MINNESOTA PSYCHIATRY IN THE MID-TO-LATE TWENTIETH CENTURY ORAL HISTORY PROJECT:

In the late 1970s, Dr. Marvin Sukov, a Minneapolis psychiatrist and Historian of the Minnesota Psychiatric Society, recorded interviews of a number of prominent Minnesota psychiatrists who had been in practice for at least 25 years, asking them to talk about their lives and practices. He completed twelve interviews by June 1979 and decided at the outset that the audiotapes would be preserved.

After Dr. Sukov's death in 1984, all records of the Minnesota Psychiatric Society except the audiotapes were lost. The tapes came to Dr. Burtrum Schiele, professor of psychiatry at the University of Minnesota medical school who planned to summarize the tapes for a chapter in a book on the history of psychiatry in Minnesota in the late 1980s. This did not happen for unknown reasons. Dr. Deane Manolis obtained the tapes from Dr. Schiele's wife around the time of Schiele's death in 1999.

In 2008, with the support of the leadership of MPS, Dr. Manolis decided to embark on a new interview project, similar to that done thirty years earlier. Dr. David Cline, child and adolescent psychiatrist in Minneapolis, and chair of the Clinical Faculty Advisory Committee of the psychiatry department at the University of Minnesota Medical School, willingly joined him in this project. They embarked on a series of interviews throughout 2009 and into 2010 and ended up completing 23 interviews, in addition to the original twelve by Dr. Sukov, as well as an extra recording done in 1996, for a total of 36 oral histories.

This sketch and the scope and content notes that follow were written by Dr. Deane Manolis.

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Availability:

The collection is open for research use.

Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. Minnesota Psychiatry in the Mid-to-Late Twentieth Century Oral History Project. Oral history interviews of the Minnesota Psychiatry in the Mid-to-Late Twentieth Century Oral History Project. Minnesota Historical Society.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.

Accession Information:

Accession number: AV2011.14

Processing Information:

Processed by: Jennifer Huebscher, August 2011

Catalog ID number: 007401421

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Use Restrictions: None.

Scope and Content: Dr. Brauer practiced for 35 years in Minneapolis, and ten more years in surrounding rural communities. He gives a fascinating, far-ranging interview, exploring his multifaceted treatment approaches. His theme is that his patients teach him—and this led him over the years to some very unusual experiences, with "white" witches, cults, and even demon possession. Dr. Brauer had arguably the largest psychiatric practice in Minnesota, as he was a self-described "workaholic." He organized this interview ahead of time, and spoke from notes, so the interviewer has some difficulty managing the interview. Nevertheless, the reader should glean a great deal of information about multiple psychiatric treatment approaches, some of them community "firsts," in the latter 20th century.

Interviewed by: Deane Manolis.

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Use Restrictions: None.

Scope and Content: Dr. Beecher has long been one of the most visible psychiatrists in the Minnesota "House of Medicine" for a number of years. He was Minnesota bred and trained until he went to the University of Chicago for his psychiatric residency. He describes a number of fascinating experiences in that setting. Following military service in Hawaii, Dr. Beecher returned to Minnesota, and has been in private practice in Minneapolis since 1972. He notes many of the changes in psychiatric practice as others have, but his reaction has been somewhat different. As an outgrowth of the Minnesota Patient-Physician Alliance, a group that he founded in the late '90s, he now does not accept insurance as payment for his services—he will help patients file their insurance, but they must pay him directly. (He describes how this evolved.) Dr. Beecher has been very active in organized psychiatry on the state and national levels, and has served in a number of leadership positions in the Minnesota Medical Association as well.

Interviewed by: David Cline.

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Use Restrictions: None.

Scope and Content: Dr. Challman, who had an office practice of psychiatry in downtown Minneapolis beginning in 1933, was the first psychiatrist in the Twin Cities who was a trained psychotherapist, as opposed to a neuropsychiatrist. He trained under Adolph Meyer and Franklin Ebaugh, two great names in American psychiatry, but also had analytic training in New York City, the center of psychoanalysis at the time. He describes his training, and the fact he could not really believe in the tenets of psychoanalysis, instead practicing a common sense approach to therapy, with a strong belief in the value of the doctor- patient relationship. He was the first president of the Minnesota Psychiatric Society. He was on the clinical faculty of the University department of psychiatry, and supervised many residents. Dr. Challman reviews his training and practice philosophy in detail.

