Harry Sanberg Shelley (1901-1991) biographical file

Collection

Identifier: EBL-356

Staff Only

Abstract

Biographical material about Dr. Harry S. Shelley, material about the history of urology, and news stories about Dr. Shelley's retirement career as Honorary Curator of the Historical Collection in Vanderbilt's Medical Library. Photographs of Dr. and Mrs. Shelley, Dr. Shelley's father, Dr. Albert Shelley of Baltimore and History of Medicine Events at Vanderbilt during the 1970s and 1980s. Also several professional articles on urology written by Dr.Shelley and a file of congratulatory letters written by Dr. Shelley's many friends on the occasion of his 80th birthday.

Dates

1890 - 1991

Notes about Access to this Collection

All collections are subject to applicable VUMC privacy and confidentiality policies.

Reproduction Rights

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Historical or Biographical Note

Harry S. Shelley was born in Baltimore, MD, in 1901. The only son of a doctor, he grew up driving his father on house calls. As an undergraduate at Drexel, he majored in engineering and worked as an electrical engineer for several years before entering medical school at the University of Maryland.

In the early 1930s, Shelley joined the Maryland National Guard, and when World War II began, he was assigned to 101st Evacuation Hospital of the U.S. Third Army. He was with the hospital unit that landed at Omaha Beach on June 15, 1944-nine days after D-Day. The 101st unit treated approximately 22,000 patients during the next year.

After the war, Dr. Shelley came to Nashville to work as a urologist and surgeon at the Thayer Veterans Administration Hospital. He became Associate Professor of Urology at Vanderbilt and trained many residents in urology. When he retired in 1967, Dr. Shelley became volunteer curator of the Vanderbilt Medical Library's History of Medicine Collection. Dr. Shelley was an avid book collector and amateur bookbinder. He also taught a class on the History of Medicine at Vanderbilt Medical School. Dr. and Mrs. Shelley donated their valuable collection of rare books on urology and surgery to the Eskind Medical Library.