Ralph Taylor Richards (1880-1954) was the grandson of Willard Richards, a prominent member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS). Ralph was born to Dr. Joseph S. and Louise Taylor Richards, in Salt Lake City, Utah, on 25 September 1880. He was brought up in a medical family, as his grandfather had completed the Thompson medical course and his father studied at Bellevue Hospital Medical College. Richards was exposed to medical practice and problems early as he often accompanied his father on calls and his mother acted as his father's surgical nurse. By the age of twelve he was assisting his father with the bookkeeping. Before completing high school he had made the decision to follow his father in the profession.
In 1889, at the age of nineteen, Richards began his training at Bellevue Hospital Medical College, in New York City. During summer breaks from school, Richards returned to Salt Lake City to assist his father, including duties such as washing down the operating theatres. Richards completed his program in 1903, and stayed on to begin his practice there. On 14 November 1904, while still at Bellevue, Richards was selected for membership on the staff of the new Latter-day Saints hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah. That year Joseph S. Richards joined his son in New York so that two men could select the scientific equipment for the laboratories and operating theatres and arrange shipment to the hospital. Latter-day Saints Hospital opened in 1905, and Richards began his practice there.
During the years between the beginning of his practice and the death of his father in 1914, Richards spent at least five years doing graduate study. He spent some time studying at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. He also kept up with growing knowledge in the medical field by reading current journals and attending conferences. In July 1909 he participated at the meetings of the British Medical Association in Belfast, Ireland.
A partnership among doctors Joseph E. Tyree, A. Ray Irvine, A. J. Ridges, G. Gill Richards, and Ralph Taylor Richards, established the Salt Lake Clinic in 1915. Richards continued to operate at LDS Hospital but conducted his private practice from the clinic. With his practice well established, Richards married Rhada Gibbs on 3 July 1916, in Salt Lake City. They had three children, Rhada Jane, Ralph G., and Barbara.
The increasing technicality and expanding knowledge in medicine led to the establishment of various medical boards to grant approval to doctors in specialized fields. Richards was one of the first diplomats of the American Board of Surgery. In 1935 he was named to the Board of Governors of the American College of Surgeons. During his fifty-one year of medical practice, Richard held important positions in his field. For a number of years, he was chief of surgical services at LDS Hospital. He was also a clinical professor emeritis at the University of Utah College of Medicine where he helped organize and develop their four year program. He was also involved in committee work for the Utah State and Salt Lake County Medical Associations.
During the 1940s Richards established his household in California where his children were attending school. While in Utah he lived at the University Club where he was a member. It was in 1941 that he began research for his book on medicine in Utah. He surveyed admission records from Saint Mark's, Holy Cross, and LDS Hospitals, as well as the records of Salt Lake City Cemetery, Mt. Olivet Cemetery, and the Salt Lake City Board of Health. The result of his efforts was published in 1953 as
The Ralph Taylor Richards papers (1848-1953) are divided into four sections. The bulk of the papers are concerned with Richards' book
Articles, speeches, and lectures by Richards, and articles by other doctors are contained in box five, as the third section. These are arranged alphabetically by title as most are undated. Included here is a long manuscript, possibly intended for publication as a book, on the "Art of Medicine." It is meant as a practical guide for new doctors on how to establish and conduct a medical practice as a business.
The final section is directly related to Richards' medical practice. The files contain information about the partnership controversy at the Salt Lake Clinic, a clinic appointment book for 1945 and an account book for doctors Joseph S. Richards and Ralph T. Richards, from 1912-1914, with information on the Salt Lake Clinic partnership arrangements. Also filed here are records of operations for Richards, his father Joseph S. Richards, and Richards' patient deaths with vital information.
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Collection Name, Collection Number, Box Number, Folder Number. Special Collections, J. Willard Marriott Library, The University of Utah.
Gift of Eccles Medical Library in 1981.
Processed by Marlene Lewis in 1981.
This subseries contains various manuscript drafts for individual sections and chapters of Book 1.
This folder contains a list of the contents of evelopes containing portions of the manuscript sent to Dr. H. L. Marshal for critique. It contains an outline plan of the book, and a list of chapters as originally arranged, a bibliography, and handwritten comments about an unidentified portion of manuscript.
These drafts are about the lack of doctors in Utah, and the role of the LDS Church in medical practice in the territory.
These drafts outline the history of Saint Mark's Hospital.
These drafts contains biographies of the early prominent doctors at Saint Mark's Hospital.