Interviewed by: Marvin Sukov.

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Use Restrictions: None.

Scope and Content: Dr. Clayton, the chair of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Minnesota between 1980-1999, brought a number of "firsts" to that role. She was the first woman department chair at the University of Minnesota medical school, and the first woman chair of psychiatry in the United States. Later, she became the first woman chief of medical staff at Minnesota and in the country. Dr. Clayton, born, raised, and trained in St. Louis, describes her training at Washington University, and her tenure as chair at Minnesota. During that time she changed the focus of the department, and implemented a number of initiatives that she describes, leaving a much stronger department than she found at the outset of her tenure. She also describes her current role as medical director for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

Interviewed by: David Cline.

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Use Restrictions: None.

Scope and Content: Dr. Cline practiced in Minnesota for many years, and had some unique aspects to his practice. Dr. Cline, a farm boy, trained at the University of Wisconsin. His background is a bit unusual in that he learned music, dance, and theater appreciation from an early age. After residency training, he planned an academic career, and fortuitously found a position at the University of Minnesota in 1968. He became disenchanted in time, however, and after seven years, moved to the Minneapolis VA hospital, where he was in charge of continuing education programs for all specialties. This experience of "arranging things" became valuable for him in later years. Dr. Cline began private practice in 1983. He describes the evolution of his career in detail, along with his substantial contributions to organizational psychiatry.

Interviewed by: Deane Manolis.

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Use Restrictions: None.

Scope and Content: Dr. Colman had experience working in a state mental hospital (Fergus Falls) and mental health center—Lakeland MHC, both in Fergus Falls, Minnesota. He begins his story with a long description of his genealogy and prominent family. He was a product of Harvard Medical School, but after his military duty, he was trained at the Minneapolis VA hospital psychiatric residency program. The majority of Dr. Colman's career was in Fergus Falls, and he gives a thorough description of psychiatric practice in the state hospital and of the multifaceted psychiatrist roles in a community mental health center. He was a believer in the biological model of psychosis, which he also describes.

Interviewed by: Marvin Sukov.

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Use Restrictions: None.

Scope and Content: Dr. Dorsey is a Minneapolis-bred, Minneapolis-trained psychiatrist, who practiced his entire career in Minneapolis. He was the earliest psychiatrist to be a part of the new programs to treat alcoholism effectively, helping to develop the program at St. Mary's hospital in Minneapolis, which became nationally known. He describes the early years of this program, where everyone learned by trial-and-error. Dr. Dorsey notes the learning curve in the community as well, and the gradual recognition of alcohol abuse in professionals and executives, and utilizing interventions to get people into treatment.

Interviewed by: Deane Manolis.

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Use Restrictions: None.

Scope and Content: Dr. Edwardson was born and raised in Minneapolis, and had an early interest in medicine and psychiatry. He had his psychiatric training at the University of Rochester (NY), then returned to Minnesota to practice child psychiatry. He practiced at the Wilder Child Guidance Clinic in St. Paul for his entire career, and as director from 1979 until his retirement in 2001. Dr. Edwardson provides a complete account of the practice of child psychiatry in this setting, with the changes he noted over the years. He observes becoming more comfortable prescribing medications for children in more recent years. Of interest is that his wife was Dean of the School of Nursing at the University of Minnesota for many years.

Interviewed by: David Cline.

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Use Restrictions: None.

