Title: John Harvey Kellogg Papers Creator: Kellogg, John Harvey, 1852-1943 Inclusive dates: 1832-1965 Bulk dates: 1874-1943 Extent: 19.3 linear feet (in 21 boxes) Extent: 30.5 GB Abstract:
Battle Creek, Michigan physician, food scientist, founder of the Battle Creek Sanitarium. Correspondence, student notebooks from University of Michigan and Bellevue Hospital, drafts of speeches and lecture notes, newspaper clippings and scrapbooks, and topical files; include material concerning medical theories and practices, especially matters of diet and hygiene, his work with organizations such as the National Vitality League, Race Betterment Foundation, Battle Creek Three Quarter Century Club, Chicago Workingmen's Home and Medical Mission, and Seventh-Day Adventists; also photographs.
Call number: 851724 Aa 2 Language: The materials are in English; some documents in French and German. Repository: Bentley Historical Library
1150 Beal Ave. Ann Arbor, MI
48109-2113 Phone:
734-764-3482 Fax:
734-936-1333 e-mail:
bentley.ref@umich.edu Home Page: http://www.bentley.umich.edu/
Finding aid prepared by: Matthew T. Schaefer (1988 reprocessing); Krista Gray, January 2014 (digital component)
Access and Use
Acquisition Information:
The collection was the gift of Gertrude W. Goodwin (Donor No. 3506), secretary of the Race Betterment Foundation of Battle Creek, Michigan.
Access Restrictions:
The collection is open for research.
To protect fragile audiovisual recordings (such as audio cassettes, film reels, and VHS tapes), the Bentley Historical Library has a policy of converting them to digital formats by a professional vendor whenever a researcher requests access. For more information, please see: http://bentley.umich.edu/research/duplication/.
Copyright:
Donor(s) have not transferred any applicable copyright to the Regents of the University of Michigan. Patrons are responsible for determining the appropriate use or reuse of materials.
Processing Information:
In preparing digital material for long-term preservation and access, the Bentley Historical Library adheres to professional best practices and standards to ensure that content will retain its authenticity and integrity. For more information on procedures for the ingest and processing of digital materials, please see Bentley Historical Library Digital Processing Note. Access to digital material may be provided either as a direct link to an individual file or as a downloadable package of files bundled in a zip file.
Alternate Format:
A microfilm edition of the Kellogg papers is also available. The microfilm edition is described in a separate finding aid.
Preferred Citation:
item, folder title, box no., John Harvey Kellogg Papers, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan
Biography
John Harvey Kellogg, born February 26, 1852, earned worldwide acclaim in his lifetime as a health reformer and propagandist, and as head of the Battle Creek Sanitarium. Kellogg is now best known in connection with the line of breakfast cereal products made by the company that bears his name. While John Harvey Kellogg conceived the notion of flaked corn as a healthful morning repast, it was his brother, Will Keith, who turned his hand to the development of the breakfast food company. John Harvey Kellogg was also a skilled surgeon, an editor, and scientist who saw himself as primarily an educator determined to focus public attention on preventive medicine as the means to maintain good health. The main thrust of Kellogg's good health message was that vegetarian diet, regular exercise, fresh air, and sunshine are the keys to a long and vigorous life. Kellogg was a testament to the efficacy of his principles, living to age ninety-one and working diligently until succumbing to pneumonia on December 14, 1943.
Kellogg's father, a convert to Seventh Day Adventism, moved his family to Battle Creek when John Harvey was age four; thus the young Kellogg grew up well versed in the health reform principles of the Adventists. Many of these tenets, especially regarding vegetarianism and temperance, were elements of Kellogg's mature thinking on healthful "biologic living." Kellogg, an 1875 graduate of Bellevue Hospital Medical College, brought a solid training in orthodox medicine to his health reform efforts. In this, he differed from most earlier health reformers, whose systems often lacked grounding in science. Kellogg made repeated trips to Europe to keep abreast of developments in medicine, surgery, and physiology in order to buttress the scientific foundations which supported his health teachings.
