A Guide to the Harper-Hart Correspondence Harper-Hart Correspondence MS-26

A Guide to the Harper-Hart Correspondence

A Collection in
Historical Collections, Claude Moore Health Sciences Library
Accession Number ms-26


[logo]

Claude Moore Health Sciences Library

Historical Collections
Claude Moore Health Sciences Library
University of Virginia Health System
1350 Jefferson Park Avenue
P.O. Box 800722
Charlottesville, Virginia 22908-0722
USA
Phone: (434) 924-0052
Phone: (434) 982-0576
Phone: (434) 924-5444
Email: jre@virginia.edu
URL: http://www.hsl.virginia.edu/historical/

July 15, 2005© 2005 By the Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia. All rights reserved.

Processed by: Historical Collections Staff

Repository
Historical Collections, Claude Moore Health Sciences Library, University of Virginia
Accession number
ms-26
Title
Harper-Hart Correspondence 1956 - 1975
Physical Characteristics
One Hollinger Box of processed materials
Language
English

Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

Collection is open to research.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Harper-Hart Correspondence, Accession #ms-26, Historical Collections, Claude Moore Health Sciences Library, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Va.

Acquisition Information

Mrs.Hart

Biographical/Historical Information

The Harper-Hart Collection is composed of letters between two doctors who shared a belief in the use of the theory of evolution in the treatment of disease. The collection starts with a letter of Dr. Andrew Hart at UVa Hospital to Dr. Richard Harper in England on September 11, 1956. In the letter, Hart expressed his deep interest in Harper's paper,"Allergy and Other Stress-Condition Illness" that had been published in 1953. This letter as a beginning, they started to exchange their ideas as well as books and articles across the Atlantic for twenty years.

Realizing the persistence of the evolutionary origins in all diseases, Dr. Hart and Dr. Harper believed that "evolution" should be used by the physicians as it is backed up by people outside medicine. They thought that the physicians should apply the theory of evolutionary genetics to the established disciplines of the management of disease to find out the cause of disease and cure the patients.

Dr. Andrew Hart and Dr. Richard Harper were influenced by the evolutionist thinkers in this period such as George Crile, Lang Stevenson, George Gaylord Simpson, Theodosius Dobzhansky, Loren Eisley, and Ernst Mayr. Dr. Hart and Dr. Harper have inherited the ideas of these famous thinkers by exchanging their books and articles. With the inspiration from the thinkers as well as the encouragement and advice from Hart, Richard Harper published Evolution and Illness in 1961 and Evolutionary Origins of Disease in 1975. The preface to Harper? book, Evolutionary Origins of Disease well summarizes the belief shared by Hart and Harper: "I express my hope that colleagues, each in his own field, will use the theory of evolution to clarify our all too scanty knowledge of the origins of disease, to the better understanding of why our patients become ill, and to the more speedy relief of human suffering."

In addition to scholarly exchange, the two shared friendship: Dr. and Mrs. Hart visited Dr. Harper in England in 1961, and when Peter Harper, son of Richard Harper was working for the Johns Hopkins Hospital, Dr. Harp took care of him.

Dr. Andrew Hart, whose widow donated the collection, was Professor of Clinical Medicine and Director of the Student Health Service at UVa. He organized and developed the student health department at the University of Virginia in 1938 and served as head until 1973. He is also remembered as a pioneer in studying psychosomatic medicine.

Scope and Content

The collection contains 53 letters exchanged by Dr. Andrew Hart of UVa Hospital and Dr. Richard Harper in Devon, England from 1956 to 1975. In addition to the letters between Dr. Hart and Dr. Harper, the collection includes three journal articles, a letter to the journal editor, preface to Harper's book, Evolutionary Origins of Disease, summary of an unknown book, box list, glossary, and letters between Andrew Hart and Peter Harper, son of Richard Harper.

Arrangement

Files are arranged by chronological order.

