Paul H.T. Thorlakson fonds: MSS 68, PC 84, TC 63 (A.86-58, A.87-20, A.87-23, A.87-37, A.87-48, A.91-13, A.92-31).

Dr. Paul H. T. Thorlakson:

An Inventory of His Papers at the University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections

Inventory prepared by Zenon Gawron and Richard Bennett
University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections
Winnipeg, Manitoba
(1994)

Finding aid encoded by Julianna Trivers (August 2002)
Finding aid written in English. 

Revision History

• July 26, 2005 - MSS 68, PC 84, TC 63 converted from EAD 1.0 to 2002 by v1to02.xsl (sy2003-10-15).

Table of Contents

Collection Summary

Biography of Dr. Paul H. T. Thorlakson

Scope and Contents of the Papers

Organization of the Papers

Restrictions on Use

Custodial History

Detailed Description of the Collection

A. Biographical Files 1856-1985, predominant 1928-1985

B. The Winnipeg Clinic and Research Institute 1941-1983

C. Manitoba Medical Centre

D. Professional Associations 1933-1984

E. Medical Practice 1944-1983

F. Medical Research 1931-1979

G. Community Affairs 1923-1984

H. The First International Congress on Group Medicine 1968-1972

I. Canada Iceland Centennial Conference 1973-1981

Photograph Collection (PC 84)

Tape Collection (TC 63) 1949-1986, [19-?]

Glass Slide Collection, 1958-[19-?]

Collection Summary

Repository:
University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections
Elizabeth Dafoe Library, Winnipeg MB R3T 2N2
Creator:
Dr. Paul H. T. Thorlakson

Title:
Dr. Paul H. T. Thorlakson fonds

Dates:
1906-1986

Quantity:
7.5 m of textual records. -- 653 photographs. 9 audiocassettes. -- 6 audio reels. -- 1 phonograph records. -- 2 video cassettes.

Identification:
MSS 68, PC 84, TC 63

Language
English.

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Biography of Dr. Paul H. T. Thorlakson

The career of Paul H.T. Thorlakson, M.D. had taken on legendary proportions even before his death in 1989 after a long life of dedication to his medical profession and to his community. A book has been written about him, a hospital building named after him, and a research foundation established to honour his memory. [T.A. Cunnings, The Saga of Doctor Thor . Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 1986.] It is fitting, therefore, that his collection of personal papers and office and research archives be preserved at the University of Manitoba and fully described in this printed research tool for the benefit of future scholarship. This short introductory article cannot completely encompass the life of one of Canada’s leading medical figures. It may serve, however, to highlight events, underline interests, substantiate his contributions, and point the serious scholar toward further research in medical history, medical research, biography, Manitoba and Western Canadian history and Icelandic-Canadian studies.

Paul Thorlakson, The third of six children, was born 5 October 1895, the son of an Icelandic father and a Norwegian mother, in Part River, North Dakota. In 1900 the family moved to Canada when his father accepted the pastorship of a small Lutheran Church in Selkirk, Manitoba. At the age of nineteen, having determined to practise medicine, young Thorlakson enrolled in the Manitoba Medical College in Winnipeg. World War One service interrupted his studies but his experience overseas provided him with the opportunities to learn about the sufferings of those who were wounded in that protracted conflict. These experiences also impressed upon his naturally inquiring mind the importance of medical research and the application of sound surgical principles.

After his return and upon completing his medical studies, Dr. Thorlakson graduated in 1919 and interned at the Children’s Hospital, then located in north Winnipeg. From May 1919 until November 1920, he practiced with Dr. W.H. Brothers in the small Manitoba town of Shoal Lake, some 200 miles northwest of Winnipeg. This rural experience introduced him not only to a wide range of medical practices and techniques but it also taught him the necessity for constant improvisation and common sense. It was also in Shoal Lake where he met his future wife, Gladys M. Henry of Killarney, Manitoba, a graduate in Home Economics from the University of Manitoba.

Immediately after their wedding in late 1920, the young couple left for England –at the specific advice of Thorlakson’s university mentor, Dr. Neil John Maclean – to study surgery under some of the most eminent surgeons of the day. After two and a half years of intensive training though clinical sessions, ward rounds, surgical operations, Thorlakson gained membership into the Royal College of Surgeons of England.

