "Behind the Iron Curtain," 1970, Nov. 8
Related Material and Resources:
Bennett, A.E. and Avis B. Purdy. Psychiatric Nursing Technic. Philadelphia, F. A. Davis Company, 1940.
______________, Eugene A. Hargrove, and Bernice Engle. The Practice of Psychiatry in General Hospitals. Berkeley, University of California Press, 1956.
______________. Fifty Years in Neurology and Psychiatry. New York, Intercontinental Medical Book Corp. [1972]
_______________. Alcoholism and the Brain. New York: Stratton Intercontinental Medical Book Corp., c1977.
Additional material on Bennett's curare research may be found at the Arthur E. Guedel Memorial Anesthesia Center and Archives
in San Francisco, California. This collection includes Bennett's fifteen minute black and white silent film of the Gill Merrill
expedition to Ecuador for curare. It also includes photographs and correspondence from and to Bennett about curare techniques.
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