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Henry Swan II Papers

 Collection
Identifier: MS C 575

Abstract

U.S. heart surgeon Henry Swan II made significant contributions to the development of open heart surgery techniques, particularly through his research in hypothermia and suspended circulation. Dr. Swan's professional career as a cardiac surgeon is documented in a collection of surgery records, correspondence, reprints, book drafts, speeches, reports, and biographical material.

Dates

  • Creation: 1935-1996

Extent

14.65 Linear Feet (15 boxes)

Creator

Physical Location

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

Language of Materials

Collection materials primarily in English

Access Restrictions

Portions of the collection are restricted according to HMD's Access to Health Information of Individuals policy. Contact the Reference Staff for information regarding access. For access to the policy and application form, please visit https://www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd/manuscripts/phi.pdf.

Copyright and Re-use Information

Donor's copyrights were transferred to the public domain. Archival collections often contain mixed copyrights; while NLM is the owner of the physical items, permission to examine collection materials is not an authorization to publish. These materials are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study. It is the user's responsibility to research and understand any applicable copyright and re-publication rights not allowed by fair use. NLM does not grant permissions to publish.

Privacy Information

Archives and manuscript collections may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations. Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in any collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications for which the National Library of Medicine assumes no responsibility.

Biographical Note

U.S. heart surgeon Henry Swan II was born on May 27, 1913 in Denver, Colorado, the son of railroad executive Henry Sr. and Carla Denison Swan. Dr. Swan made significant contributions to the development of open heart surgery techniques, particularly through his research in hypothermia and suspended circulation.

After graduating in 1931 from the Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire, Swan attended Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts and completed one of the institution's first combined English-History majors. He graduated magna cum laude in 1935, the valedictorian of his class. Intent of extending the line of Denison family doctors to five generations, Swan next enrolled at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts as a member of the class of 1939, a group distinguished for producing nineteen full professors. Once again he was valedictorian of his class. Swan spent a brief period at Colorado General Hospital in Denver as a Pathology Resident before returning to Boston in 1940 to intern at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital until 1942, at which point he became a Surgical Resident at Boston's Children's Hospital.

In 1943, Swan joined the Army of the United States for two years and nine months, serving with the 4th and 5th Auxiliary Surgical Group in the European Theater. He operated on more than 1,600 wounded soldiers during World War II. It was during his military service that he learned to pilot airplanes, an interest he would continue to pursue for both work and pleasure. Swan acquired his own plane after the war and became well-known in the medical community for flying his team across the United States and as far as South America to demonstrate his surgical techniques. He survived three plane crashes over the course of his lifetime.

Swan returned to Colorado in 1946 and took an assistant professorship at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. He quickly emerged as the key figure in reinvigorating the surgical program, becoming the first full-time chairman of the Department of Surgery in 1950 and holding that position (and a full professorship) for the next eleven years. As department chair, Swan was responsible for hiring many world-class surgeons, performing hundreds of surgeries (including the first successful closure of an atrial septal defect in 1953), and setting up one of the country's first artery banks. He also established an animal research facility known as the Halsted Laboratory to study ways of correcting congenital heart problems. Here he performed supercooling experiments and practice surgeries on more than 400 dogs before developing the pioneering technique of placing a patient in a bathtub full of ice water until the body cooled to ten degrees below normal. This cooling process slowed the patient's metabolism and blood flow until the heart stopped, allowing a surgeon six minutes to operate on the heart before oxygen deprivation caused irreparable brain damage. Swan became the world's first surgeon to perform a successful series of open heart surgeries; the bathtub in which Swan chilled his patients is now part of the Smithsonian Institution's collection. Elements of his hypothermia research continue in use even though the development of the heart-lung machine provides a safer method of performing open heart surgeries.

Hypothermia was not the sole focus of Swan's research in suspended circulation. For many years he also studied bears, hummingbirds, frogs, and lungfish in an attempt to identify and isolate the chemical agent allowing them to temporarily block their metabolism during hibernation. This long term animal research facilitated Swan's development of a doctoral program in surgery at the Colorado State University School of Veterinary Medicine. He taught and continued his research at that institution from 1963 until his retirement in 1982. His book Thermoregulation and Bioenergetics, published in 1974, explained his findings regarding the chemistry of hibernation.