In 1923, upon the successful completion of his studies overseas, Dr. Thorlakson and his wife returned to Manitoba where, at the invitation of Dr. Maclean and Dr. John A. Gunn, “Thor” joined the Maclean-Gunn Clinic in the new Medical Arts Building on Graham Street in downtown Winnipeg. Three years later, following Dr. Gunn’s departure, Thorlakson became junior partner of the new Maclean-Thorlakson Clinic. Over the next twelve years his practice grew, his management abilities sharpened, and his skills as a gifted surgeon and clinical researcher became better known. He was appointed a Lecturer and later, in 1935, Assistant Professor of Surgery in the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Manitoba.

During these years, the Thorlaksons began to raise a family and welcomed into their home twin sons, T. Kenneth and Robert H. and a daughter, Tannis. Despite his busy schedule, Thorlakson found the time to support his wife in raising their children. The two boys followed in their father’s footsteps becoming successful Winnipeg surgeons and Tannis, wife of George T. Richardson, is known and respected for her positive influence in community affairs.

In 1938, Dr. Thorlakson changed the name of the Maclean-Thorlakson Clinic to the Winnipeg Clinic – one of the earliest multi-specialty private group practice clinics in Canada. He purchased the vacant lot at the corner of St. Mary and Vaughan streets and during the next four years, despite the war-time shortage of labour and commodities, planned, arranged the financing and oversaw the construction of a new two-storey medical building. This facility, expanded to five floors in 1947 and to twelve floors in 1959/60, is a Winnipeg landmark.

The Clinic did not own its new property, its new building, or the subsequent enlargements. Dr. Thorlakson, as founder of the Clinic had stipulated that the building should not represent a steadily increasing asset registered in his name or that of any senior group of members. To this end he deeded the building and property to a Foundation organized for the purpose of supporting medical education and research in the community. With the transfer of these assets a nucleus was created around which local financial support could accumulate. The Manitoba Institutes for the Advancement of Medical Education and Research was incorporated by the Legislative Assembly in March 1943. [Thorlakson, T. Kenneth. “The Winnipeg Clinic – How an Idea Became a Reality.” Manitoba Medicine Vol. 62, number 4, (1992): p. 140.]

The Winnipeg Clinic quickly earned its full share of supporters and detractors. Solo practitioners and small partnerships worried about the possible loss of patients and unfair competition. Supporters pointed to improved quality of care, greater efficiency in service, and the freeing of doctors from administrative concerns. Such a collegial atmosphere also allowed for and encouraged intercommunication and exchange of new methods, ideas and techniques among specialists creating in the process an educational training ground. Evidence for this was the fact that the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada recognized the Clinic at that time it as an approved teaching site for specialist certificates in internal medicine. The Clinic Also provided a two-year graduate course for general practitioners and published a professional journal – The Winnipeg Clinic Quarterly – featuring articles by its own members.

What distinguished Thorlakson’s career from that of so many of his capable Winnipeg contemporaries were his efforts to develop a favorable climate for research in Manitoba. Thorlakson was appointed a member of the first Associate Committee on Medical Research in 1938, forerunner of today’s Medical Research Council of Canada. At a time of a rapidly developing interest in medical research, this committee was established by the National Research Council to study the state of medical research in Canada. Sir Frederick Banting, M.D., internationally regarded for his discovery of insulin, was chair of this committee. Knowing little about the state of medical research in western Canada, Banting asked Thorlakson to accompany him on a comprehensive tour of hospital and research facilities in Manitoba and throughout the West in late 1938. The two men soon formed a close friendship.

The results of Thorlakson’s six-year service on this national committee included federal recognition of the many research possibilities in Winnipeg and other western centers, the awarding of growing numbers of research grants to Manitoba researchers, and the securing of major federal research funds for local initiatives. Thorlakson also prepared the brief urging the federal government to upgrade the Associate Committee on Medical Research into a Division of Medical Research of the National Research Council of Canada.

