Thomas Grier Miller papers

Collection

Identifier: MSS 2/148

Scope and Contents

This collection contains biographical and genealogical information, correspondence with individuals and institutions, addresses, writings, photographs, and awards, certificates and diplomas, 1890-1981, documenting T. Grier Miller's life, interests, and career, particularly his gastroenterological research at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

Major correspondents in the collection are: William Bennett Bean, T. H. Boon, W. Russell Brain, Katharine O'Shea Elsom, Abraham Flexner, Franz J. Ingelfinger, Thomas E. Machella, William S. Middleton, George Richards Minot, Walter L.jPalmer, Oliver Hazard Perry Pepper, Isidore S. Ravdin, Otho B. Ross, Nanna Svartz, and William B. Terhune. There is also a file of correspondence concerning Miller's use of ephedrine to control asthma in the 1920s. Institutional correspondence files document Miller's work with the American College of Physicians; College of Physicians of Philadelphia, in particular the development of its Building Fund and a 1934 meeting concerning state sponsored medicine; International Society of Internal Medicine and arrangements for the Fifth International Congress of Internal Medicine, held in Philadelphia in 1958; and the Silver Hill Foundation for the Treatment of Psychoneuroses.

The collection also includes typescripts of several of Miller's addresses, many concerning intestinal intubation or cancer of the colon; a small collection of photographs of Miller's colleagues; and some miscellaneous items, including letters to Frank C. Brown, former husband of Mary Henkel Miller, from Ellen Anderson Gholson Glasgow, John K. Mitchell, and Owen Wister, and Miller's examination of the Shah of Iran, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, in 1949.

Dates

1890 - 1981

Creator

Miller, T. Grier (Thomas Grier) (Person)

Biographical / Historical

Thomas Grier Miller, gastroenterologist, was born in Statesville, N.C., on 18 September 1886. He married Sarah Fenner George in 1915; they later divorced, and Miller married Mary Henkel (d. 1975) in 1951. Miller died at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania on 15 November 1981.

Miller received an A.B. from the University of North Carolina in 1906 and an M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1911. He served an internship at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. In 1926, Miller founded the Gastro Intestinal Section of the Medical Clinic at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and was chief of the section from 1928 to 1952. One of Miller's developments, in conjunction with W. Osler Abbott, was the production of the Miller Abbott tube to treat intestinal obstructions. From 1913 to 1952, he also held posts in the School of Medicine at the University, becoming professor of clinical medicine in 1934.

T. Grier Miller was a member and president of many professional organizations including the American Clinical and Climatological Association, American College of Physicians, American Gastroenterological Association, and the Philadelphia County Medical Society. He received the Julius Friedenwald Medal and the Alfred Stengel Memorial Award. Miller became a fellow of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia in 1921 and during his presidency, 19491951, helped to develop financial support for the College.

Extent

3.5 Linear feet (8 boxes and 1 oversize folder )

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Custodial History

The collection of T. Grier Miller's papers was formally donated to the Historical Collections of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia by T. Grier Miller on 23 April 1977. Some additional material was received in 1982 from the Miller estate.

The collection was processed and catalogued in 1990.