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Fulton-Wheatland Family Correspondence

 Collection
Call Number: Ms Coll 38

Scope and Contents

The collection consists of frequent handwritten letters from Lucia and/or John Fulton in Oxford (or while traveling) to Lucia's parents at Topsfield, Massachusetts. Most of letters were written by Lucia to her mother, Mary Robinson Wheatland (Mrs. Richard Wheatland), but some were addressed to her father or to both parents. Some letters were written by John Fulton to the Wheatlands. The first group of letters date from just before the Fultons' marriage in 1923 to the Fultons' return to the United States in the summer of 1925. A second group of letters dates from the Fultons' second stay in Oxford in 1928-1929. Letters discuss social life in Oxford, management of the household and household purchases, family news, and travels. Some letters relate to John Fulton's work with Sherrington and his interests in book collecting and history of medicine. There are also several letters in the collection from Lucia Fulton to her brother David P. Wheatland in Bangor, Maine, and from Lady Grace Revere Osler to Mrs. Wheatland. The few snapshot photographs enclosed in letters in this collection are of houses or travel scenery.

Dates

  • 1921-1930
  • Majority of material found within 1923 - 1925

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

The materials are open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Yale owns copyright for John F. Fulton correspondence but not for Lucia Fulton or others represented in this collection.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Donated by Elizabeth Davey from the estate of Lycurgus M. Davey, M.D., 2009.

Arrangement

Organized in two series: 1. Lucia and John Fulton letters to the Wheatland family. 2. Other correspondence and miscellany.

Associated Materials

John Farquhar Fulton papers, MS 1238, Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library; John Farquhar Fulton papers in the Medical Historical Library, Ms Coll 2, Cushing/Whitney Medical Library.

Extent

1 Linear Feet (2 boxes)

Language of Materials

English

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.0038

Abstract

Lucia Pickering Wheatland married John Fulton, who was in Oxford on a Rhodes fellowship, in 1923. The collection contains correspondence from Lucia and John Fulton in Oxford to Lucia's parents, Richard and Mary Wheatland, in Massachusetts. John Fulton was named professor of physiology at Yale in 1929.

Biographical / Historical

Lucia Wheatland was born on June 26, 1899, in Salem, Massachusetts, the daughter of Richard and Mary Robinson Wheatland. She grew up at her parents' country home in Topsfield, near Salem, and attended Milton Academy. Through her brother Stephen Wheatland who attended Harvard College, she met John F. Fulton. Fulton, who graduated from Harvard College in 1921, received a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford. Lucia Wheatland married John Fulton in Oxford on September 29, 1923. As a Rhodes Fellow, John Fulton spent two years at Magdalen College, Oxford, and then a further two years at Oxford as a Christopher Welch Scholar and demonstrator in physiology. He worked under the neurophysiologist, Charles Sherrington. The Fultons lived around the corner from Lady Grace Revere Osler, widow of Sir William Osler, who lived at 13 Norham Gardens. Lady Osler offered her hospitality, mentored Lucia Fulton in household management and entertaining, and made Osler's book collection freely available to John Fulton. Fulton received a B.A. from Oxford in 1923, and an M.A. and D. Phil. in 1925. In the summer of 1925, the Fultons returned to Boston where John Fulton received his M.D. at Harvard Medical School in 1927. In 1927-1928 Fulton worked under Harvey Cushing as an associate neurological fellow at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston. The Fultons returned to Oxford in 1928, where John Fulton was a fellow at Magdalen College. Fulton was appointed professor of physiology at Yale in 1929.

Custodial History

Lycurgus Davey, a neurosurgeon and member of the Yale Medical faculty, was a graduate of Yale College (1939) and Yale School of Medicine (1943). These letters were probably lent by Lucia Fulton to Dr. Davey who wrote historical articles on Fulton.

Processing Information

Most of the correspondence was found in envelopes from which one could determine the year and what other letters or clippings were enclosed.

Title
Guide to Fulton-Wheatland Family Correspondence
Author
Finding aid by Toby A. Appel
Date
2012
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description note
Finding aid written in English.

Part of the Medical Historical Library, Cushing/Whitney Medical Library Repository

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