Theodore McGraw, Jr. Diary

Accession Number: 
WSP000050
Extent: 
.25 linear feet (1 MB)

The son of a founder of the Detroit Medical College and one of the first surgeons
to perform a successful thyroidectomy in the United States, Theodore A. McGraw, Jr.
was born in 1875 and educated at Yale College and the College of Physicians and
Surgeons in New York City where he received a medical degree in 1902. Returning to
Detroit in 1904, he entered private medical practice as a surgeon but his career was
interrupted by an operation for exophthalmic hyperthyroidism that was only partially
successful and he entered Harvard Medical School to take postgraduate work in internal
medicine, specializing in endocrinology. A year's service with Base Hospital Unit #36
during the first World War earned him a citation for devotion and efficiency from
General Pershing but undermined his health and strength, adding a damaged heart to a
return of his hyperthyroidism. Another thyroidectomy following his discharge from the
army was again only partially successful but he returned to his medical practice and
endocrinological research. While visiting the Lapeer Institute for the Feeble-Minded in
the fall of 1924, he contracted a severe infection and died within forty-eight hours.
The Theodore McGraw, Jr. Collection consists of a diary kept by Dr. McGraw
during his final year as an undergraduate student at Yale College in 1898.

Date: 
1898
Attachment(click to download)
WSP000050_guide.pdfWSP000050_guide.pdf83.79 KB