Loading...
Creator
Berry, Leonidas H., 1902-1995
Call number
Sc MG 281
Physical description
3.75 linear feet (3 boxes)
Preferred Citation
[Item], Leonidas H. Berry papers, Sc MG 281, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, The New York Public Library
Repository
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division
Access to materials
Request an in-person research appointment.

The Leonidas H. Berry papers primarily document Berry's medical career. There is correspondence (1980-1988), speeches and honors (1969-1980s), and some material on the National Medical Association. There are scattered files dealing with his work with the A.M.E. Church health program, Cook County Hospital, the Narcotic Clinic he helped establish, and others. Writings include some draft sketches and research files for his book, I Wouldn't Take Nothin' for My Journey, and correspondence dealing with the promotion and reaction to it. Included with the writings is his textbook Gastrointestinal Pan-endoscopy and the manuscript of Clinical significance of Gastrointestinal endoscopy, an update for a series of pamphlets of which he was an editor. Berry's curriculum vitae and World War II Army papers provide some biographical information.

Biographical/historical information

Leonidas H. Berry was the son of Reverend Llewellyn L. Berry, who served as the general secretary of the Home and Foreign Missions Department of the A.M.E. Church from 1933 until his death in 1954. Leonidas Berry graduated in 1924 from Wilberforce University and completed his studies at Rush Medical College of the University of Chicago in 1929.

During his career, Berry was affiliated with several hospitals in Chicago, and was the first African American specialist in the field of digestive diseases and endoscopy. In 1946, he became the first black physician to join the staff of Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago and the first black internist at Cook County Hospital there. He retired in 1975 as chief of endoscopy service and senior attending physician at Cook County. He was also one of the first black doctors to be admitted to the American Medical Association and served as president of the National Medical Association in the mid-1960s.

Berry was the author of numerous articles and a textbook, Gastrointestinal Pan-Endoscopy. He also wrote a family history, I Wouldn't Take Nothin' for My Journey: Two Centuries of an Afro-American Minister's Family.

He and was instrumental in establishing a health program for the A.M.E. Church, and was widely known for his leadership in voluntary community health programs, setting up drug treatment clinics and working with the United Front (which organized the Flying Black Medics).

Scope and arrangement

The Leonidas H. Berry papers primarily document the medical career of this well-known gastroenterologist. Berry's curriculum vitae and World War II Army papers provide biographical information; however, material relating to his profession comprises the bulk of the collection. The collection is organized into four series: I. Personal Papers; II. Professional Papers and Activities; III. Writings; and IV. Black History.

There is correspondence (1980-1988), speeches and honors (1969-1980s), and some material on the National Medical Association. There are scattered files dealing with his work with the A.M.E. Church health program, Cook County Hospital, the Narcotic Clinic he helped establish, and others. The writing series includes some draft sketches and research files for his book, I Wouldn't Take Nothin' for My Journey, and correspondence dealing with the promotion and reaction to it. Included in this series is his textbook Gastrointestinal Pan-endoscopy and the manuscript of Clinical significance of Gastrointestinal endoscopy, an update for a series of pamphlets of which he was an editor. (The work was originally published in 1976, but Berry updated it and tried to get it published as a new edition in 1985 with no success.)

Administrative information

Custodial history

The collection was salvaged from a dumpster after subject's death.

Processing information

Compiled by Diana Lachatanere, 1989.

Photographs transferred to the Photographs and Prints Division.

Finding aid edited and adapted to digital form by Kay Menick in 2016.

Using the collection

Location

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division
515 Malcolm X Boulevard, New York, NY 10037-1801
Second Floor

Conditions Governing Use

Information on copyright available from repository.