Scope and Content: Dr. Grimes presents a great deal of historical material in his interview. He spent the majority of his career at a state mental hospital, and was superintendent of the St. Peter State Hospital for much of that time. Despite being in a rural setting, he was active in the Minnesota Psychiatric Society, including a term as president. Dr. Grimes finished medical school in the depths of the Great Depression, and had a rather informal psychiatric residency at the Minneapolis General Hospital. After a short time in a neuro-psychiatric private practice in Minneapolis, he started at St. Peter in 1937. He gives a vivid description of a large mental hospital before the advent of effective psychiatric treatment, and notes that the hospital included a large population of tuberculosis patients. He also describes in detail how hydrotherapy was utilized. The hospital was almost a self-supporting community, and higher functioning patients often went to work in surrounding communities, especially when there was a labor shortage during World War II. Dr. Grimes describes the early use of medications, including lithium, and how the hospital population dropped from the range of 2500 to the range of 500. He comments at some length on the care of geriatric patients.

Interviewed by: Marvin Sukov.

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Use Restrictions: None.

Scope and Content: Dr. Hausman was one of the few psychiatrists in both of the interview groups, not from the Midwest: he was born and raised in New York City. He was chair of the department of psychiatry at the University of Minnesota at the time of the interview. He had a twenty-year career in US Army psychiatry prior to coming to take the chairmanship in 1969—admittedly not with an academic background. He presided in the department during a tumultuous period, with wrangling between the psychology and psychiatric leadership leading to much divisiveness.

Interviewed by: Marvin Sukov.

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Use Restrictions: None.

Scope and Content: Dr. Horton is one of the few non-Midwesterners in this interview group. Born and raised in Pennsylvania, he also trained there with full psychoanalytic training at the University of Pennsylvania. He was recruited to the Twin Cities in 1978, and has practiced here since—he remains in active half-time practice at age 77. He has had two life threatening illnesses in later life—lung cancer and aortic valve disease—and has overcome each. In this interview, Dr. Horton presents information and observations on psychoanalytic practice and teaching, including his thoughts on how current research on brain physiology may fit with psychoanalytic theory.

Interviewed by: David Cline.

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Use Restrictions: None.

Scope and Content: Dr. Jordan began his training at the Mayo Clinic in internal medicine, but later became the consummate community psychiatrist. After a year in England learning community psychiatry, he began an association with the Hamm Clinic in St. Paul that lasted almost his entire career. He was the medical director there 1985-2010. Dr. Jordan gives a sensitive description of his philosophy of community psychiatry, which includes treatment, research, and training. He notes the importance of careful evaluation of each and every patient, and the use of psychotherapy as a primary treatment modality. Dr. Jordan also exemplifies the importance of psychiatrists maintaining their medical identity—he was the only psychiatrist to be elected chairman of the Ramsey County Medical Society which later became part of the Twin Cities' Medical Society.

Interviewed by: Deane Manolis.

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Use Restrictions: None.

Scope and Content: Dr. Kiesler was one of a number of psychiatrists who came into the field because of World War II experiences. After the war, he trained at the University of Minnesota, and remained on the faculty there for twelve years. He then moved to Grand Rapids, Minnesota, where he developed a unique rural mental health treatment program. He describes his experiences at the University, then his original ideas for a new model of community mental health care. Dr. Kiesler consulted with non-psychiatrist physicians and other professionals, who then provided care for people with mental disorders in the community. His Northern Pines Mental Health Clinic also utilized a team of non-physician mental health professionals, who Dr. Kiesler supervised. In this role, he served a large population in northern Minnesota, in an area the size of Massachusetts, for 30 years. He also comments on some of his personal philosophy about the sociology of mental illness.

Interviewed by: Marvin Sukov.

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Use Restrictions: None.

Scope and Content: Dr. Koch is a child-adolescent psychiatrist who has practiced public psychiatry in the Twin Cities for his entire career. He describes his experiences at the University of Minnesota and St. Paul-Ramsey hospitals, and Hennepin County Medical Center, and the changes in practice over the years. He has been a leader of the Minnesota Psychiatric Society for years, and describes aspects of his experience as a representative to the Assembly of the American Psychiatric Association, including policy formation in that organization. Dr. Koch also reviews the interesting process of change in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM). He makes cogent comments on his perceptions of the current state of psychiatry, and thoughts about the future.

Interviewed by: David Cline.

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Use Restrictions: None.