Thorlakson’s commitment to research secured additional benefits. He played a key role in attracting to Manitoba such leading researchers as Dr. Joseph Doupe, a brilliant medical physiologist and teacher. Dr. Doupe was appointed the first Director of the newly established Department of Medical Research at the University of Manitoba in 1946.

Thorlakson’s interests in improving medical practice largely explain his active role in the development and ultimate incorporation of the Manitoba Medical Centre in 1945 which later (in 1973) became known as Winnipeg’s Health Sciences Centre. The combination of under-funded and over-crowded hospitals suffering the effects of a long depression and war-time cutbacks highlighted the urgent need for modernization and consolidation of facilities and services among many Winnipeg hospitals in the early 1940s. Thorlakson, ever the proponent of centralizing resources, while minimizing cost and maximizing research, took the lead in publicly promoting the consolidation of the Children’s, Grace and St. Joseph’s hospitals around the University of Manitoba’s Medical Faculty and adjacent to an enlarged and modernized Winnipeg General Hospital. The plan also called for the construction of a new children’s hospital, a reception hospital for psychiatric patients, a 200-bed women’s pavilion dedicated to obstetrical and gynecological services, and a new rehabilitation facility.

Although the Grace, the Shriner’s Children’s and now defunct St. Joseph’s hospitals opted out of the plan, much of the original place was eventually realized. The Women’s Pavilion was completed in 1950 at a cost of several million dollars. The Children’s Hospital was completed in 1956 at a cost of $4 million and the central or General Hospital was renovated. The hospitals share a close working relationship with the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Manitoba. The modern Health Sciences Centre is a tribute to Thorlakson’s enduring commitment to improved medical research and facilities and to his community and government leaders. In 1985, as a lasting and fitting memorial to Dr. Thor, the new multi-million dollar Paul H.T. Thorlakson medical services building of the Health Sciences Centre was dedicated.

A major achievement late in life was the First International Congress of Group Medicine which Dr. Thorlakson organized and hosted in Winnipeg in 1970. Entitled “New Horizons in Health Care,” the conference attracted some 950 delegates from around the world to discuss changing trends in world health care and group medicine. Successive conferences have since been held every three years in different countries.

Medicine, however, was not the only claim on Dr. Thorlakson’s life and talent, for he was a man of broad community interests and very much involved in causes and activities which he felt would make for a better society. Proud of his heritage, Thorlakson played a leading role in raising funds for the Chair of Icelandic Language and Literature at the University of Manitoba established in 1951, chaired the Canadian Icelandic Centennial Committee in 1974 honouring the 100th anniversary of Icelandic settlement in Canada, and served as campaign chairman to raise funds for the Betel Nursing Home in Gimli, Manitoba. He was president of the Canada Iceland Foundation which was dedicated to strengthening his service to the Icelandic-Canadian community, the government if Iceland presented Dr. Thorlakson with the Order of the Falcon. In 1974 he was appointed by the Government of Canada to represent Canada in Reykjavik at the 1100th anniversary of the settlement of Iceland.

His commitment to tolerance and mutual understanding of the different backgrounds, cultures, and languages of the varied peoples making up the Canadian experience led to his appointment in 1963 to the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism. His life-long commitment to cultural diversity and respect for all peoples also resulted in his appointment in 1975 to the Canadian Consultative Council on Multiculturalism.

His contributions to education and community service included serving as president of the Manitoba Division of the Canadian Conference on Education in 1962 and as Chancellor of the University of Winnipeg from 1969 to 1978.

This short biographical sketch cannot provide the full measure of Dr. Thorlakson. A man of his unswerving dedication and great physical stamina, he accomplished much in his long life. He left his mark on his local community and on the medical history of Canada. He was a leader and was inspiration to those he tutored and supported. Dr. Arnold Naimark, one of Thorlakson’s former students who went on to become president of the University of Manitoba, summed up his life and contributions best of all:

"There is perhaps no figure in the history of medicine in Manitoba whose influence was greater or whose legacy will be more enduring. There are many whose contribution in particular spheres were unsurpassed but none whose vision was broader; none whose grasp of the import of social developments for medical practice was firmer; none whose ability to transform grand designs into reality was greater. Throughout a career that spanned nearly three quarters of a century Dr. Thorlakson was animated by remarkable drive, tenacity and dynamism…His vision fired the imagination of many who followed in his footsteps. And he taught us to persevere in the painstaking path to genuine progress; to temper science with humanism and to give primacy to the individual."

