K. K. Nygaard Papers
name: label: Author
content: Nygaard, Kaare K., 1903-1989
label: Names
content: Mayo Clinic
label: Names
content: White Plains Hospital
place: label: Place
content: White Plains (N.Y.)
label: Place
content: Norway
topic: label: Topic
content: Blood coagulation disorders
label: Topic
content: Medicine -- Research
label: Topic
content: Emigration and immigration
label: Topic
content: Surgery
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: olletion donated by Gail Delgado Nygaard, May 1990.
creator: label: Author
content: Nygaard, Kaare K., 1903-1989
setName: label: See more items in
content: K. K. Nygaard Papers
abstract: label: Summary
content: The collection includes drafts of chapters and sections (some hand written) of Nygaard's book Hemorrhagic Diseases.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Kaare K. Nygaard (1903 1989) was a native of Norway who received an M.D. from Royal Frederiks University, Oslo, in 1929.  He immigrated to the United States, where he spent a 5 year residency at the Mayo Clinic as a surgeon and researcher on blood.  During World War II he organized a wing of the White Plains (N.Y.) Hospital to care for sick and wounded Norwegian merchant seamen at minimal costs; he operated on 4,000 of them.  He continued as a general surgeon at White Plains for 40 years, retiring in 1979.

Dr. Nygaard was the author of Hemorrhagic Diseases; Photoelectric Study of Blood Coagulability (published in 1941) and also of over 50 professional papers, mostly on his research on blood.  While at the Mayo Clinic he invented and patented the first machine to use photoelectric principles in blood analysis.

Before his medical career began, Dr. Nygaard was a sculptor; he continued his art work throughout his life, with public exhibitions and sales of his work.  The United Nations honored his sculpture with a commemorative stamp.  He published an autobiography, Knife, Life and Bronzes, in 1986.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 1 Cubic foot (2 boxes)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1921-1986
custodhist: label: Custodial History
content: Collection transferred to the Archives Center from the Division of Medical Sciences (now Division of Medicine and Science) on September 7, 1990.
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.0378
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: Processed by Don Darroch, volunteer, 1990.
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The collection includes drafts of chapters and sections (some hand written) of Nygaard's book Hemorrhagic Diseases.  A twenty-two page typed draft represents a chapter of a book (title and date unknown) on "The photoelectric principle and its application to problems of medical interest." Also included are a large number of file cards recording Nygaard's handwritten notes on patient's cases and his research.