Joshua Harlan Carey records
Scope and Contents
The papers of Dr. Joshua Harlan Carey span the years 1934 to 1988, with the bulk of the material covering the years 1950 to 1975.
The papers include correspondence, both personal and professional; papers relating to his personal interests; items concerning his professional life as a pediatric neurologist; financial records, both personal and professional; and a collection of 16 mm. movie film documenting Dr. Elizabeth Crosby's neurological research using monkeys.
There are many gaps in each of the series, probably due to Dr. Carey's many moves, and his lack of proper storage facilities.
Dates
- Creation: 1934-1988
Language of Materials
English
Biographical / Historical
Joshua Harlan Carey was born May 5, 1916, in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, the only child of Joshua Harlan and Margaret (Smith) Carey. He died in that city May 6, 1993. Between these dates he travelled and worked in the midwestern, eastern, and southeastern parts of the United States.
Carey received his primary and secondary education in Coeur d'Alene, graduating from Coeur d'Alene High School in 1934. while there he developed a keen interest in nature and especially in biology. He attended Coeur d'Alene Junior College for two year, then transferred to the University of Idaho where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in 1939; he received his medical degree from the University of Chicago in 1944. Following two years in the Philippines and Korea as a member of the U.S. Army Medical Corp., he returned to Chicago where he served consecutive residencies in ophthalmology, pediatrics, and neurology. In 1951 he went to the University of Michigan where, in addition to serving on the neurology faculty he successfully pursued a Ph.D., receiving his degree in 1956, in neuroanatomy, and began a long association with Dr. Elizabeth Crosby.
From 1956 to 1966 he served on the neurology and pediatric faculty at the University of Buffalo, and also set up a private practice in pediatric neurology in nearby Hamburg, New York.
In order to be closer to a research group in comparative neurology formed by Dr. Crosby he moved to Birmingham, Alabama, in 1966, where he joined the University of Alabama School of Medicine in anatomy, pediatrics, and neurology.
The year 1972 saw another move, this time to New Orleans, where he purchased a home on Bourbon St. in the Vieux Carre district, and befriended a wide variety of people, poets and peasants, bankers and bums. He loved the history and art of New Orleans, both sacred and profane.
As he grew older and his energy waned, he spent more time at his cabin on the shores of Priest Lake in Northern Idaho, finally retiring there about 1988. He died quietly in 1993 in a convalescent home in Coeur d'Alene one day after his 77th birthday.
Earl Hamel and Norman Schnitzlein, colleagues at the University of Alabama wrote in a biography of Dr. Carey which they prepared for Anatomical Record, "Joshua Carey did not leave a mark as a great scholar or as a wealthy entrepreneur. The mark that he left is in the hearts of the people he met. As a pediatric neurologist he treated many children with neurologic deficits and helped both them and their parents deal with conditions that otherwise would have been very frustrating. This behavior led him to personal relationships with many families wherein he became known as 'Uncle Josh.' Though he never married he had many children in many families who remember him as being generous to a fault. The care that he gave his patients will be missed but the absence of the sound of the drummer to which he marched will be a great silence to all who knew Josh."
Extent
7.0 cubic feet
Abstract
Correspondence, both personal and professional; papers relating to Dr. Carey's personal interests such as bird watching; items concerning his professional life as a pediatric neurologist; financial records, both personal and professional; and a collection of 16 mm. movie film documenting Dr. Elizabeth Crosby's neurological research using monkeys.
Arrangement
The material in this Manuscript Group was in no apparent order when received, therefore, a series order was imposed during processing. Some material was loose, other items were in large labeled envelopes or file folders. Dr. Carey's identifications were retained for processing purposes.
The first series contains Joshua Carey's correspondence from 1934 to 1988. It is both personal and professional, and is arranged in one chronological sequence. The personal correspondence is from family and friends, it also has his orders for books and plants. The professional correspondence includes applications for positions, letters to and from colleagues, orders for equipment and supplies and some correspondence concerning patients he was seeing at the request of other doctors.
The second series consists of material relating to Dr. Carey's personal interests, and includes extensive notes on bird watching. Other subjects covered are automobile accidents involving Dr. Carey or his cars, crime reports which also include court transcripts of questions relating to an armed robbery at Dr. Carey's office/home in New Orleans, a journal of his trip to Europe in 1962, information on cities and the homes in which he lived, and his military experiences during the Second World War. He was executor for the estate of artist Mark Martin and these papers include a small amount of Martin's correspondence, his bank statements with paid checks, and samples of his printing.
Professional activities are contained in the third series. Among the items are applications for appointments to hospital medical staffs, memberships in professional organizations, federal controlled substances certificates and state medical licenses, and information on schools for the handicapped and Dr. Carey's work with them. Also included are several books authored by Dr. Elizabeth Crosby which are inscribed to Joshua Carey.
Financial records, both personal and professional, comprise the fourth series. Included are bank statements and paid checks, check registers, loan information, insurance policies, expenses for trips taken, office accounts, and income and property tax forms.
The fifth and final series contains films of Dr. Elizabeth Crosby's neurological experiments on monkeys during the period 1955-1965.
Several types of items were removed from the collection. These include greeting cards without messages, circular letters and announcements of meetings, duplicate articles by Dr. Carey, and articles clipped from magazines--usually the National Geographic.
Also discarded were financial receipts for everyday expenses such as groceries, utilities, supplies, and gas, but receipts for professional/business trips were retained. Paid checks and bank statements were discarded only if the check register covering those checks was available. In all the collection was reduced by seven cubic feet.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The papers of pediatric neurologist Dr. Joshua Harlan Carey were donated to the University of Idaho Library by his sister, Mrs. Frances Russell, in July 1993.
- Title
- Guide to the Joshua Harlan Carey Records 1934-1988
- Author
- Finding aid prepared by Judith Nielsen
- Date
- ©1993
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Finding aid is in English
- Sponsor
- Funding for encoding this finding aid was provided through a grant awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Repository Details
Part of the University of Idaho Library, Special Collections and Archives Repository