Archives Center, National Museum of American History

Guide to the K. K. Nygaard Papers

Summary

Collection ID:
NMAH.AC.0378
Creators:
Nygaard, Kaare K., 1903-1989
Dates:
1921-1986
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
1 Cubic foot
2 boxes
Repository:
The collection includes drafts of chapters and sections (some hand written) of Nygaard's book Hemorrhagic Diseases.

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
The collection includes drafts of chapters and sections (some hand written) of Nygaard's book Hemorrhagic Diseases. A twenty-two page typed draft represents a chapter of a book (title and date unknown) on "The photoelectric principle and its application to problems of medical interest." Also included are a large number of file cards recording Nygaard's handwritten notes on patient's cases and his research.

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
Kaare K. Nygaard (1903 1989) was a native of Norway who received an M.D. from Royal Frederiks University, Oslo, in 1929. He immigrated to the United States, where he spent a 5 year residency at the Mayo Clinic as a surgeon and researcher on blood. During World War II he organized a wing of the White Plains (N.Y.) Hospital to care for sick and wounded Norwegian merchant seamen at minimal costs; he operated on 4,000 of them. He continued as a general surgeon at White Plains for 40 years, retiring in 1979.
Dr. Nygaard was the author of Hemorrhagic Diseases; Photoelectric Study of Blood Coagulability (published in 1941) and also of over 50 professional papers, mostly on his research on blood. While at the Mayo Clinic he invented and patented the first machine to use photoelectric principles in blood analysis.
Before his medical career began, Dr. Nygaard was a sculptor; he continued his art work throughout his life, with public exhibitions and sales of his work. The United Nations honored his sculpture with a commemorative stamp. He published an autobiography, Knife, Life and Bronzes, in 1986.

Administration

Author
Don Darroch
Immediate Source of Acquisition
olletion donated by Gail Delgado Nygaard, May 1990.
Processing Information
Processed by Don Darroch, volunteer, 1990.
Custodial History
Collection transferred to the Archives Center from the Division of Medical Sciences (now Division of Medicine and Science) on September 7, 1990.

Using the Collection

Preferred Citation
K. K. Nygaard Papers, 1921-1986, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.

Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Blood coagulation disorders Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Medicine -- Research Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Emigration and immigration Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Surgery Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
White Plains (N.Y.) Geographic Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Norway Geographic Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
White Plains Hospital Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Mayo Clinic Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

Archives Center, National Museum of American History
P.O. Box 37012
Suite 1100, MRC 601
Washington, D.C. 20013-7012
archivescenter@si.edu