Richard E. Bennett, Ph.D.

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Scope and Contents of the Papers

"This collection, created by a prominent surgeon in private practice and community worker of high inter-national repute, is undoubtedly one of the finest physician’s collections in Canada…an essential source for health science historians. [It will be] of interest and value to individuals from various social science disciplines researching Manitoba’s multicultural, ethnic and business history."

So wrote the members of the National Archival Appraisal Board upon their completion of their appraisal of the Paul H.T. Thorlakson Collection in January of 1987. The Collection is as rich and diverse as was Dr. Thorlakson’s breadth of vision. He was a man of great ability and wide interests, characteristics which are evidenced in this splendid collection of his personal and career papers.

This archival collection is complete, extensive and definitive. This is because it is so rich in personal and biographical papers but even fuller in its coverage of his practice as a Winnipeg surgeon and as a professor of surgery. Likewise, the collection captures his medical research and his extensive writings as a physician committed not only to his patients but also to publishing his findings in scholarly journals. For Dr. Thorlakson was more than a skillful surgeon – he was a scholar and clinical researcher, constant in his support of those with similar interests.

His pioneering efforts in establishing group practice as a major medical delivery entity are especially well documented as evidenced by a large number of personal and administrative records on his founding and development of the Winnipeg Clinic. So also is his every day practice carefully recorded including operations and daily interview records. From this base, the Collection documents his involvement with local and international medical affairs including the Manitoba Medical Centre, the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Manitoba, and his leadership in organizing the First International Congress of Group Medicine.

The papers are also reflective of his extensive community involvement with numerous educational, multicultural, and social programs and initiatives, not the least of which were his nine years as Chancellor of the University of Winnipeg and his continuing involvement with the Icelandic-Canadian community of which he was so proud to be part.

The reasons for such a complete archive are not hard to ascertain. First of all, Dr. Thorlakson was thorough and deliberate in all his activities with a keenly developed historical consciousness. Secondly, his career-long personal secretary, Edith Banks, was meticulous in her record-keeping and had developed a careful system of arrangement and description of Dr. Thorlakson’s extensive files. Her arrangement has been largely preserved in this fonds, including file folders and sub-series arrangements.

The Thorlakson papers are divided into the same subject groupings as the original office files (with some minor variations). A short essay precedes each sub-series describing more of the unique characteristics of each record grouping.

Despite the fullness of the fonds, some types of records were never a part of Thorlakson’s papers. For instance, there are no daily diaries or personal journals (save for a few overseas travel logs), although there are numerous desk diaries of appointments. Nor are there any oral histories. The photograph collection, though not large, is nevertheless comprehensive and valuable.

The strength of the fonds lies in its abundant and substantive correspondence (thousands of letters) with people from all walks of life – prime ministers, researchers like Sir Frederick Banting and Dr. Joseph Doupe, and surgeons and cancer specialists from all over the world.

Throughout the register, the correspondence is arranged first by incoming letters, then Dr. Thorlakson’s responses and outgoing letters, followed by third-party correspondence. Often this latter category contains letters sent out by Miss Edith Banks at Dr. Thorlakson’s request or letters between Miss Banks and Dr. Thorlakson. Also included in third-party correspondence are letters signed by both Dr. and Mrs. Thorlakson. The names of correspondents are arranged in the order in which they appear in the files, usually chronologically. This strictly chronological sequence, however, is interrupted somewhat by our combining multiple letters from the same person in one entry and numbering how many letters exist from that person in that particular folder (example “Johnson, George (4)”). An index provides cross-referencing to correspondents by name. Memos are not included in the correspondence listings.

Next in importance are his administrative records (particularly of the Winnipeg Clinic), the organizational files of the First International Congress on Group Medicine, and his extensive written material such as papers, studies, remarks and speeches. These latter records are as important to understanding his work in the community – especially in regards to Manitoba education and to Canada’s Icelandic community – as they are to his medical career.