Scope and Content: Dr. Lucas was interviewed at the Mayo Clinic, where he practiced between 1971 and his retirement in 1999. For the first ten years of that time he was head of the section of Child psychiatry. He was born in Austria, and escaped to the United States over a year after World War II began. He trained in Detroit, and then at Mayo, and became an international expert on anorexia nervosa. He also provides description of his time at the Mayo Clinic and the evolution of child psychiatry.

Interviewed by: Deane Manolis.

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Use Restrictions: None.

Scope and Content: Dr. Magraw was extremely intelligent: he was a tournament bridge player at age 12, a high school graduate at age 16, and entered medical school at age 19. In addition to his teaching career at the University of Minnesota, he was dean at two medical schools, was deputy assistant Secretary of Health of the US Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, then chief of psychiatry at the Minneapolis VA hospital late in his career. He was a superb teacher, with boards in internal medicine as well as psychiatry. Magraw provides a review of his training and career, with very sensitive observations on a physician's practice and responsibility to patients.

Interviewed by: David Cline.

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Use Restrictions: None.

Scope and Content: Dr. Manolis was born, raised, and totally trained in Minneapolis. He always intended to practice clinical medicine/psychiatry, and ended up in private practice for his entire career. He describes the background of his decision to become a psychiatrist, then in some detail describes various aspects of private hospital, outpatient, and administrative practice. He also gives considerable detail about the changes in psychiatry as a result of managed care and HMOs, leading to the demise of his clinic group, and a hospital as well. He also describes the great variety in his practice, which he hopes will be available to psychiatrists in the future.

Interviewed by: David Cline.

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Use Restrictions: None.

Scope and Content: Doctors. Daggett and Mayberg recorded their recollections of the founding of the Minneapolis Clinic of Psychiatry and Neurology, a unique group practice that in the 1970s was likely the largest of its type in the United States. Dr. Mayberg is the only WWII Army Air Force fighter pilot in either subject group. They describe their training at the University of Minnesota with a number of individuals who became leaders in psychiatry elsewhere in the country, and they also describe the establishment of psychiatric treatment units in medical-surgical hospitals in Minneapolis.

Interviewed by: Donald Daggett.

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Use Restrictions: None.

Scope and Content: Dr. Morse, was the founder of Mayo's addictions/substance abuse treatment program. Born and raised on the Canadian border in International Falls, Minnesota, he trained at the University of Minnesota, but went to the Mayo Clinic for residency in psychiatry. While at the community mental health center in Rochester following residency, he became involved in substance abuse treatment by chance. Dr. Morse describes this in detail. The Mayo treatment program was different than many others; being in a large medical setting, medical (and psychiatric) treatment was integrated into the program, and this proved quite successful. Dr. Morse also notes the changes in addiction treatment, as in so many other parts of medicine and psychiatry, forced by the impact of managed care. This interview provides a sense of how the Mayo Clinic operates.

Interviewed by: Deane Manolis.

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Use Restrictions: None.

Scope and Content: Dr. Olson provides experiences of a psychiatrist practicing in northern Minnesota. He led the psychiatric group for many years at the Duluth Clinic which joined with St. Mary's hospital as "SMDC." He recounts his busy, varied practice life in detail, and the significant changes in his practice over the years. As a part of a large clinic, Dr. Olson performed many outreach activities in a three-state area. He also served two terms on the Minnesota Board of Medical Practice, in a valuable role as psychiatrist.

Interviewed by: Deane Manolis.

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Use Restrictions: None.

Scope and Content: Dr. Pennington, was one of the first woman child and adolescent psychiatrist in Minnesota. She completed medical school during World War II, when there were more women in her class than in earlier years. She practiced part-time as a pediatrician while raising her family, then started psychiatric training in 1959. Although she initially worked with college students at the University of Minnesota Student Health Service, she later was part of a comprehensive child-adolescent group practice. In the interview, she reviews her practice experiences and treatment modalities.

Interviewed by: David Cline.

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Use Restrictions: None.

