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| History of Medicine | |
Finding Aid to the American-Soviet Medical Society Records, 1942-1987 (bulk 1943-1948
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Biographical NoteThe American-Soviet Medical Society to Exchange Medical Information, known informally as the American-Soviet Medical Society, was founded in New York City in 1943. The society's major objective was to keep American physicians informed of Soviet medical advances, believing that these advances had not been adequately publicized in the United States. In addition, like other national organizations (such as the National Council on Soviet-American Friendship (to which many of the leaders of the society also belonged), the American-Soviet Medical Society sought to improve relations between the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. As the wartime alliance between the United States and the Soviet Union transformed itself into a cold war, however, membership plummeted and the Society ran out of funds; it was disbanded in 1949. The American-Soviet Medical Society maintained an extensive collection of Soviet medical periodicals in its library and loaned its collection of Soviet medical films to groups and individuals around the country. It also published a journal, the American-Soviet Medical Review, in which the work of Soviet physicians was publicized and published in translation. Historian Henry E. Sigerist served as its chief editor. The Society also distributed and promoted some of Sigerist's publications; it held the copyright to his Medicine and Health in the Soviet Union. Prominent among the American-Soviet Medical Society's leaders was its business manager, Robert Lincoln Leslie. Most accounts of his life relate that Leslie was born in New York of a Lithuanian mother and a Scottish father in 1885 and that he earned a medical degree from Johns Hopkins Medical School in 1912 before going into business. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) records acquired by the National Library of Medicine in 1991 under the Freedom of Information Act, however, suggest that Leslie was born in 1891 of Lithuanian parents and that he never earned a medical degree. However, these records are incomplete, encompassing only a few hundred pages of a seven-hundred-page file on Leslie. As business manager, Leslie oversaw the American-Soviet Medical Society's finances, suscriptions to the Review, and the circulation of its films. A good friend of Sigerist's, Leslie also arranged to have the Society promote Sigerist's books. Like other Americans who held liberal or leftist political beliefs at that time, Leslie and the Society were investigated by the FBI throughout the 1940s for signs of overt Marxism and disloyalty. However, according to the Library's incomplete copy of Leslie's file, no evidence linking the society or Leslie to illegal acts was ever uncovered. After the Society ceased to exist, Leslie went on to start the Composing Room, a graphic-arts concern, and became a prominent businessman. Papers relating to his printing business are found in the New York City Technical College library. Leslie died in 1987. In addition to the biographical information in this collection on Leslie, researchers may also wish to consult an oral history interview between Leslie and the National Park Service relating to Leslie's service with the Public Health Service on Ellis Island. A copy of the transcript of the interview is located with the oral history collections of the National Library of Medicine. Return to the Table of Contents Collection SummaryOrganized into the following series: I. Biographical/historical; II. Business files; III. Film correspondence and transcriptions; IV. Subject files. The American-Soviet Medical Society papers consist of the files generated by Robert Leslie as the Society's business manager and an incomplete copy of the FBI's file on Leslie and the society. The papers have been organized into four series: a biographical series (containing the FBI materials), a series for business files, a series for film correspondence and transcriptions, and a series for subject files. The material dates from the entire period of the Society's existence (1943-1949) and beyond, although there is more from the Society's later years than from its early years. While the incomplete FBI files contained in the first series do not give a full or objective characterization of Leslie or of the Society (since much of it consists of speculation that apparently led nowhere), they do provide the historian with a vivid and sometimes colorful account of the government's suspicions of liberal and leftist groups during the Cold War's early years. The business files in the second series give a comprehensive picture of the changes in the Society's financial health that occurred as American perceptions of the Soviet Union changed from ally to enemy. The business correspondence, arranged alphabetically by surname of correspondent, is mostly routine correspondence regarding subscriptions. The financial files, however, would be useful to the researcher as an indicator of the Society's state through the years. The files on the Society's collection of Soviet medical films contain mostly routine correspondence, arranged alphabetically by film title. However, the typed transcriptions of the films themselves would be of potential use to those interested in Soviet medicine. The subject files contain extensive and important correspondence between Leslie and Henry Sigerist, as well as some business files regarding the Society's promotion of Sigerist's Medicine and Health in the Soviet Union. Also included is a copy of this book, autographed by Sigerist especially for Society members. Accounts of Leslie's trip to the Soviet Union and lists of Soviet periodical holdings in the Society's library are also located in this series, as well as Progressive Party and Congress of American Women materials belonging to Sarah Greenberg, M.D., Leslie's wife. Officials at the New York City Technical College library, home of other personal papers belonging to Robert Leslie, donated the materials on the American-Soviet Medical Society to the National Library of Medicine in 1987. The papers were processed in 1991 by Francesca Morgan under the direction of Peter Hirtle, Curator of Manuscripts. Orders from individuals and from libraries for Sigerist's Medicine and Health in the Soviet Union were discarded, as was an incomplete collection of clippings on Soviet medicine and a set of card files on Russian translators. Return to the Table of Contents RestrictionsRestrictionsCollection is not restricted. Contact the Reference Staff for information regarding access. For online customer service, please visit custserv@nlm.nih.gov. CopyrightNLM does not possess copyright to the collection. Contact the Reference Staff for details regarding rights. For online customer service, please visit custserv@nlm.nih.gov. Return to the Table of Contents
Return to the Table of Contents Administrative InformationPreferred CitationAmerican-Soviet Medical Society. American-Soviet Medical Society records. 1942-1987. Located in: Modern Manuscripts Collection, History of Medicine Division, National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, MD.; MS C 470. ProvenanceGift, Catherine Brody, New York City Technical College library, 1988. Accession 499. Processing InformationThe papers were processed in 1991 by Francesca Morgan under the direction of Peter Hirtle, Curator of Manuscripts. Orders from individuals and from libraries for Sigerist's Medicine and Health in the Soviet Union were discarded, as was an incomplete collection of clippings on Soviet medicine and a set of card files on Russian translators. Return to the Table of Contents Series Descriptions
Return to the Table of Contents Return to the Table of Contents Return to the Table of Contents Return to the Table of Contents Related MaterialsThe Robert Leslie Papers are located at the New York City Technical College library. Separated Material
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Last reviewed: 04 January 2008
Last updated: 02 November 2006
First published: 01 December 2001
Metadata| Permanence level: Permanent: Dynamic Content