Finally, the serious scholar must be alerted to the existence of other collections in the archives which relate to the Thorlakson Collection. These include the papers of his unpublished biographers Dr. George Houser and Dr. Ross Mitchell, the records of Dr. Bruce Chown, university records such as the papers of the Office of the President and the Faculty of Medicine (available at the Faculty of Medicine), the Paul H.T. Thorlakson Foundation archives, and the large newsclipping and photograph collection of the Winnipeg Tribune. This latter reference collection is replete with information on the development of the Health Sciences Centre in downtown Winnipeg and on other medical researchers and practitioners over the past half-century.

An index to correspondents and a list of Dr. Thorlakson's speeches, publications, and remarks can be found in the paper version of this finding aid.

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Organization of the Papers

This collection is organized into 10 series.

• A. Biographical Files, 1856-1985; predominant 1928-1985
• B. The Winnipeg Clinic and Research Institute, 1941-1983
• C. Manitoba Medical Centre
• D. Professional Associations, 1933-1984
• E. Medical Practice, 1944-1983
• F. Medical Research, 1931-1979
• G. Community Affairs, 1923-1984
• H. The First International Congress on Group Medicine, 1968-1972
• I. Canada Iceland Centennial Conference, 1973-1981

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Restrictions on Use

It is the stated intent of the Thorlakson family to make the Collection “available for research and consultation by both members of [the] family, the scholarly community, and other researchers.” Otherwise, the only statement governing access, taken from the deed of gift, is as follows:

In the case of any document or collection where any privileged or confidential relationship may exist, such as a relationship between doctor and patient or between doctor and another doctor or between lawyer and client, names of patients, names of doctors, names of clients, names of lawyers, will not be published. In the event of any uncertainty on the part of the person or researcher examining the document or the collection as to whether or not the use of publication by that person or researcher would violate this covenant the matter is to be referred to the Head of Archives and Special Collections, whose decision shall be final and binding on all parties.

All users of the collection must abide by the current copyright laws of Canada as regulated and changed by Parliament from time to time. They must also abide by the rules of access and conduct laid out by Archives & Special Collections.

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Custodial History

At the age of 91, three years before his death, Dr. Paul H.T. Thorlakson donated his extensive collection of personal and career papers to the University of Manitoba. This occasion was marked by a special reception in his honour hosted by the University the night of 3 December 1986. The gift occurred at the same time as the publication of T.A.J. Cunning’s fine biography of Dr. Thorlakson entitled The Saga of Doctor Thor (Winnipeg: The University of Manitoba, 1986).

Dr. Arnold Naimark, President of the University and former Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, was instrumental in securing the collection. An early and devoted student of Dr. Thorlakson, President Naimark had approached Archives & Special Collections in May 1986 to initiate action. Thereupon, Dr. Richard Bennett, Head Archivist, met frequently with the sons, Dr. Kenneth Thorlakson and Dr. Robert Thorlakson, as well as Edith Banks to prepare for delivery. The papers were shipped to the University on 24 November 1986. A few additional boxes of records arrived in April 1987.

In January 1987 members from the National Archival Appraisal Board appraised the collection which was subsequently declared “cultural property” or a Gift to Canada by the Cultural Property Export Review Board in Ottawa. Such certifications signify that the records have “outstanding significance” to the history and culture of the nation.

After some delay, work began on the task of processing the collection. With supplementary funds provided by members of the Thorlakson family, Mr. Donald A. Thompson, and by the Paul H.T. Thorlakson Foundation, the collection was eventually organized, processed, and catalogued by Zenon Gawron, a project archivist contracted for this specific purpose. Mr. Gawron has produced excellent work, filled with detail and commentary.

The archives of the Paul H.T. Thorlakson Foundation are not part of this collection but have been committed for delivery at a later date.

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Detailed Description of the Collection

      A. Biographical Files 1856-1985, predominant 1928-1985

Boxes #1-6 constitute the first sub-series within the Thorlakson Collection and may be described generally as “Biographical Files.” The majority of these records are Dr. Thorlakson’s personal correspondence with close family members and friends, reminiscences, anecdotes, family histories and genealogies. Special anniversaries, celebrations and reunions are well documented, as is his nomination for Lieutenant-Governor of the Province of Manitoba. The several hundred letters to and from medical colleagues often say as much about their mutual friend-ships as they do about the practice of medicine.