Scope and Content: Dr. Pollock graduated from high school at 15 and finished medical school by age 21. From early age he had a type of arthritis, which turned out to be ankylosing spondylitis, that affected his life significantly and one of the reasons he gravitated to psychiatry. After psychiatric training in Colorado, and working for a few years in Indiana, he returned to Minneapolis in 1955, and was a community psychiatrist from then on. This interview contains much of Dr. Pollock's philosophy, but the story of his eventual practice at the Hennepin County Medical Center and the Hennepin County Mental Health Center is also included. Towards the end he describes some personal thoughts about what happens in psychotherapy. He also describes retiring because of metastatic prostate cancer.

Interviewed by: David Cline.

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Use Restrictions: None.

Scope and Content: Dr. Posey was the first African-American psychiatrist to practice in Minnesota. After his medical training and time in the US Navy, he came to Minnesota on the advice of a relative who was here, who thought there was opportunity for a medical practice. He started a family practice, supplemented by general medical work at a state mental hospital. He found he enjoyed the work there, and ended up in a psychiatric residency at the VA hospital, Minneapolis. Dr. Posey spent his entire career in the Minneapolis VA system, although he also was a long-time consultant in a public clinic in inner-city Minneapolis. He describes his VA experience in detail, particularly as he founded the day treatment concept for the entire VA system. He notes that many of the returning Viet-Nam veterans did well in this partial-hospitalization approach.

Interviewed by: Deane Manolis.

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Use Restrictions: None.

Scope and Content: Dr. Resch was primarily a neurologist, rather than a psychiatrist, but he had perspectives on both specialties at the University of Minnesota. He was in the military for more than six years before and during World War II, practicing neuropsychiatry, but he became more interested in neurology. Following his neurology training at Minnesota, he was in private neuro-psychiatric practice for a number of years. But eventually, he and partner Harold Noran were the very first to practice neurology alone as a specialty. He returned to the University full-time in 1962 to do research and teaching. He became chair of the department of neurology, and ultimately Vice-president for Health Sciences of the University. Dr. Resch describes his experience with the post-war years' faculty of both specialties at the University, and then he provides a description of the development of neurology as a medical specialty. He describes the training of neurologists and a number of research topics. He also describes the dynamics of running a complex medical teaching and research program in detail.

Interviewed by: Marvin Sukov.

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Use Restrictions: None.

Scope and Content: Dr. Regan was a private practice psychiatrist in Minneapolis for most of his career. He was the only psychiatrist president of the Minnesota Medical Association, an honor that he achieved in 1973. He had all of his training in Minneapolis; he was a family practitioner for a short time following his Navy service in WWII. He practiced in Hawaii for a few years after his psychiatric training in Minnesota, and then returned to Minnesota for the rest of his career. In this interview, he describes his practice and practice philosophy, with different treatment approaches. He also expresses concern about the social attitudes about mental illness, and some specific need for training psychiatrists.

Interviewed by: Marvin Sukov.

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Use Restrictions: None.

Scope and Content: Dr. Rome was a long-time head of psychiatry at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, and the only Minnesota psychiatrist to become president of the American Psychiatric Association, in 1965. He also became president of the World Psychiatric Association later in his career. Under his influence, psychiatry became a respected specialty at the Mayo Clinic, and research flourished. He was extremely erudite in speaking and writing, and his interview demonstrates this well. He describes his training and practice in Philadelphia, rubbing shoulders with some of the giants in American psychiatry. He was a psychiatrist in the Pacific theater in World War II. He came to Mayo in 1947, and continued there for the rest of his career. He describes psychiatric practice at Mayo, and the development of the psychiatric training program. Dr. Sukov asks some provocative questions in this interview, which gives Dr. Rome a chance to provide his opinions on various aspects of psychiatry and its future.

Interviewed by: Marvin Sukov.

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Use Restrictions: None.

Scope and Content: Dr. Rowe was a St. Paul native who was educated locally, and spent his entire career in St. Paul. He was a physician who got acquainted with psychiatry during World War II, then was formally trained after the war. He describes his training at the University of Minnesota, and his time as faculty there. After being the founding medical director of the Hamm Clinic in St. Paul, he started a private practice there, which he continued throughout his career. He wrote a textbook of psychiatry, which became a standard for nursing education throughout the United States. Dr. Rowe provides a good description of an eclectic private practice, including inpatient work in private hospitals and outpatient work in his office. He was interested in the ethics of medicine, and was very involved in the interface between religion and psychiatry. Working with the Hamm Foundation, he participated with St. John's University, Collegeville, Minnesota in their Institute of Mental Health. This group sponsored annual summer workshops for the clergy with psychiatrists—including some of national renown—for twenty years. This program is described in great detail.