This subseries contains various manuscript drafts for individual sections and chapters of Book 2. There are no drafts for Chapter 7, "Hygiene and Immunization."
These drafts cover industrial, infectious, and surgical diseases.
This folder contains three typed drafts, with revisions, of chapters titled "The Birth of Mining" and "More Mining" which were combined to make this chpater on the development of the mining industry in Utah.
These drafts concern one of the leading medical problems connected with the early mining and mineral refining industries in Utah.
This folder contains typed and handwritten drafts of chapters titled "Milk and the Board of Health," and "Romance," incorporated into this chapter about infant deaths through diseases resulting from unprocessed milk.
These drafts are concerned with typhoid fever, and include statistical charts of incidences of typhoid in Salt Lake City.
These drafts are concerned with water supplies and sanitation regulations designed to combat typhoid fever.
These drafts are concerned with appendicitis incidences, their surgical procedures, death statistics, and the number of patients at the major Salt Lake City hospitals.
This folder contains handwritten drafts of brief histories of small or temporary hospitals in Salt Lake City, including Deseret Hospital, Keough-Hosmer Hospital, Judge Memorial Home and Hospital, and the Williams Hospital. Also included are histories of the Primary Children's Hospital and the Shriners' Hospital for Crippled Children.
This folder contains typed drafts and brief biographies of Salt Lake physicians.
These folders contain information on numbers of cases, complications, and deaths resulting from appendicitis, in the Holy Cross Hospital, the LDS Hosptial, and Saint Mark's Hospital.
This folder contains information on cases from Bingham Canyon Hospital, Cache Valley General Hospital, Cooley Memorial Hospital, Salt Lake County Hospital, Saint Benedict's Hospital, Utah Valley Hospital, Veteran's Hospital, and William Budge Memorial Hospital.
This folder contains charts and tables showing appendicitis rates in various locations throughout Utah and the United States.
This folder contains correspondence with commercial drug companies about development and production of antibiotics, and graphs and tables showing availability of drugs used to combat complications resulting from appendicitis surgery.
This folder contains charts, graphs, and tables of information on age, sex, doctors, death rates, and other relevant areas.
This folder contains materials on the history of recognition, treatment, and surgery for appendicitis.
This folder contains statistical material on incidences of the diseases and cases in Salt Lake City's major hospitals. There are notes on the diseases carried in raw milk and activities of the Salt Lake Board of Health to combat the problem. Also included is the "Extract from Revised Ordinances of Salt Lake City, 1944" dealing with dairy and milk inspections and an article on brucellosis titled "The Raw Milk Menance."
This folder contains notes and statistics on incidences of diphtheria in Utah.
These folders contain materials on the number of cases, deaths, from each mine or mining district, and comparisons of cases in Holy Cross Hospital, and Saint Mark's Hospital.
This folder contains correspondence giving statistics and statistical charts on incidences of lead poisoning and accidents at the Anaconda mines.
These folders contain correspondence from doctors discussing their experiences and treatments involving lead poisoning victims.
This folder contains Lead Industries Association Bulletin, "Lead Hygiene and Safety"; Felix E. Wormser, "Facts and Fallacies Concerning Exposrue to Lead"; Ernest W. Brown, "Health Hazards from Lead Paint and Zinc Chromate Paint"; Lead Industries Association Bulletin, "Lead Hygiene and Safety"; and miscellaneous notes on lead poisoning.
This folder contains notes on lead and silver production in various Utah mining districts.
These folders contain notes on smelting and refining, mine safety and other mining related material. Also included is an article entitled "Economic Dependence of the Population of Utah," which discusses the importance of mining to the state.
This folder contains statistics showing the number of smallpox cases, deaths, and vaccinations in Salt Lake City.
These folders contain information on the number of typhoid cases and deaths in Holy Cross Hospital, and Saint Mark's Hospital.
This folder contains tables and graphs showing incidences of typhoid fever in various countries in Utah, and tables of miscellaneous death statistics.
These folders contain information supplied by H. K. Burton of the Salt Lake City Department of Water Supply and Waterworks and other sources about water systems, chlorinization, and attempts to keep the water supply pollution free to prevent outbreaks of typhoid fever.
These folders contain tabulations on the causes of death from the Salt Lake City Cemetery records and Mr. Olivet Cemetery records. Also included are miscellaneous statistics on death rates in Utah and various other states.
This folder contains notes about the history of the school including lists of nurse superintendents and lists of graduates.