Of special note are the original manuscripts of biographies of Dr. Thorlakson as written by Dr. George Houser, Dr. Ross Mitchell, and T.A.J Cunnings whose work The Saga of Dr. Thor (1986) owes much to the groundlaying research efforts of Dr. Houser. The early drafts of Houser’s published biography on the Reverend Paul Thorlakson, uncle to Dr. Thorlakson, are likewise included.

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      ADDRESSES AND REMARKS BY DR. THORLAKSON 1966-1986

ANECDOTES RECALLED BY DR. AND MRS. THORLAKSON 1968-1981

ARCHIVES – CORRESPONDENCE AND INVENTORIES RELATIVE TO DR. THORLAKSON’S PAPERS 1971-1984

CORRESPONDENCE – PERSONAL, FILE ONE 1970-1984

PERSONAL CORRESPONDENCE – FILE TWO 1928-1969
 

PROFESSIONAL CORRESPONDENCE WITH OTHER PHYSICIANS AND HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONALS – FILE ONE 1948-1985
 

PROFESSIONAL CORRESPONDENCE WITH OTHER PHYSICIANS AND HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONALS – FILE TWO 1929-1968

BIOGRAPHY – GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS COLLEGE – DR. THORLAKSON”S STUDENT RECORD AND RELATED CORRESPONDENCE 1971-1979

LIEUTENANT- GOVERNOR OF MANITOBA – CORRESPONDENCE URGING DR. THORLAKSON’S APPOINTMENT AS 1965

MISCELLANEOUS 1943-1984

POETRY 1936-1947
 

WEDDING ANNIVERSARIES – FIFTIETH AND SIXTIETH

THORLAKUR GUNNAR JONSSON – CORRESPONDENCE, ORIGINAL LETTERS, TRANSCRIPTION AND TRANSLATION 1856-1912
 

FAMILY HISTORY – THORLAKUR GUNNAR JONSSON - GENEALOGY 1979
 

FAMILY HISTORY – REVEREND PALL THORLAKSSON – CERTIFICATE AND TESTIMONIAL - 1872-1875

FAMILY HISTORY – RYNNING FAMILY – GENEALOGY, CORRESPONDENCE AND INFORMATION PERTAINING TO 1948-1979
 

FAMILY HISTORY – NIELS STEINGRIMUR AND ERIKA RYNNING THORLAKSSON – PERSONAL RECORDS AND REFERENCE MATERIAL 1889, 1943-1947

PERSONAL CORRESPONDENCE – DR. THORLAKSON TO HIS PARENTS AND SIBLINGS 1906-1935

FAMILY CORRESPONDENCE WITH DR. THORLAKSON’S SISTER, ANNE MARGRETHE (LOA) SIGMAR & OTHERS 1913-1980
 

FAMILY HISTORY – THORLAKSON FAMILY REUNION – SEATTLE, WASHINGTON 1977

BIOGRAPHY – HOUSER, DR. GEORGE – CORRESPONDENCE, RE: BOOK 1976-1981

BIOGRAPHY – HOUSER, DR. GEORGE – CORRESPONDENCE WITH DR. RICHARD BECK 1977-1979

BIOGRAPHY – HOUSER, DR. GEORGE – CORRESPONDENCE WITH REV. BRAGI FRIDRIKSSON 1977-1982

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THE WINNIPEG CLINIC – ACT OF INCORPORATION AND BY-LAWS

      B. The Winnipeg Clinic and Research Institute 1941-1983

Boxes #7-9 document the history and development of the Winnipeg Clinic which Dr. Thorlakson founded in 1938. These Clinic records consist of administrative correspondence, medical records, legal and financial records, annual reports, and various progress reports, histories and memoranda. Five years later, in 1943, the Winnipeg Clinic Research Institute was founded and much of its history is similarly documented in correspondence, speeches and reports from 1943 to the early 1980’s.

