Scope and Content Note
The papers of Joel Thompson Boone (1889-1974) span the years 1759-1971, with the bulk of the material dating from 1905 to 1971. The papers are organized into the following series: Alphabetical File , White House File , Personal File , Hoover Commission File , Memoir , Speech File , Clippings File , Miscellany , and Oversize . The papers remain primarily organized as received and as a result, some sections are unarranged and some topics are found in several different locations in the papers. Boone's unpublished memoir covers all aspects of his varied career as a navy medical officer and as such offers additional material on subjects that appear in other parts of the papers.
The Alphabetical File combines subject files and personal names into an alphabetical listing. Topics of special interest in the Alphabetical File are closely related to files in other series. Material on coal mines and the coal industry appears in both the Alphabetical File and in Miscellany and relates to Boone's work on A Medical Survey of the Bituminous-Coal Industry, a study led by him for the Interior Department. Items documenting the development of the Fleet Marine Force in the 1930s and 1940s are in both the Alphabetical File and in the Miscellany under "photographs." World War I material, in particular the work of the Marine Medical Corps., can be found in many places in the papers. World War I material in the Alphabetical File is in the folders titled "Second Division, American Expeditionary Forces" along with letters in the Personal File and photographs and scrapbooks in the Miscellany and Oversize series. Of special interest under "Third Fleet" is material on the release in World War II of American prisoners of war in Japan in 1945. Boone served as the task force medical officer. Most of the documents from Boone's tenure as chief medical director of the Veterans Administration are in the Alphabetical File.
The White House File features Boone's service as personal physician to Presidents Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover, and their family members. The series also treats his work with the Commission on the Organization of the Executive Branch of the Government, commonly called the Hoover Commission. Additionally, the file includes collected material about other presidential administrations, government officials, and Rapidan Camp, or "Camp Hoover," in Shenandoah National Park.
The Personal File includes family papers, biographical material, and personal correspondence. Of special interest are typed transcripts of Boone's diaries covering his White House years from 1922 to 1929 and his personal correspondence while serving in both World Wars I and II.
Boone worked on his memoir from 1961 to 1970, but was unable to complete the work because of health concerns. The Boone papers were largely gathered in support of his research for the memoir.
The Speech File contains only speeches from his time as chief medical director at the Veterans Administration.
The Clippings File is composed of news clipppings gathered and organized by Boone.
The Miscellany series has a variety of printed matter, photographs, oral histories, and interviews with Boone as well as additional material on coal mining, the Hoover Commission, and World War I.