Interviewed by: Marvin Sukov.

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Use Restrictions: None.

Scope and Content: After his professional training in Colorado, Dr. Schiele came to the University of Minnesota department of psychiatry in 1937, and remained a member of the staff until his retirement in the 1980s. In this interview, he reviews the history of teaching psychiatry in the medical school and to residents, and interesting dynamics among the faculty. Although trained in psychotherapy, he early on became interested in psychotropic medications, and became a renowned expert in clinical research in psychopharmacology. He reviews the changes that took place in psychiatric treatment over his career, and also talks at some length about governmental regulation of medical research. He also provides a history of the founding of the Minnesota Psychiatric Society.

Interviewed by: Marvin Sukov.

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Use Restrictions: None.

Scope and Content: Dr. Schulz was the third chair of psychiatry at the University of Minnesota medical school. Born and raised in Illinois, he describes a fascinating education leading to academic psychiatry. It was a chance occurrence that led Dr. Schulz to medicine and psychiatry. He held a number of important academic and research positions—especially research in schizophrenia—and founded the International Congress on Schizophrenia Research, as well as the National Institute of Mental Health Public/Academic Liaison (PAL) Program. He was chair at Case-Western Reserve in Cleveland for ten years before coming to Minnesota in 1999. In Cleveland, Dr. Schulz participated in wrenching downsizing of hospital programs, experience that served him well when he came to Minnesota. In the interview, he reviews all his experience in detail, and the segment on his success in expanding research and faculty at the University is especially valuable.

Interviewed by: David Cline.

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Use Restrictions: None.

Scope and Content: Dr. Stahle, a private-pilot psychiatrist, came to Minnesota psychiatry via a different path than many others psychiatrists. Iowa-born and trained through medical school, he decided on psychiatry well before medical school. He went to Miami, Florida for a training program with a strong psychoanalytic philosophy and stayed there in practice for a time. He came to Minnesota in 1978, and has continued to practice here. Dr. Stahle's practice evolved to a focus on anxiety disorders, treated with a cognitive-behavioral therapy approach. He describes this evolution, and his other activities, including flying to consult at a rural community in western Minnesota, and his leadership in organized psychiatry. Dr. Stahle's most unique contribution has been his volunteer work with the Hispanic community here in Minnesota, but especially his frequent volunteer trips to a violence-torn area of Peru which is also described in detail.

Interviewed by: David Cline.

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Use Restrictions: None.

Scope and Content: Dr. Swenson went into family practice in small-town Iowa after medical school at the University of Minnesota, and then spent time in the military. He returned to family practice, and quickly became exhausted with the pace. He returned to the University of Minnesota for his psychiatric training. Dr. Swenson describes his career in private practice with a large group (Minneapolis Clinic of Psychiatry and Neurology) and his involvement in the founding of a new general hospital mental health unit (Metropolitan Medical Center). This was a unique public–private mental health program that developed many new concepts in psychiatric care, as Dr. Swenson notes. He frequently speaks of the nurse-psychiatrist dyad model of care as a valuable approach in psychiatric practice.

Interviewed by: Deane Manolis.

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Use Restrictions: None.

Scope and Content: Dr. Simon earned his way through medical school in Germany and Switzerland by playing as a musician, then escaped from Nazi Germany almost by chance, to come to the United States in 1937. He continued with his music almost until his death at age 95. In this interview he does not speak of his early life. He describes his training and move to the Veterans Administration hospital system. He became chief of psychiatry at the Minneapolis VA hospital in 1948, and held that position until 1971. He describes his tenure in which the VA psychiatry program became closely tied to that of the University of Minnesota, a boon for each training program. He reviews the treatment approaches at the VA hospital, and how they changed over his tenure. He also speculates about the potential changes coming to psychiatry.