THE WINNIPEG CLINIC – ACT OF INCORPORATION AND BY-LAWS
 

THE WINNIPEG CLINIC – PRESENTATION OF BRONZE BUST 1970-1971

THE WINNIPEG CLINIC – EXPANSION

THE WINNIPEG CLINIC – GENERAL BUSINESS

THE WINNIPEG CLINIC – GENERAL MEDICINE

THE WINNIPEG CLINIC – HISTORICAL NOTES BY DR. P.H.T. THORLAKSON 1966
 

WINNIPEG CLINIC – PRESENT AND FUTURE TRENDS IN GROUP PRACTICE
 

THE WINNIPEG CLINIC – MEDICAL RECORDS
 

THE WINNIPEG CLINIC – MEMORANDA BY DR. THORLAKSON 1958-1973

THE WINNIPEG CLINIC – PERSONAL FILE 1942-1975

THE WINNIPEG CLINIC – PRESIDENTS AND DIRECTOR’S REPORTS 1946-1967

THE WINNIPEG CLINIC – PROFESSIONAL STAFF 1949-1981

THE WINNIPEG CLINIC QUARTERLY 1964-1973

THE WINNIPEG CLINIC – NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE WINNIPEG FOUNDATION, RE: NEW BUILDING, 1942

THE WINNIPEG CLINIC – JAMES ROSS JENKINS MEMORIAL SYMPOSIA 1972-1984

THE WINNIPEG CLINIC – PAUL H.T. THORLAKSON FOUNDATION 1975-1983
 

THE WINNIPEG CLINIC – WINNIPEG CLINIC RESEARCH INSTITUTE - GENERAL 1942-1980

THE WINNIPEG CLINIC – WINNIPEG CLINIC RESEARCH INSTITUTE – REPORTS 1943-1973

THE WINNIPEG CLINIC – WINNIPEG CLINIC RESEARCH INSTITUTE – THIRTY-FIFTH ANNIVERSARY, 1978

THE WINNIPEG CLINIC – WINNIPEG CLINIC RESEARCH INSTITUTE AND P.H.T. THORLAKSON FOUNDATION DINNER, 1980.

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     C. Manitoba Medical Centre

The Manitoba Medical Centre was incorporated by Act of the Manitoba Legislature in 1945. This resulted from years of negotiations aimed at consolidating various hospital services throughout the city of Winnipeg into a centralized facility next to the Manitoba Medical College in downtown Winnipeg. The plan called for the relocation of the Children’s Hospital from Aberdeen Avenue and St. John’s Hospital from its Salter Street location, the transfer of the Grace Hospital, and the construction of a separate maternity hospital – the Women’s Pavilion. Arguments in favour of this consolidation were newer facilities, more bed space for children, shared use of central heat, power and laundry facilities, and proximity to the clinics, laboratories, and teaching staff of the Medical College. Dr. Thorlakson, one of the plan’s keenest supporters, was elected chairman of the Medical Centre Coordinating Committee “ to keep alive and active the movement for the organization of a medical centre in the neighborhood of the Medical College and to encourage the institutions represented to carry their own individual plans steadily forward to completion.”[Cunnings, The Saga of Dr. Thor, p.186] He served in that capacity until 1962.

Much of the above plan was realized after the Second World War. In 1950, the Women’s Pavilion was ready for use, and in 1957 the new Children’s Hospital officially opened. Although St. Joseph’s Hospital and Grace Hospital refused to join in, and the Shriner’s Unit of the Children’s Hospital remained elsewhere (on Wellington Street), by the 1960s the Manitoba Medical Centre (Health Science Centre) had become a reality.

The records (boxes #8-10) of the Centre are scant but significant. Found here, for instance, are minutes of early planning and organizational committee meetings such as the Medical Centre Co-ordinating Committee and of various executive, finance and other key committees. There are also early reports, resolutions, plans, proposals and substantive correspondence.

(For more on this topic, please see Sub-series “Community Service.”)

MANITOBA MEDICAL CENTRE – MINUTE BOOK 1944-1960

MANITOBA MEDICAL CENTRE – PERMANENT FILE, VOLUME ONE 1943 TO 1944

MANITOBA MEDICAL CENTRE – PERMANENT FILE, VOLUME TWO 1945
 

MANITOBA MEDICAL CENTRE – PERMANENT FILE, VOLUME THREE – 1946- 1962