Collection Information
Biographical Sketch
Scope and Content Note
Box and Folder Inventory
Cataloging Information
Processed
by
Charles Latham
November 1985
Updated 20 April 2004
Manuscript and Visual Collections Department
William Henry Smith Memorial Library
Indiana Historical Society
450 West Ohio Street
Indianapolis, IN 46202-3269
VOLUME OF COLLECTION: 9 manuscript boxes
COLLECTION DATES: 1928-1978
PROVENANCE: gift of Mrs. Easter Middleton, Indianapolis, Indiana, 1985
RESTRICTIONS: none
REPRODUCTION RIGHTS: Permission to reproduce or publish material in this collection must be obtained in writing from the Indiana Historical Society.
ALTERNATE FORMATS: none
OTHER FINDING AIDS: none
RELATED HOLDINGS:
ACCESSION NUMBER: 1985.0612; 1986.0423
NOTES: Portable stenocardiette, ca. 1930's, transferred to Indiana Medical History Museum. Copies of the Journal of the National Medical Association (1930-1957) and 1 issue, 1928, of the Journal of the American Medical Association were transferred to the Indiana University School of Medicine Library, Indianapolis.
Dr. Middleton (1895-1978) was born in Denmark, S.C. As a child, he became acutely aware of the inferior medical treatment given to blacks, and decided to become a doctor. He took first a high-school course, and then a bachelor's degree (1919), at Benedict College in Columbia, S.C. He served in the U.S. Army during the last year of World War I, and then briefly as a Pullman Car porter. In 1920-1922 he attended the School of Medicine at Boston University; from 1923 to 1926 he attended Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee, receiving his M.D. degree in 1926.
In 1928 Dr. Middleton joined the staff of St. Joseph Hospital in Anderson, Indiana. After eight years there, he came to Indianapolis seeking a position at City Hospital. At first allowed only to serve as a volunteer in the outpatient clinic, he set up his own practice as a cardiologist, with a specialty in electrocardiograms and heart irregularities. He strengthened his professional preparation by taking short postgraduate courses at Harvard, University of Michigan, Indiana University, and the University of London.
After eight years he was admitted as the first black staff member of both City Hospital and St. Vincent's Hospital. He also joined the staffs at Methodist and Community Hospitals. He was an assistant professor at Indiana University Medical School. He published a number of articles in the field of cardiology, and continued his practice until his death. From 1953 to 1958 he served as general secretary of the Hoosier State Medical Society; he was a member of numerous other medical societies, and received several awards.
Once established in his medical practice, Dr. Middleton became active in several civic organizations. In the late 1940s, he was involved in setting up the Herman G. Morgan Health Center at Flanner House. He was active in the Zeta Phi chapter of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity. In 1950-1951 he was co-chairman of the state campaign for United Negro College Fund.
A major interest of Dr. Middleton's for many years was the YMCA. He was elected to the board of the Metropolitan YMCA in 1952, and served on various committees thereafter. In the same year he became president of the Senate Avenue YMCA. He took a leading part in raising funds for a new facility for this branch, which opened on Fall Creek Parkway in 1959.
Dr. Middleton retained his interest in Meharry Medical College; he was class agent for five years, and organized a fiftieth reunion for his class in 1976. He was a member of Mt. Paran Baptist Church. A Republican in politics, he was a member of the NAACP from 1929.
Sources: Materials in collection
Hawkins and McClarren, Indiana Lives, pp 530-531
Indiana Biographical Series. Vol. 86 p.47 col.2; Vol. 86 p.61 col.2
Who's Who in the Midwest (1955) p.565
The collection consists of nine boxes of letters and documents, dating almost entirely from the last forty years of Dr. Middleton's life. The collection contains almost no private correspondence; the letters are those of a hard-working and generous man devoted to many civic causes. The collection is arranged in six parts: material relating to Dr. Middleton personally; material on medicine and hospitals; items on other organizations; material on civic groups; YMCA material; and printed and miscellaneous items.
