The collection consists of materials relating to William W. Keen including addresses, correspondence, published medical journal articles by Keen, and research notes pertaining to his operations and research on the cervical rib. The addresses cover medical topics or the history of medicine and were presented at meetings of various medical organizations including the American Medical Association, the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, and two Jefferson commencements, 1910 and 1916. The bulk of the correspondence pertains to Keen's cervical rib research as well as letters from 1931-1933 dealing with Keen's autopsy. This group includes one letter written by Keen in 1931 outlining the directions for his post mortem.
William Williams Keen (1837-1932) was born on January 9, 1837 in Philadelphia. He attended Brown University for his undergraduate studies, graduating in 1859. He enrolled at Jefferson Medical College in 1860, where he studied under Jacob Mendes Da Costa. After graduation, Keen received a military commission. At the beginning of the Civil War, he treated wounded soldiers at the First Battle of Bull Run, as surgeon for the Fifth Massachusetts Regiment. Later, he was an Acting Assistant Surgeon for the Union Army, serving at several Army-run hospitals, including Christian Street Hospital and Turner’s Lane Hospital in Philadelphia. His experiences in the military hospitals led him to co-write Gunshot Wounds and Other Injuries of Nerves (1864) with S. Weir Mitchell and George R. Morehouse.
From 1864 to 1866, Keen spent time in Europe, studying in Paris and Berlin. Upon his return to the United States in 1866, he gave a summer lecture series at Jefferson Medical College and became the head of the Philadelphia School of Anatomy until its closure in 1875. Keen held multiple academic appointments throughout the rest of his career: lecturer in Pathological Anatomy at Jefferson Medical College (1866-1875); Professor of Artistic Anatomy at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (1876-1890); and Chair of Surgery at the Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania (1884-1889). In 1889, he became Professor of Anatomy at Jefferson Medical College, remaining there until his retirement from teaching in 1907.
Keen gained attention for his work as a surgeon and participated in several notable cases. He performed one of the first successful brain surgeries in the United States in 1887. In 1893, Keen and Joseph D. Bryant removed a verrucous carcinoma from the mouth of President Grover Cleveland. The operation was kept secret at the time and only revealed to the general public in 1917. He also developed techniques for the drainage of cerebral ventricles and the removal of large brain tumors.
In addition to his teaching and surgical practice, Keen published articles and books on medical and scientific topics, including the first American surgical text based on Listerian principles (1892, co-written with James White). Notable works include: Surgery, an eight-volume text containing articles by and about British and American surgeons (published 1905-1921); Animal Experimentation and Medical Progress (1914); The Surgical Operations on President Cleveland in 1893 (1917); and I Believe in God and in Evolution (1921).
After his retirementin 1907, Keen remained active as an advocate of causes including evolution and the use of animal experimentation in medicine. He received honorary degrees from the University of Uppsala in Sweden and the Universities of Edinburgh and St. Andrews in Scotland. Keen was a fellow of various professional societies, including the American College of Surgeons and the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. He was the first American elected President of the International Surgical Congress. Keen was also a trustee (1873-1895) and later fellow (1895-1932) of Brown University. His other honors include an appointment as an officer of the Order of the Crown of Belgium and the Susan Colver Rosenberger Medal (1925).
W. W. Kean died in Philadelphia on June 7, 1932, at age 95.
I. Biography (1905-2003)
II. Addresses (1874-1927)
Arranged in alphabetical order by sponsoring organization
III. Correspondence (1872-1933)
IV. Publications (1872-1921)
V. Events and Ephemera (1901-1984)
Arranged in alphabetical order by subject heading
VI. Cervical Rib Data (1904-1906)
Tables of cervical rib operations conducted between 1861 and 1906 compiled by Dr. Keen for publication in: "Symptomatology, Diagnosis and surgical Treatment of Cervical Ribs," American Journal of Medical Science 133:173-218 (1907), with accompanying correspondence.
VII. Necrology (1933)
W.W. Keen Collection, MS-022. Thomas Jefferson University - Archives and Special Collections.
W.W. Keen Collection, MS-022. Thomas Jefferson University - Archives and Special Collections. http://aisrmedia1.jefferson.edu:81/repositories/2/resources/29 Accessed May 13, 2024.