Lyman A. Brewer Papers

Collection

Identifier: MS C 553

Abstract

Correspondence, notes and drafts, subject files, reprints, patient records, records of surgeries, and motion pictures documenting the practice, teaching, and authorship of thoracic surgeon Lyman Brewer, noted for his advances in emergency thoracotomy and wet lung war casualties (respiratory distress syndrome) born from his World War II experiences.

Dates

Creation: 1926-1989

Extent

26.67 Linear Feet (28 boxes + oversize)

Creator

Brewer, Lyman A. (Person)

Physical Location

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

Language of Materials

Collection materials primarily in English

Access Restrictions

Collection is restricted. 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

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Biographical Note

Lyman August Brewer III was born in Toledo, Ohio in 1907. He was educated at Amherst and received his medical training at the University of Michigan. Upon his graduation in 1932 Brewer spent several years learning thoracic surgery under the guidance of Evarts A. Graham and John Alexander, among others. In the late 1930s he established a practice in Los Angeles with Frank S. Dolley.

From 1942 to 1945 Brewer served as a surgeon in the Army Medical Corps in North Africa, Italy, and France. He helped establish the first US Army Chest Surgical Center at Bizerte, Tunisia, where with fellow surgeons Thomas Burford and Edward Churchill, spearheaded a review of thoracic injuries in the Mediterranean theater. The group insisted that chest surgery should be a separate specialty. They developed new techniques and established criteria for emergency thoracotomy and for the management of thoracic and thoracoabdominal injuries that would become the world standard. Brewer's classic paper, "The wet lung in war casualties" (1946) was born from his military experience. It became further defined during the Vietnam War as adult respiratory distress syndrome. Among his discoveries was the use of pressure breathing to combat pulmonary edema, development of the Bennett ventilator, and the use of pericardial fat to buttress the bronchial stump (Brewer fat graft)

After the war he returned to private practice but only as a secondary activity to his teaching. He held joint appointments at Loma Linda University School of Medicine, University of Southern California School of Medicine, and the University of California at Irvine School of Medicine. Dr. Brewer was also very active in international surgical organizations, serving as president of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery, the Society of Thoracic Surgeons, and the Pacific Coast Surgical Association. In 1975, a former student honored him by establishing a symposium in cardiothoracic surgery which he became the Lyman A. Brewer III International Surgical Society. Its first meeting was held in Beijing, China in 1980.

Brewer authored 7 books and more than 100 scientific articles on aspects of thoracic surgery as well as some dealing with the history of surgical techniques. In the early 1960s he collaborated with his former Army colleague Thomas Burford on Thoracic Surgery, a two-volume contribution to the U.S. Army Medical Department's Surgery in World War II series. This included a unique study of 167 thoracic casualties 16 years after the war and helped confirm the value of Brewer and Burford's pioneering work.

Brewer died in California in 1988.

[portions excerpted from Carter, Richard. "Lyman A Brewer III (1907-1988): Surgeon-scientist, Inspirational Teacher, and Humanist", Annals of Thoracic Surgery (1998), v.65:2132-4]

Collection Summary

Correspondence, subject files, patient case reports and records, logs of operations performed, draft manuscripts, reprints, lecture notes, speeches, and cineradiography motion pictures (1926-1989; 26.67 lf.) document the surgical, teaching, and writing career of Lyman A. Brewer, III.

Patient case records, correspondence, and wound studies from his surgical work in the Army during World War II (1942-1945) and reports and correspondence relating to medical manpower studies (1967-1980) comprise the two largest distinct subject areas in the collection. Series 5: Surgical Procedures ans Series 6: Thoracic Wound Study detail Brewer's WWII surgical experience and operations, his post-WWII thoracic surgery outcomes study, and his Los Angeles professional practice. There are also several 16mm and 35mm cineradiography motion picture films capturing chest and heart procedures performed by Brewer and his colleagues. His World War II service in North Africa, Germany, France, and Italy is further documented through his military station orders, service records, letters home to his family, and photographs. Series 6: Medical Manpower Studies documents Brewer's involvement with several medical manpower studies conducted in the 1970s covering such topics as board certification, salary rates, academic training needs, research support, and national coordination activities.

Correspondence, survey results, and drafts are included. Writings in Series 4 include Brewer's drafts of chapters for Thoracic Surgery and the Rhoads textbook of surgery as well as notes, drafts, and reprints of articles, speeches, and lectures. Professional correspondence (Series 2) with colleagues is arranged separately from his general subject files (Series 3). It covers his entire career (1926-1988) and is primarily arranged alphabetically by individual. There is some personal correspondence included. Subject files document his activities with professional societies, both national and international. The final series International Activities primarily documents the first Lyman Brewer International Surgical Society meeting in Beijing, as well as subsequent related activities.