Box 1, folders 1-20, contain material relating to Dr. Middleton personally. It includes: an autobiographical outline written in 1966; an interview with Dr. Middleton by Rose Lynn Anderson in 1971; correspondence of 1935 concerning the share of black physicians in the care of the indigent; and general correspondence indicating, among other things, Dr. Middleton's generous contributions to many causes. Box 1, folders 21-30, include several articles written by Dr. Middleton in the field of cardiology, and articles by others in the same field.
Box 2, folders 1-6, contain staff by-laws and other staff materials from the Indianapolis hospitals where Dr. Middleton was a staff member. Box 2, folders 7-14, contain bulletins, newsletters, and some correspondence of various medical organizations to which Dr. Middleton belonged.
Box 3 contains material from other organizations with which Dr. Middleton was connected. This includes his part in establishing the Herman G. Morgan Health Center at Flanner House; his work as class agent and as organizer of a fiftieth class reunion at Meharry Medical College; and his work as co-chairman of the state drive for the United Negro College Fund.
Boxes 4-6 document Dr. Middleton's work for the National and Metropolitan YMCA. Material includes a national commission on inter-racial policies (1961-1963); minutes (incomplete) of the Metropolitan YMCA from 1954 to 1969; news memos, financial reports, and budgets.
Box 7, folders 1-14, contain records of the Senate Avenue YMCA: membership campaigns, correspondence, reports, staff memos, and plans for a new building. Boxes 7 (folders 15-23) through 9 contain the records of the Fall Creek Parkway YMCA which succeeded Senate Avenue. Box 7, folders 15-23, contain building pledges and membership campaigns; Box 8, folders 1-17, board minutes and correspondence; Box 8, folders 18-25 Box 9, folders 1-2, financial reports, minutes and other records of the building and grounds committee, and newsletters. Box 9 contains newsletters and a 1947-1948 directory of black professionals in Indiana.
A. PERSONAL
BOX 1
Biographical Folder 1
Correspondence re: biography 2
Correspondence (1935) re: black physicians and care of indigent 3
Essay on character-building 4
General correspondence 1942-1948 5
General correspondence 1950-1954 6
General correspondence 1956-1959 7
General correspondence 1960 8
General correspondence 1961 9
General correspondence 1964 l0
General correspondence 1965 11
General correspondence 1966 12
General correspondence 1967-1978 13
Delinquent accounts--Medical Service Bureau 1956-1961 14
Loading-zone permits for office 1959-1962 15
Christmas mailing lists 1974-1976 16
Membership cards 17
Greeting cards 18
Summary of Indianapolis Race Relations seminar 1945 19
Clippings 20
B. MEDICAL
Articles
Diagnoses and tests of patients Folder 21
Article in Revista de Radiologia y Fisioterapia 1943 22
"Electrocardiographic Studies of Gunshot Wounds" 1947 23
"Diagnosis and Management of Cardiac Arrhythmias" 1949 24
"Phonocardiographic Studies" 25
Reprints and articles on heart disease 26
Requests for reprints 27
Article on multiple screening (Morgan Health Center?) 28
Results of pilot study on multiple screening 29
Clippings 30
BOX 2
Hospitals
Community Hospital--by-laws, correspondence Folder 1
Coronary Care Unit, Marion County General Hospital--training program, administrative policies 2
Massachusetts General Hospital-- case records 3
St. Vincent's Hospital-- staff by-laws 4
Tri-State Clinical Conference 1967 5
Wishard Hospital 6
3. Medical organizations
Aesculapian Medical Society 1950 Folder 7
Hoosier State Medical Association--annual bulletins 1950-1958 8
Indiana State Board of Health-- bulletins on polio 1953-1955 9