This folder contains one of Richards' speeches on the history of the hospital, notes on the hospital's history, and on the doctors of the hospital.
This folder contains notes and information on the Deseret and Keough-Hosmer Hospitals, as well as notes on hospital establishment in Utah.
This folder contains notes and information on various commissioners and their attempts to insure clean water supplies and to check the spread of communicable diseases.
This folder contains information on the names and numbers of doctors practicing in Salt Lake City, and comparisons of the numbers of patients attended by each doctor.
These folders include correspondence.
This folder contains biographical notes for Washington F. Anderson, Thomas B. Beaty, Joseph S. Benedict, John Milton Bernhisel, Albert Leonard Castleman, Allen M. Fowler, Frederick L. Hoffman, George William Middleton, Emerson Frank Root, George David Stewart, L. E. Viko, F. E. Straup, and Union Worthington.
This folder contains biographical notes on Romania Bunnell Pratt Penrose, Ellen B. Ferguson, Martha Paul Hughes Cannon, and Ellis Reynolds Shipp.
This folder contains lists of names, of early nurses, taken from the Slat Lake City Cemetery Records.
This folder contains miscellaneous notes on the history of Utah and the LDS Church. Included is an alphabetical listing of towns in the Mormon culture region and the dates of settlement.
These folders included letters from Ralph T. Richards, in answer to inquiries made for information to use in his book. The letters are from doctors about various health problems, hospital history and standardization, and letters from people with biographical information about early Utah doctors.
This folder contians notes, statistics, and information on the incidence of goiter in various areas in Utah.
Box 5, folders 1-24 contain speeches by Ralph T. Richards. Box 5, folders 25-28 contains speeches by others.
This folder contains a complete typed draft, and partial handwritten rough drafts of this lengthy article. The manuscript was written to be published as a practical guide for newly-graduated doctors, on how to establish a private practice. Included is a critique of the manuscript of Philip B. Price, of the University of Utah Medical School.
This folder contains a speech given by Richards about some of the defects in the training programs given standards by the Surgeons' Governors.
This folder contains a report on the papers and cases presented at the surgical section meetings, and a brief comment on the conference as a whole. The conference was a meeting of physicians in Belfast, Ireland.
This article is about prostitution as a business and its degenerating effect on society.
This is an article on various types of goiter, its symptoms, treatment, and surgery. It may have been delivered as a lecture at the University of Utah Medical College.
This articles gives statistics related to job benefits and disadvantages and wages.
This is an articles which may have been delivered as a lecture at the Medical College, about this disease and its incidence in Utah.
This is an article which was probably delivered as a lecture at the University of Utah Medical College, about the "process of earning a living by practicing medicine."
This is a copy of a lecture about the development of various kinds of anesthesia. Also included is a paper and a draft entitled "Early History of Anesthesia" which is a more extensive article on the subject.
This is a lecture covering anesthesia, Pasteur and his "germ theory" and Lister's antiseptic surgery method.
This is an incomplete draft.
This is an article on dealing with the emotional needs of patients.
This is lecture about stomach diseases, symptoms, and treatment.
This is a draft of an article discussing the techniques and results of a state-wide survey undertaken by the Utah State Board of Health to discover the extent of this disease in the state and factors contributing to its incidence.
This is a typed copy of a pamphlet published by the Blood Bandk Department of the LDS Hospital, for expectant mothers and fathers.
This folder contains a paper explaining Richards' position in a controversy between him and other clinic partners over his retirement from the partnership, his salary at the clinic until retirement from practice, and his share of the clinic assets. Richards also describes his feeling that his practice had been deliberately undermined by the clinic staff and partners.
This volume contains financial agreements, and a lay out of the organization of the partnership forming the Salt Lake Clinic. The major part of this volume is an account book labled "Jos. S. Richards Co." containing check book expenditures and balance and account deposits from various patients or industrial accounts, before the Salt Lake Clinic was established. Also included is a list of assessments and disbursements.
Also included in this book are "cash accounts," which is a list of patient payments.
This volume is a record of operations performed, and results of operations performed by Joseph S. Richards and Ralph T. Richards.
These folders contain lists of operations performed by Ralph T. Richards. Also included is a handwritten list of gastrectomies performed by Richards.
This folder constains a list of operations performed by Joseph S. Richards.
These folders contain lists of Richards' patient deaths, with name, sex, age, diagnosis, and cause of death.
This folder contains a partial draft of a letter from Richards to his family members residing in California. It is about the family expenses and personal allowances.