Correspondence

Overview William Williams Keen, surgeon and neurologist, was born on 19 January 1837 in Philadelphia. He was the third son of merchant William W. Keen and Susan (Budd) Keen. Keen married Emma Corinna Borden in 1867; they had four daughters, Corinne, Florence, Dora, and Margaret. William W. Keen died on 7 June 1932.Keen graduated from Brown University in 1859. He entered Jefferson Medical College in 1860, left in 1861 to become Surgeon to the 5th Massachusetts Regiment, then returned to...

Scope and Contents The William W. Keen papers are comprised of six separate collections, including correspondence, photographs, diaries, and newsclippings. Much of the correspondence deals with eithr family matters or the controversy vivisection. For more detail on the materials contained the Keen papers, please see the "Scope and Content" note for each series.

Overview William Williams Keen, surgeon and neurologist, was born in 1837 in Philadelphia. He entered Jefferson Medical College in 1860, left in 1861 to become Surgeon to the 5th Massachusetts Regiment, then returned to Jefferson and received his M.D. in 1862. He then became Acting Assistant Surgeon in the U.S. Army. In 1887, at St. Mary's Hospital in Philadelphia, Keen performed the first successful removal of a brain tumor in the United States. He was the first physician to perform a decompression...

Overview This collection documents William Williams Keen’s role in President Grover Cleveland’s 1893 then-secret surgery through Keen’s correspondence and reflections. Given the tumultuous financial markets at the time, President Cleveland’s health was kept secret, with Keen being entrusted to perform a quick yet safe surgery on the President while aboard the yacht Oneida. The collection primarily covers developments surrounding two events: the surgery on July 1st, 1893, and the publication of Keen’s...