Mason V. Hargett Papers

Collection

Identifier: MS C 533

Abstract

Dates

1932-1986 (bulk 1938-1946)

Extent

3.75 Linear Feet (4 boxes)

Creator

Hargett, Mason V. (Person)

Physical Location

Materials stored onsite. History of Medicine Division. National Library of Medicine

Language of Materials

Collection materials primarily in English

Access Restrictions

No restrictions on access.

Copyright and Re-use Information

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Biographical/Historical Note

Mason V. Hargett contributed greatly to the field of tropical medicine with his work on the yellow fever vaccine, first with the Rockefeller Foundation in Brazil and then at the USPHS Rocky Mountain Laboratory in Montana. Hargett's research facilitated the introduction of a yellow fever vaccine produced without human serum, thereby reducing the possibility of contamination that had existed before. Hargett designed, as well as headed, the Yellow Fever Unit at the Rocky Mountain Laboratory in the 1940s. He also worked with the US Public Health Service as a quarantine officer in Miami and Japan.

Mason V. Hargett was born in Farnhamville, Iowa, on April 24, 1904. He received his bachelor's degree from Asbury College in Kentucky in 1925, and his medical degree from Northwestern University in 1929. In 1929, Hargett opened his own practice in Yale, Oklahoma, but could not sustain his practice during the Depression. In 1931, Hargett joined the U.S. Public Health Service, and was stationed at the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut.

The U.S. Public Health Service was concerned about the possible spread of yellow fever to the United States from South America, and therefore, Hargett was sent to the London School of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene from January to June of 1937. He received his D.T.M. & H. from the Examining Board in England (Royal College of Physicians of London and the Royal College of Surgeons of England) in 1937.

Because of his training at the London School of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, Hargett served as quarantine officer in Miami before he was sent to the International Health Division of the Rockefeller Foundation in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He was a guest student from October 1938 to November 1939, during which time he studied malaria, yellow fever and administration under Dr. Fred L. Soper, the director of the International Health Division in Brazil.

After returning to the United States, Hargett headed the unit established at the Rocky Mountain Laboratory in Hamilton, Montana to make yellow fever vaccine for U.S. Public Health Service. In 1942, the Yellow Fever Unit at the Rocky Mountain Laboratory took over production of the yellow fever vaccine for the U.S. military during World War II.

In 1946, Hargett was sent to Japan to serve at the quarantine officer for the U.S. Army, and to represent the military in the foreign quarantine operation. Due to the massive movement of people following the end of the war, the quarantine operation tried to prevent the introduction of diseases, particularly cholera and typhus, into Japan. Hargett returned to Hamilton, Montana in November 1946 after five months in Japan.

Hargett served at the Leprosarium in Louisiana for a short time before being transferred in 1947 to the Indian Medical Service in Billings, Montana, where he was Regional Medical Director for over two years.

When the Department of the Interior changed its policy concerning Regional Directors in 1950 (no longer privileging Commissioned Officers over Civil Service doctors), Hargett left the Indian Medical Service. He moved to Atlanta, where he worked with the hospital construction program. Hargett was in Atlanta from 1950 to 1952, then in San Francisco from 1952 until 1964, when he retired and moved back to Hamilton, Montana.

Collection Summary

Photographs, diaries, research materials, slides and reports (1932-1986; 3.75 linear feet) document the official portion of Mason V. Hargett's career in tropical medicine. From 1938 to 1946, Hargett was instrumental in the research and production of yellow fever vaccine, including providing the vaccine for the U.S. military during World War II.

This collection consists primarily of records concerning Hargett's work with the International Health Division of the Rockefeller Foundation in Brazil (1938-1939) and with the Yellow Fever Unit at the Rocky Mountain Laboratory in Montana (1940-1946). The collection includes a significant number of photographs, chiefly from Hargett's time in Brazil, as well as materials relating to the procedure and production of yellow fever vaccine in the Rocky Mountain Laboratory.

Hargett was a guest student with the International Health Division of the Rockefeller Foundation in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from October 1938 to November 1939. Series 2 contains documentary material from this period, including physician's manuals (in Portuguese), blank laboratory forms (the majority in Portuguese), a diary kept by Hargett, and photographs pertaining to malaria in Brazil and yellow fever control measures. The photographs document specific cases, prevention methods, facilities and equipment, and the Yellow Fever Service inspectors in Brazil. The Lantern Slides sub-series includes the lantern slides, some of which are negatives of many of the photographs included in this series.

From October 1940 to 1946, Hargett headed the Yellow Fever Unit at the Rocky Mountain Laboratory. The Rocky Mountain Laboratory was established in 1902 in response to the severe problem of Rocky Mountain spotted fever in the western half of the United States. The Laboratory became part of the Division of Infectious Diseases at the National Institute of Health in 1937. In 1948, the Rocky Mountain Laboratory and the Biologics Control Laboratory joined the Division of Infectious Diseases and the Division of Tropical Diseases of the National Institutes of Health to form the National Microbiological Institute. The Institute's name was changed in 1955 to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. In addition to the yellow fever vaccine unit, Rocky Mountain Laboratory also produced spotted fever vaccine. At the start of World War II, the Rockefeller Foundation in Brazil supplied the vaccine for U.S. military. In 1942, an outbreak in hepatitis B among U.S. troops was traced to infected human serum in the Rockefeller yellow fever vaccine. The Rocky Mountain Laboratory took over production of the vaccine for the military. By then Hargett's unit had developed a method of producing the vaccine without using human serum, which they called aqueous base vaccine. After the war, the demand for yellow fever vaccine dropped. Rocky Mountain Laboratory cut back on their operations, and undertook some research studies, including one study concerning the viability of the vaccine under various conditions. When Hargett was transferred to Japan, Harry W. Burruss (bacteriologist at the laboratory) took charge of operations. Production levels were low, and yellow fever vaccine production was closed down in 1957 and transferred to the National Drug Company's Biological Division in Swiftwater, Pennsylvania. Series 3 contains materials relating to Hargett's work at the Rocky Mountain Laboratory, including experiments reports, laboratory forms and unit orders, and technical reports, as well as a complete description of the method of production of yellow fever vaccine at Rocky Mountain Laboratory, including diagrams of equipment and photographs, compiled by H.W. Burruss. The series also includes tissue section slides of human cases of yellow fever and of diseases commonly confused with yellow fever.