Indiana Heart Association and Foundation newsletter l953-l963 (incomplete) 10
Indiana Heart Association-- correspondence 11
National Medical Association 12
Undated lists of Negro doctors and dentists 13
Miscellaneous papers on Negro health 14
BOX 3
C. OTHER ORGANIZATIONS
Benedict College Folder 1
Flanner House Development plan 1944-1945 2
Health program 1944-1946 3
Correspondence, staff memos 1951-1953 4
Herman G. Morgan Health Center Plan 1946 5
Staff data 1951-1953 6
Health plan 1950 7
Meharry Medical College Correspondence 1949-1970 8
Incident at Hermitage Hotel, Nashville, TN, 6-11-1966 9
Work as class agent 1960-1964 10
Correspondence re: fiftieth reunion 1975-1976 11
Funding proposal to Eli Lilly Co. 1961 12
D. CIVIC ACTIVITIES/GROUPS
Mt. Paran Baptist Church--business league 1973-1976 13
Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Essay contest 1947 14
Correspondence 1947-1962 15
Skallcam Club-- treasurer's reports 1976-1977 16
United Negro College Fund Correspondence 1950-1952 17
Clippings 1950 18
Correspondence 1955-1967 19
BOX 4
E. YMCA
1. National
Commission on inter-racial policies 1961-1963 Folder 1
2. Metropolitan
Board minutes 1954-1955 2
Board minutes 1956 3
Annual meeting 1956 4
Board minutes 1957 5
Board minutes Jan.-June 1958 6
Board minutes July-Dec. 1958 7
Annual meeting 1959 8
BOX 5
Board minutes Jan.-June 1959 Folder 1
Board minutes July-Dec. 1959 2
Board minutes Jan.-June 1960 3
Board minutes 1961 4
Annual meeting 1961 5
Board minutes 1962 6
Board minutes 1963 7
BOX 6
Board minutes 5-24-1965 Folder 1
Board minutes 1967, 3-31-1969, 12-8-1969 2
Annual meeting 1968 3
Executive and building committee 1960-1964 4
Executive and building committee 1965-1967 5
"News-Memos" 1958-1967 (incomplete) 6
Miscellaneous 7
Financial reports and budgets 1960-1961 8
Financial reports and budgets 1965, 1966 9
Donors list 1953-1954 10
Salary schedule 1966 11
Proposed branch budgets 1959-1966 12
BOX 7
3. Senate Avenue Branch
Campaign 1945-1948 Folder 1
Campaign 1951 2
Five-year plan, letter 1952 3
Annual report 1953 4
Staff memos, building plans 1954 5
Correspondence 1955 6
Correspondence 1956 7
Correspondence 1957 8
Correspondence 1958 9
Financial 1959 10
N.d. 11
Report on 1953 and 1956 pledges, 1958 12
Fifty-year booklet 1950 13
Clippings 14
4. Fall Creek Parkway Branch
Fund-raising and membership Pledges to new building 1957-1959 15
Pledges 1960-1966 16
Audit sheets 1958-1961 17
"Completion Fund Fun" 1963 18
"Completion Fund Fun" 1966-1969 19
Membership campaigns 1959, 1960 20
Membership campaign 1962 21
Membership campaign 1963 22
Membership campaigns 1964-1970 23
BOX 8
4. Fall Creek Parkway Branch (continued)
Board minutes 1959 Folder 1
Board minutes 1960 2
Board minutes 1962 3
Board minutes 1963 4
Board minutes 1964 5
Board minutes 1965 6
Board minutes 1966 7
Board minutes 1967 8
Board minutes 1969-1975 9
Correspondence 1959-1963 11
Correspondence 1965 12
Correspondence 1966 13
Correspondence 1967-1968 14
Correspondence 1969 15
Correspondence 1970 16
Program reports 1959-1963 17
Financial reports 1960 18
Financial reports 1961 19
Financial reports 1963-1965 20
Dedication of new building, reports 1959-1962 21
Buildings and grounds committee Minutes, inspections 22
Air-conditioning project 23
Deferred maintenance 24
Management 25
BOX 9
Reindeer Club Folder 1
"The Y's Man" (newsletter) 1938-1962 (incomplete) 2
F. PRINTED AND MISCELLANEOUS
Indiana Negro Business and Professional Pictorial Guide 1947-1948 3
Russo, Dorothy Ritter, One Hundred Years of Indiana Medicine, 1849-1949 (R 217 .R8 194) 4
Photographs are stored in visual collections. See M 441 and also (OVB) 5
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