Scope and Content Note
The papers of John William Colbert (1880-1965), tropical pathologist and physician, span the years 1895-1966, with the bulk of the material dating from 1903 to 1944. The papers include articles, artwork, correspondence, diaries, research materials, and speeches and lectures and are organized into the following series: Correspondence, Writings, Miscellany, and Oversize.
Known to friends and family as "Doc," Colbert led a distinguished life and career in various world locales. He contributed substantially to research on tropical diseases; trained the first group of nurses in Puerto Rico; assisted in relief efforts following the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and firestorm; accompanied American Expeditionary Forces to Russia in 1918 in support of that country's short-lived republican regime; led the first international relief expedition to reach Yokohama-shi, Japan, following the disastrous earthquake and fire of 1923; lived in China during the severe political and social disorder of the 1920s and 1930s; and pioneered modern medical techniques in Afghanistan following World War II.
Colbert's papers document his experiences in World War I, in China during the interwar years, and in World War II. Serving dual commissions in the French and American armies during the First World War, Colbert was one of few Americans to participate in the conflict from beginning to end. He witnessed battles in France, Belgium, and the Dardanelles. After the war, Colbert began a medical practice in Tientsin (now Tianjin), China, where many foreign nationals lived and where he had connections through his first wife, Fritzi Cutts, an Englishwoman born in China. His papers record the debilitating social and political disorder in that country and the activities of American and European nationals living in Tientsin. Prior to World War II, Colbert founded and led the Woman's Ambulance and Defense Corps of America (WADCA), a forerunner of later government efforts to involve women in wartime activities.