Scope and Content Note
The papers of Freddy Homburger (1916-2001) span the years 1926-1990, with the bulk of the papers ranging from 1941 through 1989. Born in Switzerland and educated there and in Austria, Homburger came to the United States in 1941 to continue his medical education. He remained in the United States and became a citizen in 1952. The papers document the wide range of activities in Homburger's multifaceted career as a physician who gained recognition for treating the crippling arthritis of French painter Raoul Dufy, as a scientist specializing in cancer research, as an honorary consul of Switzerland, and as an artist and art collector. The papers consist of three series, a Subject File , a Speeches and Writings File , and Oversize .
The Subject File , 1926-1987, documents activities and interests in Homburger's personal and professional life and contains correspondence, reports, certificates, brochures, and clippings. Three folders of academic records are valuable for tracing Homburger's medical education and his developing career as a physician and biomedical research scientist and contain correspondence with clinical investigators George R. Minot and William B. Castle of the Thorndike Memorial Laboratory at Boston City Hospital and Cornelius Packard Rhoads of the then new Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research. Other interesting items are Homburger's letters to his parents, written in French and German, during his time at the University of Vienna and a remembrance of that period written in response to an inquiry in 1983. There are also accounts of his medical treatment of artists Dufy and Jacques Lipchitz. A record of professional trips is contained in the "Travels" folder, which documents meetings with officials of the Gesell Institute of Child Development, United States Public Health Service, Warner-Hudnut Company, and Hoffmann-La Roche, Inc., and individuals such as Mary Lasker and Florence Mahoney regarding research projects and art shows. Museum and dealer catalogs also document Homburger's career as an artist.
The Speeches and Writings File , 1944-1990, is divided into the following sections: book reviews, creative writing, editorials, letters to editors, memoirs, prepared statements, speeches, scientific publications, translations, and unpublished writings. Of autobiographical interest is Homburger's memoir, "Life is a Short Story," which is an account of his life from childhood into his seventies. Homburger's scientific work, which included the development of new inbred strains of hamsters, some of which are used throughout the world for experimental purposes in studying disease, and the demonstration that cigarette smoke inhaled by hamsters can cause invasive cancer of the larynx, is documented in the memoirs, scientific publications, speeches, unpublished writings, editorials, and letters to editors subseries. The speeches and book reviews subseries reflect Homburger's views about the United States and his native land of Switzerland during his service as honorary Swiss consul in Boston. Homburger's creative writings span the period 1946-1989 and consist of novels, short stories, poems, and lyrics.
Prominent correspondents not mentioned previously include Julien D. Cornell and John W. McCormack.