Swan married his first wife, Mary Fletcher Wardwell, in 1937; they had three daughters and one son before their divorce in 1964. He married his second wife, Geraldine Morris Fairchild, that same year. On July 13, 1996, Henry Swan II died of progressive motor neuropathy at age 83.

Brief Chronology

1913
Born May 27 in Denver, Colorado to Henry Sr. and Carla Swan
1935
A.B. magna cum laude, Williams College
1937
Marries Mary Fletcher Wardwell June 25 (children: Edith, Henry, Helen, and Gretchen)
1939
M.D. cum laude, Harvard Medical School
1939-1940
Pathology Fellowship, Colorado General Hospital
1940-1942
Surgery internship at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital
1942-1943
Pathology Fellowship, Boston Children's Hospital
1943-1945
Serves in the Army of the United States, 4th and 5th Auxiliary Surgical Groups; discharged with the rank of Major
1946-1950
Assistant Professor, then Associate Professor of Surgery at University of Colorado School of Medicine
1950-1961
Professor and Chief of the Department of Surgery, University of Colorado School of Medicine
1953
Performs his first operations in human patients using hypothermic anesthesia; performs the first successful closure of atrial septal defect
1963-1982
Professor of Surgery, Research, Colorado State University
1964
Divorces first wife January 25; marries Geraldine Morris Fairchild March 21
1985
Emeritus Professor of Surgery, University of Colorado Medical School
1996
Dies July 13 at home of a progressive motor neuropathy

Selected Awards and Honors

1931
Cum laude, Fellowship, Phillips Exeter Academy
1934
Phil Beta Kappa Fraternity, Williams College
1935
Valedictorian, magna cum laude, Williams College
1938
Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society, Harvard University
1939
The Henry Asbury Christian Prize, Harvard University
1939
Valedictorian, cum laude, Harvard Medical School
1955
American Medical Association Hektoen Gold Medal for Original Research
1958-1964
American Board of Surgery
1959
Honorary Doctor of Science, Williams College
1982-1995
Henry Swan Visiting Professorship Annual Lecture

Collection Summary

Operative records, correspondence, reprints, book drafts, speeches, reports, and biographical material (14.65 linear feet; 1935-1996) document Henry Swan's professional career as a cardiac surgeon. This collection includes materials in the following foreign languages: Spanish, French, German, and Russian.

A significant portion of the collection material was created during Swan's tenure at the University of Colorado from the mid-1940s to the early 1960s. This includes a majority of the operative summary reports and patient files found in Series 4: Surgery Records. Swan performed a wide range of surgeries on hundreds of patients, a large number of which were children. Many patients corresponded with Swan for years following their surgeries, providing updates on their health and personal lives. Their correspondence is interfiled with their medical information. The reprints, book drafts, and other publications in Series 6: Writings document Swan's research in hypothermia and suspended circulation, surgical experience treating various thoracic and cardiovascular ailments, and interest in experimental surgical history. Researchers looking for information on the School of Medicine's Department of Surgery during Swan's time as department chief should refer to Series 5: University of Colorado, particularly the annual reports authored by Swan from 1951-1960.

Material in Series 3: Speeches and Talks describes Swan's thoracic surgery interests as well as his personal interest in wine. Further elements of his personal life are reflected in Series 1: Personal and Biographical and Series 2: Correspondence. Information on Swan's WWII army experiences may be found in the letters written to his first wife in Series 2 and the army surgery records in Series 4.

Abstract

U.S. heart surgeon Henry Swan II made significant contributions to the development of open heart surgery techniques, particularly through his research in hypothermia and suspended circulation. Dr. Swan's professional career as a cardiac surgeon is documented in a collection of surgery records, correspondence, reprints, book drafts, speeches, reports, and biographical material.

Physical Location

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

Provenance

Gift of Geraldine F. Swan. Accession #2007-023.

Alternate Forms Available

Portions of the Collection have been digitized and are available at: https://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/.

General

Processed by
Erica Haakensen
Processing Completed
Oct. 2008
Encoded by
Erica Haakensen
Title
Finding Aid to the Henry Swan II Papers, 1935-1996
Status
Unverified Partial Draft
Author
Erica Haakensen
Date
Oct. 2008
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latn
Language of description note
Finding aid is written in English
Edition statement
1.0

Collecting Area Details

Part of the Archives and Modern Manuscripts Collections Collecting Area

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