Pointers for Other Historians

An example of sharing archival information for other historians

Among the factors that contribute to character building is the influence of teachers and mentors. This was especially so in the previous century when the means and methods of communication were limited as was social and physical mobility that are very necessary for exchange of ideas and evolution of social & professional ethos. To trace these influences on Dr LM Sanghvi’s approach to medical practice, I looked for information on his alma mater, Grant Medical College, Bombay where he studied for his MBBS degree (1932-1937).

It had several teachers who left an indelible mark on Dr Sanghvi’s work ethic as well as worldview. ‘They taught by percept,’ is what he would often remark, when asked to recollect the impact of his teachers and mentors. Since these questions were posed to him when he was in his 80s, he could recollect the names of only some of those with whom he had worked with closely. These included: 

Dr SR Moolgavkar, Major General SL Bhatia and Dr A Karmally.

A search for the other faculty members at Grant Medical College led to the archives section of Bombay University Library located at the Rajabai Tower building. I found some volumes of the Bombay University Calendar that the University used to publish, in the days of yore. These calendars contain extremely valuable information on various aspects of the University’s administration, its affiliated colleges, the courses offered, the faculty at each college, examination results of various subjects, with a complete list of successful candidates along with the merit list. This enabled me compile a list of his batch-mates! But I could not get any information in the public domain either on the other faculty members or his class-mates.

SR Moolgaokar: Prof of Surgery &Clinical Surgery

Lt Col SS Vazifdar: Prof of Medicine

Lt Col WC Spackman: Prof of Midwifery & Diseases of Women & Children

VL Parmar: Prof of Operative Surgery

Lt Col Sir JN Duggan: Prof of Ophthalmology

PV Gharpure: Prof of Pathology

Jal R Patel: Prof of Pharmacology

Major SL Bhatia: Prof of Physiology & Histology

RC Motwani: Prof of Anatomy

Major SB Mehta: Prof of Medical Jurisprudence

PA Dalal: Prof of Bacteriology

DV Pandit: Prof of Dentistry

CA Amesur: Prof of ENT Diseases

EJ Ramdas: Prof of Anaesthetics

HA Maniar: Prof of Skin Diseases

PM Desai: Prof of Electro-Therapeutics

HD Khote: Prof of Hygiene

Rao Saheb RS Tembe: Prof of Mental Diseases

Fortunately, some of the calendars pertained to the years when Dr Sanghvi was a student and I could obtain a complete list of the faculty in 1936-37 – his final year at the Grant Medical College.

These documents are too precious to be taken out of the premises and can be accessed only with special permission. But the University was kind enough to give us permission to photograph some of the relevant pages within the premises. Fortunately, one could do so using a mobile phone (this was in 2013).

I used some of the photographs in the book to share with future researchers who may possibly be looking for information on aspects of the history of medical education in India in the previous century.

The cover page of Bombay University Calendar for 1936-38 which was published in 1941.

The page on the left lists the teaching faculty at the Grant Medical College for 1936-37, the years when LM Sanghvi completed  his Final MBBS.

Has LM Sanghvi's name in the list of candidates who passed with first class in the first MBBS Examination 1933; he stood fourth in order of merit.

Contextualising the Contribution

This is an example of how archives assist historians

That Dr LM Sanghvi was interested in sharing his knowledge through teaching and publication of his research was widely known and recognised. And there was enough evidence of this in the family’s archives that had many of his published papers. But the historian in me wanted to contextualise his contribution to Indian medical research.

He began to publish research papers as early as in 1950. The first six of his research papers were published in Indian journals and because his specialisation at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine dealt with tropical diseases – typhoid, allergies and gastroenteritis.

After he returned from his training in the US for chest and heart diseases (cardiology was subsumed under that specialisation until then), Dr Sanghvi began to send his research papers for publication in medical journals published from the US. In 1956, the first of his papers was published in an international journal – the American Heart Journal (AHJ, 52: 908, 1956). In that year and the next, his papers were also published in Circulation and AMA Arch NeurPsych and AMA Arch Path – these latter journals were brought out by the American Medical Association.

Since the scenario for Indians to undertake research, as well publish it in international journals was very different from what prevails now, as a biographer, I wanted to find out how many Indians’ research had been published by AHJ before Dr Sanghvi’s in 1956. Unfortunately, I could not get any information from AHJ, despite repeated email requests.

