James Jackson Putnam papers

James Jackson Putnam (1846-1918), B.A., 1866, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts; M.D., 1870, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, was a neurologist and psychiatrist practicing in Boston, Massachusetts.

James Jackson Putnam was born October 3, 1846, in Boston, Massachusetts, to Charles Gideon Putnam (1805-1875) and Elizabeth Cabot (Jackson) Putnam (1808-1875). He attended Harvard University and graduated with his B.A. in 1866; going on to Harvard Medical School, he received his M.D. in 1870. He completed an internship at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, before going to study neurology in Europe: Germany, France, Austria, and England. He returned to the United States in 1872 and opened one of the first neurological laboratories in the country in his Boston home.

In 1874, Putnam was appointed Lecturer in the Application of Electricity in Nervous Diseases at Harvard Medical School. In the same year, Putnam was appointed Neurologist at Massachusetts General Hospital; during his time there, Putnam established one of the first neurological hospital clinics. Putnam taught at Harvard Medical School throughout his career, eventually being named Professor of Diseases of the Nervous System in 1893. He held this position until 1912 when he retired and was granted emeritus status.

Putnam was one of the founders of the American Neurological Association in 1874 and served as the organization’s president in 1888; he was also a founding member of the Boston Society of Psychiatry and Neurology. In addition to these organizations, Putnam was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Association of American Physicians, the American Medical Association, the American Association of Pathologists and Bacteriologists, the American Psychopathological Association, the American Psychoanalytic Association, and several other Boston-area medical societies.

Putnam was a prolific author, publishing over 100 articles and books, including a family history, A Memoir of Dr. James Jackson... (1905), and many publications on neurological and psychiatric topics, including a textbook, Studies in neurological diagnosis (1902), and several popular works on psychoanalysis, including Human motives (1915).

Putnam married Marian Cabot (1893-1971) in 1888; the couple had five children: Elizabeth, James, Louisa, Marian, and Frances. James Jackson Putnam died November 4, 1918, of angina pectoris and was survived by his wife, Marian, and four of their five children.