George Washington Crile (1864-1943) was an internationally-known surgeon and co-founder of the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio. He was also a respected medical scientist whose research and writings included surgical shock, glandular function, blood pressure and transfusion, shell shock, and the effects of wartime surgery. He served in the Army Medical Corps during the Spanish American War. During World War I, he was surgical director at the American Ambulance Hospital in Neuilly, France. In 1917, he organized and trained medical personnel from Lakeside Hospital, Cleveland, Ohio, who then served at United States Army Base Hospital No. 4 in Rouen, France. In 1921, he co-founded the Cleveland Clinic, serving as president (1921-1940) and as a trustee (1921-1936). In 1913, Crile helped found the American College of Surgeons, and was a member and officer not only of that organization, but also of the American Medical Association, American Surgical Association, Royal Academy of Surgeons, and the Royal Academy of Medicine. The collection consists of diaries, correspondence, papers, articles, speeches, notes and memoranda, medical records, account books, invoices and receipts, photographs and postcards, scrapbooks, pamphlets, programs and other memorabilia, passports, blueprints, and newspaper clippings. Includes material on modern medical science, Crile's service during World War I with the United States Army Hospital Base No. 4 (Lakeside Unit) in France, the antivivisection controversy, scientific expeditions to regions of North and Central America and Africa, the founding of the Cleveland Clinic in 1921 and the devastating fire there in 1929, and the genealogy of the Crile family. Also included are notes and other material used in the writing of George Crile: An Autobiography, prepared and edited by Grace Crile and published in 1947. Correspondents include Newton D. Baker, Myron T. Herrick, Charles F. Thwing, Harvey Cushing, Charles Mayo, Lord Berkely Moynihan, Nicholas Senn, and Hans Zinsser. The role that Grace Crile played in her husband's life and work is evident, and her own experiences are documented by her diaries, correspondence, and memoranda.
