Kristaps J. Keggi Vietnam War service papers

Collection

Call Number: Ms Coll 29

Scope and Contents

The collection contains letters by Kristaps J. Keggi, while serving in the Army Medical Corps in Vietnam from September 1965 to June 1966, to his wife, Julia Q. Keggi, who was raising their three young daughters in El Paso, Texas; letters from Julia Keggi to Kristaps Keggi; letters to Kristaps Keggi from his patients in Vietnam and patients' families; patient records from Vietnam (restricted); photographs of Keggi and family members; slides and digitized photographs from Vietnam and Bangkok, Thailand; photographs by Keggi of gunshot war wounds to the extremities and drawings by medical illustrator Leon Schlossberg, under Keggi's supervision, of these wounds and Keggi's methods of debridement and management; and news clippings and articles mentioning Keggi and the 3rd MASH.

A supplement to the collection, donated from 2013 through 2018, contains additonal materials related to Keggi's service in the Vietnam War and later materials on Keggi's work on the anterior approach to total hip replacement.

Dates

1918-2018
Majority of material found within 1965 - 1966

Creator

Keggi, Kristaps Juris, 1934-

Language of Materials

Materials are in English.

Conditions Governing Access

The materials are open for research except for Box 3 which contains patient records that are restricted under HIPAA regulations.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Correspondence, photographs from Vietnam, and patient records donated to the Historical Library by Kristaps J. Keggi in 2013. Photographs and drawings on wound management donated ca. 1980 and 1983. Additional materials donated by Keggi 2019, 2021.

Arrangement

Organized in four series: 1. Correspondence. 2. Photographs and illustrated lectures. 3. Miscellany. 4. Patient records (restricted). 5. Oversized photographs and drawings on wounds and wound management in Vietnam. 6. Supplement, 2018.

Extent

8 boxes (6 boxes and 2 oversize flat boxes.)

Catalog Record

A record for this collection is available in Orbis, the Yale University Library catalog

Persistent URL

https://hdl.handle.net/10079/fa/med.ms.0029

Additional Description

Overview

Kristaps J. Keggi was a graduate of Yale and Yale School of Medicine who served as a surgeon during the Vietnam War in 1965-1966. He later became Professor of Orthopaedics at Yale School of Medicine. The collection contains contemporary correspondence, photographs, patient records (restricted), drawings of wound management, later reminiscences, and later drawings and presentation on Keggi's role in deveoping the anterior approach to total hip replacement, 1977-2018.

Biographical / Historical

Kristaps J. Keggi was born in Riga, Latvia, in August, 1934, and arrived in the United States in October, 1949. He received his B.A. from Yale College, class of 1955, and graduated from the Yale School of Medicine in 1959. After volunteering for the Army in 1957, Keggi was commissioned as Second Lieutenant in the United States Army Medical Service Corps Active Reserve where he began weekly training. In 1959, he was promoted to First Lieutenant in the Medical Corps in the Inactive Reserve Berry Plan, which allowed him to complete his residency in orthopedic surgery at Roosevelt Hospital, New York City. Upon completion, Keggi was assigned his active duty as a Captain in the Medical Corps, United States Army Reserve where he was stationed at the Beaumont General Hospital in El Paso, Texas as a member of the Orthopaedic Teaching Staff. In spring 1965, Keggi was ordered to the 3rd Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) with the 173rd Airborne in Biên Hòa, Vietnam where he served as Chief of Orthopaedic Surgery from September 1965 to June 1966. Following his service in Vietnam, Keggi returned to Yale-New Haven Hospital as an orthopedic Surgeon and teacher in orthopedics. Since 1969, Keggi has also worked at St. Mary's Hospital and Waterbury Hospital in Waterbury, CT, where he has served as Director of Orthopaedics and Joint Reconstruction since 1992. In 2005, Keggi was the recipient of Yale University Athletics George Herbert Walker Bush Lifetime of Leadership Award. In 2010, Keggi was named the Elihu Professor of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation at Yale University School of Medicine.