George C. Jameson Papers

Collection

Identifier: RG 30-341

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

This modest collection consists of three publications written by George C. Jameson: two bound volumes and one article reprinted from The Ohio State Medical Journal. The volumes, “The Story of Oberlin Hospital” and “Medical Practice in Oberlin 1834-1934,” chronicle medicine in the city of Oberlin. The back of the second volume includes a reprint of “Historical Sketches of Medicine in Oberlin” from The Ohio State Medical Journal, vol. 33, March 1937, No. 3. Additionally, the collection contains another article, “The Oberlin Hospital: an Adventure in Cooperation,” from the same journal, vol. 36, September 1940, No. 9.

The publications provide biographical sketches of Oberlin doctors, including James Dascomb (1808-1880) and Otis Boise (1804-1874). They also document the early history of health care and hospital facilities, including the contributions of the Allen family, in the town of Oberlin from 1834-1934.

Dates

Creation: ca.1937-1940
Other: Date acquired: 2001 September 10

Creator

Jameson, George C. (Jameson, George Chauncey) (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

Unrestricted.

Biographical Sketch

George Chauncey Jameson was born on August 31, 1865, in Avon, Ohio. He was the son of William (1824) and Delia Taylor Stevens Jameson (1824-1887), both from pioneer families to northern Ohio, from Avon and Massachusetts, respectively. He had one brother, Clyde Burton (1856-1881). He attended primary school in Avon and grew up on the farm there, and then attended Elyria High School, from which he graduated in 1885.

Jameson enrolled at Oberlin College and received his BA in 1890 and his MA in 1892. While still an undergraduate student, Jameson decided to pursue a career in medicine. After graduating from Oberlin, he went to the University of Pennsylvania to study medicine, and received his MD in 1893. In December of that same year, he returned to Oberlin and married Nellie May Hulbert (1865-1943, OC 1890), a classmate from Elyria High School, who was then the head cataloguer at the Oberlin College Library.

Despite insistence from Oberlin physicians that the town held few financial prospects for another doctor, Jameson opened a private practice at 13 W. College Street, where he worked until just two weeks before his death. He specialized in eye, ear, nose and throat services, but also kept a general practice. Unlike other Oberlin practitioners, he focused on preventative medicine, and tried to steer his practice away from purging and unnecessary blood letting. He could often be seen riding his bicycle to make house calls until 1917, when he purchased his first automobile. In 1908, along with Charles H. Browning, Jameson founded the Oberlin Hospital Association. This organization was responsible for raising the funds necessary to build the first community hospital, and then to endow the Allen Memorial Hospital. In 1926, Jameson became chief of staff at Allen, a position he held until his retirement in 1944.

Through all of his medical work in Oberlin, Jameson also maintained an interest in public health and sanitation. He was extremely influential in the city council’s decision to pass an ordinance regarding the testing and inspection of milk. Additionally, Jameson served on the trustee boards of the First and Second Congregational churches in Oberlin.

George and Nellie had three sons, John Hulbert (1896-1989, OC 1918), Donald Taber (1900-1996), and Malcolm Foote (1900-1938, OC 1923). George Chauncey Jameson died on February 29, 1948, of complications from pneumonia, in the Allen Memorial Hospital.

Note written by Emma Anderson.

Extent

0.20 Linear Feet

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Method of Acquisition

This collection, originally received by Special Collections in 1940, was transferred to the College Archives in the fall of 2001 and accessioned in that same year [2001/094].