In 1958, Dr Sanghvi published the first of many papers in the British Heart Journal (BHJ) My experience with BHJ about getting information on their earliest Indian contributors was different; and it brought out, once again, how much of a help archives are to historians. Though I did not receive any reply to my emails to them on the subject, the availability of online archives of BHJ enabled me to compile the information.

BHJ is the official journal of the British Cardiac Society and has been published since 1939. It has an online archive of all issues since inception. The page lists all the issues, by year. And when you click on the year, you can view the content pages of all the issues for that year. That online archive enabled me search the contents pages and find out how many Indians had published their papers in the journal before Dr Sanghvi.

The first Indian to have a paper published in the Journal was Dr JB Mehta but he was with the Lambeth Hospital in London. The two Indian doctors who preceded Dr Sanghvi in the publication of their research/case studies in the BHJ were: Dr Rustom Jal Vakil (of KEM Hospital, Bombay) in 1949 and Dr AN Sengupta (of Nilratan Sircar Medical College, Calcutta) in 1954. Both these institutions had a history of nearly half a century; SMS Medical College (Jaipur) was not even a decade old in 1958 when Dr Sanghvi’s paper was published in BHJ.

Researching Archival Objects

This is an example of creating a narrative through research on the basis of the content of an archival object.

Among the documents available in the Sanghvi family’s archival collection was a letter from the Assistant University Registrar dated 30th August 1932. The letter was an intimation to LM Sanghvi that he had been awarded the Dr Tribhovandas Motichand Shah Scholarship for pursuing his medical education. The value of the Scholarship was Rs285/- per year for a period of five years, payable half-yearly, commencing from the 1st of April in 1932.

The Scholarship was instituted at the University of Bombay to commemorate the contribution of Dr Tribhovandas Motichand Shah to Indian medical practice. It was clear that he must have been a path-breaking medical practitioner of his times to have a scholarship instituted in his name. 

The historian in me had to find out more about this doctor. And what I found was a fascinating story.

Dr Tribhovandas Motichand Shah was the Chief Medical Officer of Junagadh in 1889. He was a pioneer of plastic surgery in India. Apparently, he had documented over a hundred cases treated by him in four years. He gave minute details of the operations he performed and discussed the advantages of forehead rhinoplasty, a plastic surgery procedure for “correcting and reconstructing the form, restoring the functions and aesthetically enhancing the nose.” He was among the first surgeons in India to use anaesthesia. Until then, there was no mention of anaesthesia in reported Indian medical cases. Apparently, patients used to be given wine to drink before surgery! Dr Tribhovandas Shah was a legend; it was said that “Kalu cuts the nose and Tribhovan reconstructs it.” Kalu was a local dacoit of that time who had an unusual signature for his dacoities; he used to cut off people’s noses after he had looted them. And, obviously, those he looted were well-off enough to go in for plastic surgery by Dr Tribhovandas Shah! 

(See http://www.bioline.org.br/request?jp02024)

Some sources say that the name of the dacoit was Kadu Makrani. To take revenge against the Junagadh State for punishing the informers of the state he used the popular method of punishment prevalent then; he used to cut the noses of these people. The nose in Indian society has been a symbol of dignity and respect throughout centuries. Naak-kata or nakata is one who has no self-respect or dignity. And it was common to hear someone say 'if I cannot deliver on my promise, I will cut off my nose!' (Main apni naak katwa doonga) In ancient times, amputation of nose was frequently done as a punishment for criminals, war prisoners or people who indulged in adultery. The practice of rhinoplasty began as a result of the need to reconstruct the external nose and later developed into a full-fledged specialisation. Dr Tribhovandas Shah is credited with the development of rhinoplasty as a modern science in India in the 19th century.

(See http://www.cutiscosmeticplasticsurgery.com/blog/history-of-rhinoplasty)

Institutional Archives

Robust Information Retrieval

I have experienced some instances of being able to reconstruct a narrative easily if the institutional archives are well organised. The most recent example that comes to mind has to do with the archives of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

When I was searching for information about Dr LM Sanghvi, I wrote to the School on 26 December 2012 querying them about an Indian student who was the recipient of the Duncan Medal in 1939. Obviously, the School was closed for the Christmas-New Year break that week. On the 3^rd of January, as soon as the School reopened after the break, I received an email from the School’s alumni association in-charge, telling me that the query had been forwarded to the archives department and that I would be hearing from them shortly. By the 11^th of January, the then archivist Matthew Chipping sent me an email with all the details about the student, including his residential address in London when he was with the School, his faculty, his detailed courses and, best of all, a group photograph of his class!

