Feasby (William R.) Papers

Title:
Feasby (William R.) Papers

Physical location:
Ms. Coll. 235

Dates of creation:
1911-1970

Physical Extent:
13 boxes (2.1 metres)

Biographical Sketch:
William R. Feasby was born in Listowel, Ontario, in 1912. Following completion of his B.A. in 1934 at the University of Toronto, and his M.D. in 1937 at the University of Toronto Medical School, Feasby interned at Toronto Western Hospital from 1937-1939. Later in 1939 he joined the No. 15 Canadian General Hospital, and went overseas in 1940, serving as medical specialist in gastroenterology at No. 15. In 1941, he was invalided home from England to receive treatment for a disease of the cornea. The following year he joined the Army Medical Research Team in Ottawa, specialising in respiratory disease, where he remained until 1944. From 1944-1946 he served as Editor of the Journal of the Canadian Medical Services, and also worked as Medical Assistant to the Superintendent at Toronto Western Hospital until 1952. At this time, he became a member of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada as a Specialist in Internal Medicine. He began practising as a specialist in internal medicine at the Medical Arts Building in 1945. At this time, he was appointed special lecturer in the Department of Physiology at the University of Toronto, and was also appointed Army Medical Historian. In the 1940s, he became the editor of Modern Medicine of Canada and the Ontario Medical Review. Feasby lectured on hospital administration to the School of Hygiene in 1948, and became the Medical Director of the Canadian Diabetic Association in 1952. In 1953 and 1956 respectively, volumes one and two of his Official History of the Canadian Medical Services, 1939-1945 were published. From 1960-1966, Feasby gathered material for his projected biography of Dr. Charles Henry Best. Dr. Feasby died in 1970.

Scope and Content:
Contains research materials and drafts for an unpublished biography of C.H. Best, containing much direct comment and dictation by Best; research materials and typescript of an unpublished history of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto; drafts and notes for various articles and speeches; some biographical and autobiographical material.

Source of title:
Title based on contents of collection

Restrictions on access:
No restrictions

Related groups of
material:

For additional material by and about Dr. Feasby see also Best Papers, Manuscript Collection 241, held in the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Source of acquisition:
Given to the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library by the Canadian Diabetes Association in 1983 and 1985. Papers had been given to the Association by Mrs. Margaret Feasby, widow of William R. Feasby.

Finding aids:
Detailed finding aid available at the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library reference desk

Arrangement:
The collection arrived at the library in random order and was sorted by the Library.

Repository:
Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Digitized Items: