Materials document the personal and professional life of Dr. Joseph Underwood Hall, Jr. Some of these materials relate to his early education and his medical training including graduation essays. Correspondence date from 1884-1945 and include information about both his personal and profession activities. There is a small amount of information relating to his military career. A scrapbook compiled by Dr. Hall contains poetry; quotations; writings, including his opinion about women's suffrage; articles on medical subjects and his X-Ray experiments; people he knew in San Jose; articles about the New Almaden mine; speeches; announcements and invitations for events; items relating to Jefferson Medical College; and photographs of Dr. Hall, his family, his homes, his offices, the town of New Almaden, and his x-ray machine. In addition, to these materials is a pocket diary containing accounting notes and addresses. A ledger book from the New Almaden Mine details accounting activities dating from 1890-1893. Lastly, there are a few cashbooks. The materials are arranged in chronological order.
Box seven contains inactive mold present on the materials, which has been reduced with surface cleaning and vacuuming. Mold is dormant, but spores may spread and reactivate in certain conditions. Please practice the following hygiene guidelines to keep yourself and the collections safe. Photo-safe (nitrile synthetic, non-latex) gloves must be used when handling these materials. If you have difficulty writing or keyboarding notes, wear one glove on your non-dominant hand to turn pages while leaving the other ungloved. Avoid touching your eyes, mouth, nose while and immediately after handling contents. Wash hands thoroughly after use. Persons with allergic sensitivities or breathing conditions should consider wearing an N-95 particulate mask when paging through these volumes. Gloves and masks are available from Reference staff. Gloves, masks should be discarded after use. Surfaces should be cleaned afterwards.
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Collection Citation:
Dr. Joseph Underwood Hall Jr. Papers, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