Interviewed by: Marvin Sukov.

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Use Restrictions: None.

Scope and Content: Dr. Westermeyer has been a private pilot since about the time he started medical school at age 19. After a short stint in family practice, he spent two years in Laos as a volunteer, and became interested in the socio-cultural aspects of medicine. He returned to Minnesota and psychiatric training, ending up with a master's in public health and Ph.Ds in psychiatry and anthropology, all in 1970. Since then, his career has been exclusively in academia, and his contributions have not only been local, but national and even international, with the World Health Organization. Dr. Westermeyer describes his academic evolution in detail, from the accidental start in addiction medicine, which became an enduring theme. He believes a number of 'accidental' occurrences led to leadership positions, minimizing his skills and talents. He comments on the changes he has seen and participated in at the University of Minnesota, and the VA Medical Center, Minneapolis, as well as his work in aviation medicine and international public health medicine.

Interviewed by: David Cline.

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Use Restrictions: None.

Scope and Content: Dr. Williams was the first woman treating psychiatrist in the two Veterans' Administration hospitals in Minnesota. Dr. Williams was a product of the University of Wisconsin training programs. She provides a very sensitive, insightful review of practice in the Veterans' Hospital setting, where she assumed a number of leadership roles. Of interest is her description of the Viet-Nam veterans' impact on the treatment programs, and her successful effort to change the culture of the outpatient clinics.

Interviewed by: David Cline.

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Use Restrictions: None.

Scope and Content: Dr. Young reviews his early life in detail, as well as his training, and early years in practice at Hennepin County General Hospital, which later became Hennepin County Medical Center. Dr. Young describes his multi-faceted professional life, from pioneering the concept of day-hospital, to helping to establish multiple rural mental health clinics in Minnesota and Wisconsin, to his role as Assistant Commissioner for the Department of Public Welfare, State of Minnesota. He describes the frustrations of the latter role, in dealing with political, judicial, and financial issues. In particular, he notes the closing of the "flagship" state hospital in Rochester because of a political fight between a legislator and the governor of Minnesota. He speaks of his most gratifying and frustrating parts of his careers as well as his productive retirement of volunteer work and barbershop quartet singing.

Interviewed by: Marvin Sukov.

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This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.

Topics:

Mentally ill -- Care -- Minnesota.

People with mental disabilities -- Institutional care -- Minnesota.

Physicians -- Minnesota.

Psychiatric hospitals -- Minnesota.

Psychiatry -- Minnesota -- History.

Persons:

Beecher, Lee, interviewee.

Brauer, William, interviewee.

Clayton, Paula J., 1934-, interviewee.

Challman, Alan, interviewee.

Cline, David, 1935-, interviewee, interviewer.

Colman, Edward, interviewee.

Daggett, Donald, interviewer.

Dorsey, George, 1927-, interviewee.

Edwardson, Phillip, interviewee.

Grimes, Burton P., interviewee.

Hausman, William interviewee.

Horton, Keith, interviewee.

Jordan, James, interviewee.

Kiesler, Frank, interviewee.

Koch, Michael, interviewee.

Lucas, Alexander R., 1931-, interviewee.

Magraw, Richard M., interviewee.

Manolis, Deane C., interviewee, interviewer.

Mayberg, Donald, interviewee.

Morse, Robert, interviewee.

Olson, Clyde, interviewee.

Pennington, Mary, interviewee.

Pollock, Anthony, interviewee.

Posey, Edward, interviewee.

Regan, John, interviewee.

Resch, Joseph, interviewee.

Rome, Howard, interviewee.

Rowe, Clarence, interviewee.

Schiele, Burtrum, interviewee.

Schulz, S. Charles, interviewee.

Stahle, Galen, interviewee.

Sukov, Marvin, interviewer.

Swenson, James, interviewee.

Westermeyer, Joseph, 1937-, interviewee.

Williams, Sonja, interviewee.

Young, Ronald, interviewee.

Document Types:

Interviews.

Oral histories (document genres)

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