Frederick M. Allen Collection

Collection — Multiple Containers

Identifier: MSS-2018-23

Staff Only

Content Description

This collection is comprised of personal and professional materials belonging to Frederick M. Allen, an authority of the treatment of diabetes and other metabolic disorders. It includes a folder of materials about Allen's Psychiatric Institute in Morristown, including photographs. It also includes several unpublished manuscripts, some scientific and some nonscientific, including a biographical memoir. There is correspondence, some of which relates to his work as the personal physician to Thomas A. Edison. The collection includes several pamphlets published by the Rockefeller Institute, where Allen was appointed to a junior position in 1914, and several folders of newspaper clippings and articles published by Allen, as well as some original periodicals featuring Allen's work. There is also an undated silent 16mm film, mailed to Dr. Allen, of a leg amputation under the use of ice as anesthesia.

There are also personal materials, including Allen's diary from 1893, describing a trip to the Columbia Exposition in 1893. It also includes a handbook that he bought at the Exposition. The collection also includes both black-and-white and color photographs of Allen's family, as well as photos from his time as a Hospital Staff Captain during World War I.

Dates

Creation: 1893-1960

Creator

Allen, Frederick M. (Frederick Madison) (Person)

Language of Materials

Collection materials are in English.

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is unprocessed and open for research, but contains one folder of restricted materials, which are in an envelope stamped "RESTRICTED." Folder contains photographs of patients, which is restricted due to HIPAA. The UCSF Archives and Special Collections policy places access restrictions on material with privacy issues for a specific time period from the date of creation. Access to records that contain personal and confidential information about an individual or individuals is restricted for 75 years from date of creation or until the death of the individual mentioned in the records, whichever is longer. Access to medical records is restricted for 100 years from the latest date of the materials in those files.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright has not been assigned to UCSF Archives and Special Collections. All requests for permission to publish or quote from material must be submitted in writing to the Head of Archives and Special Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of UCSF Archives and Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the researcher.

Biographical / Historical

Frederick M. Allen was an authority of the treatment of diabetes and other metabolic disorders, and was born in 1879 in Des Moines, Iowa. He studied medicine in California, and eventually received a fellowship at Harvard University to study sugar consumption. He died in Boston in 1964. He is best known for developing a carbohydrate-restricted, low-calorie diet (called the "starvation diet") for sufferers of diabetes mellitus, and, in 1921, he opened the Psychiatric Institute in Morristown, NJ - the world's first clinic for sufferers of diabetes mellitus. The "starvation diet" posited that restricted calorie intake and engaging in regular exercise would prolong the life of insulin-producing beta cells. His treatment methods were, at the time, the most successful treatment of diabetes, prior to the availability of insulin in 1923, and he is considered a pioneer in the field of diabetes study and treatment.

Extent

2.5 Linear Feet (2 cartons)

Additional Description

Abstract

Frederick M. Allen was a pioneer in the study of diabetes mellitus (now called "diabetes") and its treatment. This collection consists of personal and professional materials belonging to Allen, including unpublished manuscripts,newspaper clippings, pamphlets, correspondence, and a diary.

Arrangement

Collection is unprocessed, and has been minimally arranged by the archivist.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Collection was donated by Alfred Henderson in 2018.

Accruals

No further additions to the collection are expected.

Separated Materials

Also donated were one carton of books (several written by Allen), journals, and pamphlets, mostly about diabetes mellitus, which have been separated from the collection. Duplicates have been weeded.

Condition Description

Many of the papers and photographs in the collection are in somewhat fragile condition, including disbound books and papers showing evidence of foxing and inactive mold, some of which were mended with tape (now quite brittle). Several black-and-white photographs have silvering on surface and should be handled with gloves. Many of the manuscripts have brittle paper with torn edges, and should be handled with care. Allen's handwritten diary and the Columbia Exposition handbook are both in fragile condition.

A water-damaged manuscript with evidence of rust and mold ("The Response of Human Brain Tissue to Local Refrigeration" by Fay Temple) received conservation treatment by Erika Lindensmith of UC Berkeley's Conservation Treatment Division in September of 2018. Collection contains some photocopies of correspondence and previously published articles.

The 16mm film smells slightly of vinegar.