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A series of images from the UAB Archives
Name John R. Smythies Collection
Dates 1950-1998
Extent 1 cubic foot
Historical Note Dr. John R. Smythies was an internationally recognized authority on schizophrenia and was the author of over twenty books and hundreds of scientific research articles.  Smythies was born in India to British parents and was educated in England.  He earned degrees from Cambridge, University College (London), and the University of British Columbia.  He spent time in Bermuda as a Surgeon-Lieutenant with a British frigate squadron, then completed post-graduate research at the Australian National University in Canberra, at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, and at the Galesburg State Research Hospital in Galesburg, Illinois.  From 1961 until 1971 Smythies was a Senior Lecturer and Reader in Psychiatry at the University of Edinburgh.  Dr. Smythies visited UAB in 1968 to present a lecture for the Department of Psychiatry, and soon afterward he entered a collaboration with several members of the department's faculty.  Smythies and his UAB colleagues published numerous articles over the next few years.  In 1971 Dr. Smythies joined the full-time faculty at UAB as a Visiting Professor and as a scientist in the UAB Neurosciences Program.  In 1973 he was appointed Professor of Psychiatry and was named as the first Ireland Professor of Psychiatric Research.  Dr. Smythies retired from UAB in 1989 and was named a Professor Emeritus by the University of Alabama System Board of Trustees.  But Dr. Smythies did not retire when he left UAB, as he accepted a position as a visiting professor at Stanford University.  He later accepted a position as a Visiting Professor at the University of California, San Diego, where he directed the university's Integrative Neuroscience Program.  John Smythies and his wife were long-time residents of La Jolla, California.  Both of their sons are graduates of UAB.  Dr. Smythies died in La Jolla, California, on January 28, 2019, at the age of 96.
Scope and Contents This collection contains over 700 letters representing the "correspondence conducted over the years between Dr. Smythies and a number of illustrious philosophers and scientists," including at least seven Nobel Laureates.
Arrangement Alphabetically by author, then chronologically
Accession Number M2005-04
Provenance The material in this manuscript collection was donated to UAB in at least eight discrete shipments between 1989 and 1998 directly from Dr. Smythies.  The collection was originally housed in the Reynolds Historical Library, but was transferred to the UAB Archives in 2005; the accession number reflects the collection's internal transfer date.  The donation of the collection was publicized soon after Dr. Smythies began giving material to UAB's library.  The Smythies Collection was a front-page feature in the September 1990 issue of the library's Treasures newsletter, and it was included in the second volume (1994) of the bibliography of the Reynolds Historical Library.
Copyright The UAB Archives owns and maintains its proprietary rights to all material in this collection.
Fnding Aid Printed descriptive guide by Tim L. Pennycuff available in repository.
Access Points Smythies, John R.,  q  John Raymond,  d  1922-2019.
Psychiatrists.
University of Alabama at Birmingham.  b.  Department of Psychiatry.
University of Alabama in Birmingham.
Document Types Letters, memorandum, postcards, typescript drafts, news clippings, and article reprints
Location Manuscript Stacks
Related Series PMC130, John R. Smythies Collection Photographs
Physical Condition Acid free folders, acid free box

This page created 2018 and last updated 2022

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