Upon completion of his medical training, Kellogg returned as medical superintendent of the Adventists' Western Health Reform Institute in Battle Creek. Kellogg's vigorous efforts as a promoter and publicist soon brought the Battle Creek Sanitarium (as the Institute was renamed in 1876) to national prominence as "a place where people learn to stay well." Kellogg used the Sanitarium as a testing ground for the application of his "Battle Creek idea" on the effect of diet, exercise, correct posture, fresh air, and rest on the health and fitness of individuals. The program did enhance health. Kellogg and the Sanitarium prospered, despite policy differences with the Seventh Day Adventists, a 1902 fire which destroyed the building, and receivership debt due to overbuilding, until the 1930s Depression cut down patronage. In good times, Kellogg traded heavily on the celebrity of the Sanitarium's clientele to sell his health reform ideas. In hard times, he relied on the strength of the science which girded his system to keep pushing health. Throughout his sixty-seven year association with the Sanitarium, Kellogg never wavered in his faith in the rectitude of the "Battle Creek idea."
Kellogg was a prolific author and had a ready venue of publication in Good Health, a magazine he edited for nearly seventy years. Kellogg incorporated many of the ideas which appeared first as articles in Good Health into nearly fifty books. Included among them are: Body in Health, Colon Hygiene, New Dietetics, Plain Facts about Sexual Life, Practical Manual of Health and Temperance, and Rational Hydrotherapy. These books manifest Kellogg's efforts to bring the new medical science to the general public. Kellogg also lectured from coast-to-coast touring his message before as large an audience as possible. Finally, Kellogg's dynamic personality attracted disciples to Battle Creek to study at the feet of the master of "rational" medicine; these disciples in turn propagated Kellogg's ideas that medical science pointed to adherence to a vegetarian regimen of moderation as the surest way to good health.
Collection Scope and Content Note
The John Harvey Kellogg papers document the career of a medical doctor and health reformer and advocate. The collection provides telling insight to the operation of the Battle Creek Sanitarium. The papers span the years 1869 to 1965, with the bulk of the materials covering the years 1874 to 1943. Significantly, there are some collected published items in the collection that date as early as 1832. The Kellogg papers consist of correspondence, lectures, notes, memoranda, clippings, scrapbooks, notebooks, photographs, articles, and book manuscripts. These diverse sources provide ample documentation of Kellogg's life, and are an excellent source with which to examine early twentieth-century medicine in general and Kellogg's important innovations in health reform. The collection is also very strong on the development of the Sanitarium and the "Battle Creek idea" of natural health. Kellogg's zealous efforts to proselytize the world at large on the wisdom of the "Battle Creek Idea" are reflected in the papers. Also included are materials relating to his work with organizations such as the National Vitality League, Race Betterment Foundation, Battle Creek Three Quarter Century Club, Chicago Workingmen's Home and Medical Mission, and Seventh-Day Adventists.
The Kellogg collection came to the Michigan Historical Collections in two primary accessions, one in 1962 and another in 1972. Parts of the collection were reprocessed in 1988 prior to the entire collection being microfilmed. The collection is now divided into the following series: Biographical/Personal; Correspondence; Lectures, Speeches, and Related; Notes and Articles; Subject Files (medical missionaries); Clippings/ Scrapbooks; Bound Manuscripts/Published Volumes; and Photographs.
Subject Terms
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the finding aid database and catalog of The Bentley Historical Library/University of Michigan. Researchers desiring additional information about related topics should search the catalog using these headings.
Battle Creek (Mich.)
Depressions -- 1929 -- United States.
Food.
Hygiene.
Ireland.
Medicine -- Michigan -- Battle Creek.
Physicians -- Michigan -- Battle Creek.
Prohibition -- United States.
Public health -- United States.
Physicians -- Religious life -- Michigan -- Battle Creek.
Battle Creek (Mich.) -- Buildings.
Battle Creek (Mich.) -- Dwellings.
Battle Creek (Mich.) -- Health resorts.
