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By Ed Gerritsen, June 2010
Collection Overview
Title: Ralph Blocksma Collection, 1933-2003
ID: COLL/507
Primary Creator: Blocksma, Ralph
Extent: 1.75 Cubic Feet. More info below.
Arrangement: Folder level description
Date Acquired: 00/00/2009
Abstract
Plastic and reconstructive surgeon (specialized in repairs for cleft lips and palates, decubitus ulcers, and burns), and served as a medical missionary. The collection includes biographical materials; diaries; writings; diplomas; awards; publications; speeches; lectures; correspondence; newspaper clippings; "Letters from Pakistan"; photographs (photographic images of surgical procedures are restricted); and materials from his leadership in the Christian Medical Society, Medical Assistance Program (MAP), Board of Affordable Medicines in Africa (AMFA); Oral Cleft Clinic; plus other medical and plastic surgery associations and societies.
Biographical Note
(1914 - 2001)
Ralph Blocksma was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1914. He was a student at Calvin College and graduated with his BA in 1936. He later went on to become a doctor and served on many medical societies and boards and became a medical missionary. Ralph spent a great deal of time and money to develop plastic surgery in third-world countries. He was married to Ruth Naomi Enss in 1940. Ralph served as a captain in the US Army from 1942-1945. He was a plastic surgeon in the Army and worked in evacuation hospitals in England, France, and Germany. In 1949 he had a career in international medicine. Ralph Blocksma lived in Grand Rapids but died in Jacksonville, Florida. He was eighty-seven years old when he died in 2001.
Administrative Information
Repository:
Heritage Hall, Hekman Library
Alternate Extent Statement:
4 Boxes
Acquisition Source:
Ruth Blocksma, 2009
Box and Folder Listing
Browse by Series:
[
Series 1: Biographical information],
[Series 2: Publications],
[
Series 3: Miscellaneous],
[
Series 4: Photographs],
[
All]
- Series 2: Publications
- Box 2
- Folder 1-2: "Letters from Pakistan: A Post-Partition Medical Saga," Volume 1 and 2 --- [undated]
- Folder 3: Letters from Pakistan: A Post-Partition Medical Saga --- [undated]
- Folder 4-5: Scientific papers --- 1949-1987
- Folder 6: "Cosmetic Surgery and the Whole Man" --- 1966
- Folder 7: "All in a Life's Work: Odyssey of a Plastic Surgeon" --- [undated]
- Folder 8: Articles re: silicone research --- 1963
- Folder 9: Articles re: medical service --- 1951-1986
- Folder 10: Material re: Bougainvillea Clinic for Plastic Surgery --- 1977-1988
- Folder 11: Material re: early mission work with the financial assistance of the Henry Beets Mission Society --- [undated]
- Folder 12
- Item 1: "Historical and Philosophical Concepts of Plastic Surgery" --- 1984
- Item 2: "Reflections on Medical Practice Abroad" --- 1984
- Item 3: "Ferris N. Smith: The Man and His Art" --- [undated]
- Item 4: "Conceptual Changes in Teaching Plastic Surgery" --- [undated]
- Folder 13: "Highway Bloodshed, Big Business and Bombast" --- [undated]
- Folder 14: Speeches given at International Conference on Medical Missions --- 1960 and 1968
- Folder 15: Speeches --- 1975-1990
Browse by Series:
[
Series 1: Biographical information],
[Series 2: Publications],
[
Series 3: Miscellaneous],
[
Series 4: Photographs],
[
All]