Contents List

1. Letter from Andrew Hart to Richard Harper September 11, 1956
2. Letter from Richard Harper to Andrew Hart September 19, 1956
Letter from Richard Harper to Andrew Hart April 5, 1958
Letter from Andrew Hart to Richard Harper January 17, 1959
Letter from Richard Harper to Andrew Hart March 1, 1959
Letter from Andrew Hart to Richard Harper July 17, 1959
Letter from Richard Harper to Andrew Hart July 28, 1961
Letter from Richard Harper to Andrew Hart August 16, 1961
Letter from Richard Harper to Andrew Hart September 22, 1961
Letter from Andrew Hart to Richard Harper November 17, 1961
Letter from Richard Harper to Andrew Hart November 28, 1961
Letter from Richard Harper to Andrew Hart January 17, 1962
Letter from Andrew Hart to Richard Harper February 5, 1962
Letter from Richard Harper to Andrew Hart February 15, 1962
Letter from Richard Harper to Andrew Hart February 21, 1962
Letter from Richard Harper to Andrew Hart March 17, 1962
Letter from Andrew Hart to Richard Harper April 23, 1962
Letter from Richard Harper to Andrew Hart May 18, 1962
Letter from Richard Harper to Andrew Hart July 5, 1962
Letter from Richard Harper to Andrew Hart August 26, 1962
Letter from Richard Harper to Andrew Hart December 10, 1962
Letter from Andrew Hart to Richard Harper December 13, 1962
Letter from Richard Harper to Andrew Hart December 23, 1962
Letter from Richard Harper to Andrew Hart January 23, 1963
Letter from Richard Harper to Andrew Hart March 11, 1963
Letter from Richard Harper to Andrew Hart July 13, 1963
Letter from Richard Harper to Andrew Hart November 23, 1963
Letter from Andrew Hart to Richard Harper January 22, 1964
Letter from Richard Harper to Andrew Hart August 15, 1964
Letter from Andrew Hart to Richard Harper December 6, 1964
Letter from Richard Harper to Andrew Hart February 19, 1965
Letter from Andrew Hart to Richard Harper with a journal article by George Gaylord Simpson, "Organisms and Molecules in Evolution: Studies of Evolution at the Molecular Level Lead to Greater Understanding and a Balancing of Viewpoints," in Science, Vol.146, Number 3651, December 18, 1964. July 13, 1965
Letter from Richard Harper to Andrew Hart October 19, 1965
Letter from Andrew Hart to Richard Harper February 4, 1966
Letter from Richard Harper to Andrew Hart June 7, 1966
Letter from Richard Harper to Andrew Hart June 30, 1967
Letter from Andrew Hart to Richard Harper November 6, 1967
Letter from Andrew Hart to Richard Harper February 10, 1968
Letter from Richard Harper to Andrew Hart December 7, 1968
Letter from Andrew Hart to Richard Harper September 28, 1969
Letter from Richard Harper to Andrew Hart with a layout of a paper by Richard Harper, "An Essay on Evolutionary Paedomorphosis and Disease in Man." November 8, 1969
Letter from Richard Harper to Andrew Hart May 12, 1970
Letter from Andrew Hart to Richard Harper December 6, 1970
Letter from Richard Harper to Andrew Hart December 12, 1970
Letter from Richard Harper to Andrew Hart January 13, 1971
Letter from Andrew Hart to Richard Harper January 30, 1971
Letter from Andrew Hart to Richard Harper March 26, 1971
Letter from Andrew Hart to Richard Harper with a journal article by Ernst Mayr, "The Nature of the Darwinian Revolution," in Science, Vol.176, June 2, 1972 January 30, 1973
Letter from Richard Harper to Andrew Hart February 28, 1973
Letter from Andrew Hart to Richard Harper January 15, 1975
Letter from Andrew Hart to Richard Harper May 17, 1975
Letter from Richard Harper to Andrew Hart May 25, 1975
Letter from Richard Harper to Andrew Hart December 3, 1975
A journal article by W. Proctor Harvey and Samuel A. Levine, "Paroxysmal Ventricular Tachycardia Due to Emotion: Possible Mechanism of Death from Fright," in The Journal of the American Medical Association, October 4, 1952. October 4, 1952
Letters between Dr. Andrew Hart and Peter Harper, from September 29, 1969 to February 5, 1971 September 29, 1969 - February 5, 1971
Letters to the editor, "Primordial Elements in Man," in The American Journal of Psychiatry, 127-7, January, 1971. January, 1971
Preface to Richard Harper's book, Evolutionary Origins of Disease 1975
Summary of an unknown book unknown
Glossary of seven terminologies unknown
Box List: Threats to Home Support unknown