Skip to main content
COLLECTION Identifier: H MS c351

Jerome O. Klein papers

Overview

The Jerome O. Klein papers, 1949-2002 (inclusive), consist of correspondence, administrative records, laboratory records, professional activities records, certificates and licenses, and audiovisual records produced by Klein’s activities as a physician, research fellow, and author.

Dates

  • Creation: 1949-2002 (inclusive)

Creator

Language of Materials

Records are in English.

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research. Access requires advance notice. Access to personal and patient information is restricted for 80 years from the date of creation. These restrictions appear in Series I. Researchers may apply for access to restricted records. Consult Public Services for further information.

Access to electronic records in this collection (as found in Series I) is premised on the availability of a computer station, requisite software, and/or the ability of Public Services staff to review and/or print out records of interest in advance of an on-site visit. Access to audiovisual records in this collection (as found in Series II) is premised on the availability of necessary playback equipment and the condition of the media. Consult Public Services for further information.

The Papers are stored offsite. Researchers are advised to consult Public Services for further information concerning retrieval of material.

Conditions Governing Use

The Harvard Medical Library does not hold copyright on all materials in the collection. Researchers are responsible for identifying and contacting any third-party copyright holders for permission to reproduce or publish. For more information on the Center's use, publication, and reproduction policies, view our Reproductions and Use Policy.

Extent

4.3 cubic feet (4 records center cartons and 1 oversize flat storage box)

The Jerome O. Klein papers, 1949-2002 (inclusive), consist of professional and personal correspondence, laboratory and administrative records, meeting records, writings, and photographs and videos generated as a result of Klein’s activities as a physician, research fellow, and author. They includes records generated through Klein’s activities at the Thorndike Memorial, Maxwell Finland, and Channing Laboratories; the Boston Medical Center; Harvard Medical School; the Communicable Disease Center's Epidemic Intelligence Course; the Society for Infectious Diseases; and by Klein’s work on his two major textbooks, Infectious Diseases of the Fetus and Newborn Infant (co-edited with Jack S. Remington), and Otitis Media in Infants and Children (co-authored with Charles D. Bluestone).

The papers have been organized into two series. Series I (Professional Records) consists of records generated as a result of Klein’s professional activities, including his work as a research fellow and administrator at the Thorndike Memorial, Maxwell Finland, and Channing Laboratories; as a physician at the Boston Medical Center; and as a lecturer at Harvard Medical School. The series also contains records from conferences and training programs attended by Klein in 1957-1958 and 1970.

Series II (Personal Records) consists of a small amount of personal correspondence, certificates and licenses obtained by Klein throughout his career, including in college, and photographs and videos of Klein and his co-workers. The personal correspondence is with colleagues, but includes some personal information and is mainly categorized as “personal” because Klein labeled it so. The photographs include group portraits of the Boston Medical Center Department of Pediatrics in the 1970s, as well as a few individual portraits of Klein. The videos are mainly of award ceremonies in which Klein was honored, or other educational programming.

Materials entirely in English.

Biographical Note

Jerome O. Klein (1931-2021), B.A, 1952, Union College, Schenectady, New York; M.D., 1956, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, was a Professor of Pediatrics at the Boston University School of Medicine, an attending physician in (and a former Chief of) the Section of Pediatric Infectious Diseases of the Department of Pediatrics at Boston Medical Center (BMC), and a lecturer at Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts. Between approximately 1961 and 2000, Klein served as a research fellow at the Thorndike Memorial Laboratory (renamed the Maxwell Finland Laboratory in 1979) at Boston City Hospital and at the Channing Laboratory at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston. While at the Thorndike Laboratory, Klein served as a Francis Weld Peabody Memorial Fellow from 1964 to 1966. Klein’s primary research interests were infectious diseases in infants and children, particularly otitis media (middle-ear infections) and vaccines.

Jerome Osias Klein graduated from Yale University School of Medicine in 1956 and completed his residencies at the University of Minnesota Hospitals, Minneapolis, and the Boston Medical Center, Massachusetts, in 1957 and 1961, respectively. Klein was a member of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, serving on the Board of Directors in 1995 and 1996. He also participated as a student in the Epidemic Intelligence Service training course offered by the Communicable Disease Center (now the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). In addition, Klein served as an expert subject witness in pediatric infectious disease for United States Senate hearings and other trials.

Klein received many awards during his career, including: the Distinguished Physician Award of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society (1995); the Bristol Award for Distinguished Achievement of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (1995); the Clinician of the Year Award of the Massachusetts Infectious Diseases Society (1996); the Lifetime Achievement Award for Clinical Research of the Society for Ear, Nose, Throat Advances in Children (1998); and the Maxwell Finland Award for Scientific Achievement from the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (2002). In addition, in 2011, he received the inaugural Jerome Klein Award for Physician Excellence, which was established by the Boston University School of Medicine in his honor. Klein published over 450 articles and several books. His most well-known publications are the textbooks Infectious Diseases of the Fetus and Newborn Infant (co-edited with Jack S. Remington), and Otitis Media in Infants and Children (co-authored with Charles D. Bluestone). Klein and his wife Linda had three children. Klein died on 17 February 2021.

Series and Subseries in the Collection

  1. I. Professional Records, 1959-2002, undated
  2. ___A. Professional Correspondence, 1959-2002, undated
  3. ______ 1. General, 1959-2002
  4. ______ 2. Publications, 1972-2000, undated
  5. ___ B. Laboratory Records from the Thorndike Memorial Laboratory (Boston City Hospital), the Maxwell Finland Laboratory of Infectious Diseases (Boston City Hospital), and the Channing Laboratory (Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School), 1962-2000
  6. ___ C. Harvard Medical School Teaching Records, 1961-1970
  7. ___ D. Training and Conference Materials, 1957-1970
  8. II. Personal Records, 1949-1997, undated

Immediate Source of Acquisition

  1. Accession number 2004-045. Donated by Jerome O. Klein. 2004 February.

Processing Information

Processed by Laura Cass under the supervision of Bryan Sutherland, April 2011.

Processing staff in the Center for the History of Medicine analyzed, arranged, and described the papers, and created a finding aid to improve access. Where necessary, items were photocopied onto acid-free paper. Folder titles were transcribed from the originals except where noted in brackets.

Title
Klein, Jerome O., 1931-2021 , Papers, 1949-2002 (inclusive): Finding Aid
Author
Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine. Center for the History of Medicine.
Language of description
und
EAD ID
med00143

Repository Details

Part of the Center for the History of Medicine (Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine) Repository

The Center for the History of Medicine in the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine is one of the world's leading resources for the study of the history of health and medicine. Our mission is to enable the history of medicine and public health to inform healthcare, the health sciences, and the societies in which they are embedded.

Contact:
10 Shattuck Street
Boston MA 02115
(617) 432-2170