That facilitated my task of developing the entire section of Dr Sanghvi’s student days in London. This was in such a sharp contrast to my experience of getting any information about him from the Indian schools and colleges where Dr Sanghvi had studied.

The email reply received from the archives of London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine is reproduced below to give an indication of how robust their archival search systems are that these details could be retrieved  with such speed and the prompt response of their archives department to a query from an unknown researcher.

An Example of Family Archiving: Dr LM Sanghvi and the Duncan Medal

The narrative illustrates the role of archives, and the role of a social historian, in writing a biography. It illustrates how the availability of an archival article, or resource, leads a social historian to contextualise the object, or the resource, that enhances the biographical narrative.

Among the archival materials that I examined while researching the book Healing the Body: Touching the Heart was a medal that Dr LM Sanghvi had preserved carefully. It was the Duncan Medal on which Dr Sanghvi’s name was engraved. My exploration into the significance of the Medal revealed that it had become one of those objects that get hidden in the mist of times. And, unless I documented the story, the object – the Medal – would probably end up with some kabadiwallah, as few would know its worth.

My father, Dr LM Sanghvi,received the Andrew Duncan Medal in 1939. He was only the fourth Indian to receive the Duncan Medal. He was the last Indian to be awarded the annual Duncan Medal. Hence, perhaps, this is a rare medallion in the family’s collection.

The Medal was instituted at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine in 1913. According to information received from the archives of the School, The Duncan Medal was first awarded in 1913. It was bestowed in memory of Andrew Duncan MD, BS, FRCS, FRCP, Physician to the Seaman’s Hospital Society and Lecturer in Tropical Medicine, who died in 1912. It was awarded to the student obtaining the highest marks in the examination for the Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.

It was awarded annually (usually to two or three individuals). In 1946, it was decided to award it once in two years, perhaps because the endowment amount for the purpose became inadequate. In the alternate years the Duncan Medal was not awarded, the Lalcaca Medal & William Simpson Prize was awarded to student obtaining the highest rank in the Diploma exams. For 1961-62 and 1963-64, it was awarded jointly with the William Simpson Prize. It is still awarded today but not as a medal. It is called the Duncan Prize and it consists of a monetary prize of £60. The Medal does not seem to have been awarded from 1942-1945, probably due to the Second World War.

Among the Indians who received the Duncan Medal before Dr LM Sanghvi were:

BL Taneja (1928), R Sivasamtandan (1931) and MJ Shah (1935). Of these three recipients of the Duncan Medal, a Google search could obtain information only on Dr BL Taneja. He was the Director General, Indian Council of Medical Research from 1964 to 1969. The surgery block of Irwin Hospital (now renamed LokNayak Hospital), Delhi, is named after Dr BL Taneja.

The present generation may not fully appreciate what such an achievement by an Indian student meant, not just for the person getting the award, but for the entire community, nay, even for the national psyche! Remember, India was under British rule then; and for an Indian to secure the highest marks in the class which comprised, mostly, British students, was to achieve something unimaginable!

About Duncan Medal

The Medal was created by John Pinches. The online archives of the British Museum had the following information on John Pinches.

He came from a family of London die-sinkers and medallists. The company was founded circa 1841 by Thomas Ryan Pinches and his younger brother John Pinches who ran the business from 1856. John Harvey Pinches, eldest son of John Pinches (9 April 1916 – 2 July 2007), who would have created the medal that Dr LM Sanghvi received in 1939, was an English rower, Royal Engineers officer, medallist and author. After two years’ engineering training, JH Pinches joined the family firm and continued to run the family medallion business after the death of his father in 1905 and turned it into a limited company, John Pinches (Medallists) Limited, in 1940. The firm crafted badges and insignia in Britain. It also made commemorative medallions for much of the Commonwealth and decorations and orders for overseas governments. John Pinches (Medallists) Ltd was taken over by the Franklin Mint of Philadelphia, USA, in 1969.