Buildings -- Michigan -- Battle Creek.
Buildings -- Illinois -- Chicago.
Chicago (Ill.) -- Buildings.
Chicago (Ill.) -- Missions.
Dwellings -- Michigan -- Battle Creek.
Families.
Health resorts -- Michigan -- Battle Creek.
Hospitals -- Michigan -- Battle Creek.
Interiors.
Laboratories.
Medicine -- Michigan -- Battle Creek.
Missions -- Illinois -- Chicago.
Physical fitness.
Slums.
Women.
Photographs.
Scrapbooks.
Battle Creek Sanitarium.
Bellevue Hospital.
Chicago Workingmen's Home and Medical Mission.
Kellogg, John Harvey, 1852-1943.
National Vitality League.
Race Betterment Foundation.
Seventh Day Adventist Church (Battle Creek, Mich.)
Three Quarter Century Club (Battle Creek, Mich.)
University of Michigan. Medical School.
University of Michigan -- Student notebooks.
Battle Creek Sanitarium.
Kellogg, John Harvey, 1852-1943.
Kellogg family.
Barron, Clarence Walker, 1855-1928.
Boldyreff, W.
Byrd, Richard Evelyn, 1888-1957.
Campbell, B. Hodges.
Edison, Mary Stilwell.
Edison, Thomas A. (Thomas Alva), 1847-1931.
Efromoff, G.
Fisher, Irving, 1867-1947.
Ford, Clara Bryant, 1866-1950.
Ford, Henry, 1863-1947.
LeHand, Margaret.
Liebold, Ernest G., 1884-
Osborn, Chase S. (Chase Salmon), 1860-
Parran, Thomas.
Pavlov, Ivan Petrovich, 1849-1936.
Pinchot, Gifford, 1865-1946.
Pingree, Hazen S., 1840-1901.
Plunckett, Horace.
Pomari, M.
Rockefeller, John D. (John Davison), 1874-1960.
Roosevelt, Franklin D. (Franklin Delano), 1882-1945.
Shaw, Bernard, 1856-1950.
Taft, William H. (William Howard), 1857-1930.
Tarbell, Ida M. (Ida Minerva), 1857-1944.
Tissier, L.
Tolstoy, Alexandra, 1884-1979.
Tolstoy, Ilga.
Tolstoy, Leo, 1828-1910.
Van Shaick, Louis J.
Contents List
Request materials for use in the Bentley Library
Container / Location
Title
Personal/Biographical [series]
Biographical/Personal (0.1 linear feet) is a small series drawn from different parts of the collection containing summary information about Kellogg's life as well as some of the awards he received throughout his career.
Box 1
Autobiographical and Biographical Notes
(2 folders (.PDF and .ZIP files))
[download item]
Online
Awards, Citations, etc.
(.PDF and .ZIP files)
[download item]
Box 1
Legal size
Box 21
Large Format
Correspondence [series]
The Correspondence series (2 linear feet; 1875-1948) documents Kellogg's many interests and the operation of the sanitarium. Correspondents in the collection include C. W. Barron, Richard E. Byrd, Mary G. Edison, Irving Fisher, Clara J. Ford, Henry Ford, Margaret LeHand, Ernest G. Liebold, Chase S. Osborn, I. P. Pavlov, Gifford Pinchot, Hazen Pingree, Sir Horace Plunckett, John D. Rockefeller, Jr., Franklin D. Roosevelt, Bernard Shaw, William Howard Taft, Ida Tarbell, Alexandra Tolstoi, Leo Tolstoi, Ilga Tolstoi, and Louis J. Van Shaick.
Lectures, Speeches, and Related Materials [series]
The researcher will find the fullest development of Kellogg's thinking on any specific topic in the Lectures, Speeches, and Related Materials series (4.5 linear feet; 1875-1943). This series is arranged chronologically with each presentation listed.
Follies of Fashionable Life September 12, 1901, September 19, 1901 (2 pts) 1901
Box 4
Muscular Movements October 3, 1901
Box 4
Talks to Medical Class (Sophomores) on topic of exercise (7 pts.) October 1901
Online
November-December 1901
(.PDF and .ZIP files)
[download item]
Box 4
The Liver November 14, 1901
Box 4
Physiological-Therapeutics--What is Disease? (talks to Junior Medical Students), 1901 December 10, 1901 December 11, 1901 December 12, 1901 December 9 (4 pts.) 1901
Box 4
Chapter on Therapeutics, etc. December 9, 1901
(probably used as background for therapeutics talks)
Box 4
Disease--Defenses of the Body December 13, 1901
Online
January 1902, undated 1902
(.PDF and .ZIP files)
[download item]
Box 4
Health Food Fakirs circa 1902
Box 4
Health-Getting and Health-Keeping January 20, 1902
A Positive and Practical Method of Changing the Intestinal Flora Employing a New and More Potent Culture of Lactobacillus Bifidus-Acidophilus, January 30, 1936.
Box 7
An Early Experience in Changing the Intestinal Flora July 2, 1936
Box 7
A Lecture in the Old Sanitarium Lobby July 6, 1936
Box 7
Lecture in the Sanitarium Dining Room August 3, 1936
Box 7
Change of the Intestinal Flora August 16, 1936
Box 7
Untitled talk October 21, 1936
Box 7
Alcohol Compared with Florida Sunshine February 24, 1937
Box 7
A Rational System of Physical Training Based on Strength Tests of all Important Groups of Muscles March 7, 1937
Box 7
Vitamin A April 10, 1937
Box 7
Human Life Extended Seven Years by Vitamins September 15, 1937
Box 7
A Chat About Health Foods October 4, 1937
Box 7
Special Health Values of the Soybean October 5, 1937
Box 7
Special Features of the Battle Creek Sanitarium: Bill of Fare October 17, 1937
Box 7
Rheumatic Fibrositis November 11, 1937
Box 7
What Physiotherapy Can Do for Chronic Invalids December 17, 1937
The Gorilla's Secret September 15, 1943, November 1943 (2 pts.) 1943
Notes and Articles [series]
The Notes and Articles series (4 linear feet; between 1890 and 1943) contains miscellaneous original and collected material, not always clearly identified, one portion of which is grouped together alphabetically by broad topic while another portion is arranged chronologically.
Subject Files (primarily medical missionary materials) [series]
Subject Files (1.3 linear feet; between 1885 and 1920) is arranged alphabetically by topic and relates primarily to Kellogg's interest in medical missionaries.
Box 11
American Medical Missionary College circa 1901-1907
(3 folders (.PDF and .ZIP files))
[download item]
Box 11
Battle Creek Sanitarium 1881-1944, undated
(2 folders (.PDF and .ZIP files))
[download item]
Box 12
Chicago Medical Missionary School (and Working Men's Home and Medical Mission) 1891-1907, undated
(.PDF and .ZIP files)
[download item]
Box 12
Chicago Medical Missions: Chapel Talk and Announcement 1897-1898
(.PDF and .ZIP files)
[download item]
Box 12
Christian Help Bands circa 1895-1898
(.PDF and .ZIP files)
[download item]
Box 12
International Health Association 1894-1899, undated
(.PDF and .ZIP files)
[download item]
Box 12
International Medical Alliance 1905-1907
(.PDF and .ZIP files)
[download item]
Box 12
International Medical Missionary and Benevolent Association (Seventh-Day Adventist) 1894-1907, undated
(.PDF and .ZIP files)
[download item]
Box 12
Interdenominational Medical Missionary Conference 1909
(.PDF and .ZIP files)
[download item]
Box 12
Legal Papers and Patents 1896-1936
(.PDF and .ZIP files)
[download item]
Box 12
Medical Faculty Meetings 1898-1900
(.PDF and .ZIP files)
[download item]
Medical Missionary
Box 12
Board 1895-1901, undated
(.PDF and .ZIP files)
[download item]
Box 12
Proceedings of Medical Missionary Conference and Convention 1905, 1911
(.PDF and .ZIP files)
[download item]
Box 12
General (Correspondence, resolutions, meeting minutes, etc.) 1895-1908, undated
(2 folders (.PDF and .ZIP files))
[download item]
Miscellaneous and Fragments 1906-1908, undated
(.PDF and .ZIP files)
[download item]
Box 12
Published Materials: news clippings, brochures, and 'The Medical Missionary' journal 1906-1909, undated
(.PDF and .ZIP files)
[download item]
Box 12
Mexican Medical Mission (Guadalajara) 1897-1918, undated
(.PDF and .ZIP files)
[download item]
Box 12
Michigan Sanitarium and Benevolent Association 1897-1899, undated
(.PDF and .ZIP files)
[download item]
Box 12
Sanitarium Training School for Missionary Nurses 1893-1907, undated
(.PDF and .ZIP files)
[download item]
Box 12
Sanitariums and "Medical Missions and Benevolent Associations" in the United States and Abroad 1893-1907, undated
(.PDF and .ZIP files)
[download item]
Box 12
Seventh Day Adventist Medical Missionary and Benevolent Association 1891-1897, undated
(.PDF and .ZIP files)
[download item]
Miscellaneous (conference programs, "A Chewing Song" dedicated to Horace Fletcher, materials related to Richard E. Byrd's second Antarctic expedition, etc.) 1884-1943, undated
(.PDF and .ZIP files)
[download item]
Clippings and Scrapbooks [series]
The Clippings/Scrapbooks (2 linear feet; 1878-1952) consists of clipping files arranged both chronologically and by topic, and scrapbooks arranged chronologically supplemented by volumes pertaining to specific topics.
Women's Concerns and Housekeeping undated
(Paper: 3 volumes; Digital: .PDF and .ZIP files)
[download item]
Bound Manuscripts and Published Volumes [series]
Bound Manuscripts/Published Volumes (4.5 linear feet; approximately between 1869 and 1940) consists of various ledgers and daybooks, Kellogg's student notebooks, his professional notebooks, manuscripts of essays and other writings, and published works by Kellogg and others in the field of health and nutrition. The notebooks in particular manifests Kellogg's quick mind as student and as a doctor in search of the most recent trends in medicine and surgery. Not part of this Kellogg collection, but also available at the Bentley Historical Library, is a collection of Kellogg's published writings and the Good Health magazine.
Box 14
Guestbooks and Registers 1926-1944
(Paper: 8 volumes; Digital: .PDF and .ZIP files)
[download item]
Box 15
Various (primarily family materials): biographical materials, diaries, expense books, etc. circa 1885-1909
(7 volumes (Paper: 7 volumes; Digital: .PDF and .ZIP files))
[download item]
Race Betterment/Eugenics
(.PDF and .ZIP files)
[download item]
Photographs [series]
The Photograph series (0.8 linear feet; between 1880s and 1940s) includes portraits and photos of John Harvey Kellogg with family and friends, other photos concerning the Battle Creek Sanitarium, its buildings and the activities that it administered, Kellogg's interest in a Chicago mission house, and Kellogg's travels. There are also family photos.
Box 19
Portraits of John Harvey Kellogg circa 1880s-1943
(.PDF and .ZIP files)
[download item]
Box 19
Informal photos of John Harvey Kellogg (alone) 1919-1943, undated
(.PDF and .ZIP files)
[download item]
Box 19
Informal photos of John Harvey Kellogg (with others) 1912-1943, undated
(.PDF and .ZIP files)
[download item]
Box 19
Christmas card photographs 1906-1939
(.PDF and .ZIP files)
[download item]
Box 19
Interiors and exteriors of Battle Creek and New York homes 1894, undated
(.PDF and .ZIP files)
[download item]
Box 19
Kellogg Mrs. John Harvey (née Ella Ervilla Eaton) circa 1900-1915, undated
(.PDF and .ZIP files)
[download item]
Box 19
Kellogg family undated
(.PDF and .ZIP files)
[download item]
