Friday, November 20, 2009

Memoirs


We acquired an unusual document titled the “Personal and Professional Memoirs of Forest Joy Pinkerton, M.D., F.A.C.S.” A large paperbound volume, its binding edge is taped and the pages are heavily tanned/foxed. An inscription and signature of the author are inked onto the top margin of the Preface, and original photographs are glued onto a few pages. (Photo of Preface, signed and dated by Pinkerton in December 1972.)

Information on Dr. Pinkerton is available online (www.lowellpl.lib.in.us/pinkert.htm). He was born in Lowell, Indiana in 1892 (died 1974), but eventually came to Hawaii where he stayed and made significant contributions to the community. Here’s the Memoir's Table of Contents:

Chapter I: Ancestry and Boyhood
Chapter II: Medical School
Chapter III: Professional Career
Chapter IV: Kahunaism and Old Hawaiian Customs
Chapter V: Leprosy (History in Hawaii, Father Damien, My experiences with Leprosy)
Chapter VI: History of the Pan-Pacific Surgical Association
Chapter VII: Chamber of Commerce Public Health Committee
Chapter VIII: History of the Blood Bank of Hawaii, Review of World War II, Office of Civilian Defense and Procurement Assignment Service
Chapter IX: 1953 Consultant’s Trip to Far Eastern Combat Theater
Chapter X: 1956 Far East Tour-Consultant, Lecture and Pleasure
Chapter XI: 1958 Trip to Medical Meetings & Personal European Tour
Chapter XII: 1961 Consultant’s Trip to Far Eastern Military Theater
Chapter XIII: Pan-Pacific Surgical Association
Chapter XIV: 1963 Mobile Educations Seminar
Chapter XV: 1967 European Tour

Dr. Pinkerton specialized in “eye, ear, nose, throat and larynx,” and beginning in 1918, he regularly treated the lepers at Kalaupapa on Molokai and at the Kalihi Receiving Station in Honolulu. In 1930, Dr. Pinkerton was appointed by Governor Poindexter to the first “Department of Lepers Hospitals and Settlement” devoted to the segregation and care of all leprosy patients at the Kalihi Receiving Station. Dr. Pinkerton’s memoirs describe the types of medical treatment available for leprosy and give a brief history of changes through medical research. Father Damien had died long before Dr. Pinkerton visited Kalaupapa, but it is fascinating to read the doctor’s observations and opinions from the early 1900s.

Another chapter in the memoir describes Dr. Pinkerton’s work in creating the first Blood Bank in Hawaii the importance of which was almost immediately evident with the attack on Pearl Harbor. Another interesting chapter is “Kahunaism and Old Hawaiian Customs,” based on Dr. Pinkerton's research and observations.

My object is not to belabor the numerous achievements and experiences of Dr. Pinkerton or review his memoir but to ask: what should be done with this document? The memoir is in delicate condition. If it warrants preservation, who should do that? Apparently the previous possessor of this memoir did not feel that they could keep it, so it came to us. If anyone has a suggestion or comment, please feel free to provide it.

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