Richards, Ralph Taylor, 1880-1954.

Ralph Taylor Richards (1880-1954) was the grandson of Willard Richards, a prominent member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS). Ralph was born to Dr. Joseph S. and Louise Taylor Richards, in Salt Lake City, Utah, on 25 September 1880. He was brought up in a medical family, as his grandfather had completed the Thompson medical course and his father studied at Bellevue Hospital Medical College. Richards was exposed to medical practice and problems early as he often accompanied his father on calls and his mother acted as his father's surgical nurse. By the age of twelve he was assisting his father with the bookkeeping. Before completing high school he had made the decision to follow his father in the profession.

In 1889, at the age of nineteen, Richards began his training at Bellevue Hospital Medical College, in New York City. During summer breaks from school, Richards returned to Salt Lake City to assist his father, including duties such as washing down the operating theatres. Richards completed his program in 1903, and stayed on to begin his practice there. On 14 November 1904, while still at Bellevue, Richards was selected for membership on the staff of the new Latter-day Saints hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah. That year Joseph S. Richards joined his son in New York so that two men could select the scientific equipment for the laboratories and operating theatres and arrange shipment to the hospital. Latter-day Saints Hospital opened in 1905, and Richards began his practice there.

During the years between the beginning of his practice and the death of his father in 1914, Richards spent at least five years doing graduate study. He spent some time studying at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. He also kept up with growing knowledge in the medical field by reading current journals and attending conferences. In July 1909 he participated at the meetings of the British Medical Association in Belfast, Ireland.

A partnership among doctors Joseph E. Tyree, A. Ray Irvine, A. J. Ridges, G. Gill Richards, and Ralph Taylor Richards, established the Salt Lake Clinic in 1915. Richards continued to operate at LDS Hospital but conducted his private practice from the clinic. With his practice well established, Richards married Rhada Gibbs on 3 July 1916, in Salt Lake City. They had three children, Rhada Jane, Ralph G., and Barbara.

The increasing technicality and expanding knowledge in medicine led to the establishment of various medical boards to grant approval to doctors in specialized fields. Richards was one of the first diplomats of the American Board of Surgery. In 1935 he was named to the Board of Governors of the American College of Surgeons. During his fifty-one year of medical practice, Richard held important positions in his field. For a number of years, he was chief of surgical services at LDS Hospital. He was also a clinical professor emeritis at the University of Utah College of Medicine where he helped organize and develop their four year program. He was also involved in committee work for the Utah State and Salt Lake County Medical Associations.

During the 1940s Richards established his household in California where his children were attending school. While in Utah he lived at the University Club where he was a member. It was in 1941 that he began research for his book on medicine in Utah. He surveyed admission records from Saint Mark's, Holy Cross, and LDS Hospitals, as well as the records of Salt Lake City Cemetery, Mt. Olivet Cemetery, and the Salt Lake City Board of Health. The result of his efforts was published in 1953 as Of Medicine, Hospitals, and Doctors . Richards died at the age of seventy-three, in his Salt Lake City office on 13 June 1954.

From the guide to the Ralph Taylor Richards papers, 1848-1953, (J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah)