Scope and arrangement
The Sylvester J. Carter Papers document the life and career of this prominent hand surgeon. The collection contains scrapbooks, correspondence, writings, programs of medical conferences and meetings, photographs and plaques.|||Included are scrapbooks of letters, articles by and about Carter, material from his student years at Bates College (1930's) and his singing with the Bates College Glee Club and as a soloist. Other scrapbooks contain curriculum vitae and additional biographical information. Correspondence with colleagues discusses both Carter's medical and non-medical activities (1930-1980). Also included are articles by Carter and other authors, letters regarding Carter's appointments to hospital staffs, audiotapes of talks given at meetings of professional associations, and newsclippings. In addition, the collection consists of programs of conferences, congreses, meetings and symposia (1962-1982), his published papers, articles about Carter and plaques honoring his medical achievments.|||The color slides of surgical procedures consist of approximately 16,000 images of hand operations performed by Dr. Carter. The slides show procedures and techniques in hand surgery and contain both illustrative drawings and on site photographs. Many slides illustrate the tissues, muscles and veins, etc. Some of the categories of the slides are amputations, arthritus, bone disorders, burns, carpal tunnel, cerebral palsy, children, dupuytrens contracture and dupuytrens disease, firecracker accidents, frostbite, infections, injuries, nerves, prosthesis, ring injuries, skin grafts, strangulated hand, teaching cases, tenosynovitus stenosing, tendons, thumb, tuberculosis and vascular. The slides were taken by Carter's nurse, Lilla F. Grant and are labeled and date from 1963 through 1976. A small number of black and white photographs document surgical procedures of hand operations.