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Collection GanWH : W. Horsley Gantt Collection
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Administrative/Biographical History
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William Andrew Horsley Gantt was the son of a Virginia businessman and a college-educated mother, and the grandson of two physicians. His father died in 1895 when Horsley was only three, and his mother began teaching school to support him and his younger brother. Despite great financial hardship, the boys enjoyed a robust, adventurous childhood on the family farm on the James River in Wingina, Virginia. When Horsley was twelve, his mother moved to Charlottesville in order to enroll him in the Miller School for gifted children. He graduated with the highest marks ever earned. He received his B.S. in 1917 from the University of North Carolina and his M.D. in 1920 from the University of Virginia.
In 1922, Gantt embarked for Petrograd (Leningrad), to serve with Herbert Hoover's American Relief Administration (ARA) providing medical assistance to Russian citizens. While there he began a study of the effect of war and famine on the health of Russians, and at the same time collected data and reminiscences for a history of Russian medicine.
Following his work with the ARA, and after a brief stay in London and Finland, Gantt returned to Russia to study with physiologist Ivan P. Pavlov in his Leningrad laboratory. It was this work with Pavlov which directed Gantt's scientific career. Pavlov had investigated the conditional reflex in his famous studies of the bell and the salivating dog. Gantt in turn spent the next fifty-six years in the laboratory continuing the experimental investigation of the conditioned reflex in the classic Pavlovian method. He established two Pavlovian Laboratories in the United States, first at Johns Hopkins in 1929, and later at the Veterans Administration in Perry Point, Maryland. In addition, he founded and presided over the Pavlovian Society, and edited the Society's Pavlovian Journal of Biological Science (originally entitled Conditional Reflex).
His studies of medicine in Russia resulted in several books and numerous articles and speaking engagements concerning Russia and Pavlov. Fluent in Russian, he translated many scientific works and papers, including Pavlov's works into English. He wrote over 400 scientific articles and several books. Gantt devoted his scientific career to furthering an understanding of the connections between physiological functions and behavior. His scientific investigations yielded objective data in the field of behavioral biology, mainly focused on conditioning, pharmacology, and psychiatry. Over the years, he formulated theories of schizokinesis and autokinesis. For his research he received several awards, including the Lasker Award in 1944 for his work on the experimental basis for neurosis, and the American Heart Association Award in 1950 for his work on cardiac conditioning. Gantt was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1970. He was a member and officer of numerous professional societies.
Gantt's life was marked by enormous energy and dedication, his career as a behavioral biologist by insatiable curiosity. He was philosophical and expansive, and his life was filled with abiding friendships and concern for human welfare.
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The W. Horsley Gantt Collection spans his entire career, emphasizing his scientific research as well as Pavlov's. Series include correspondence, research notes, manuscripts, reprints, and mementos from Gantt's travels. The collection consists of numerous biographical materials, such as photographs, class notes, medical licenses, diaries, appointment books, and press clippings. Correspondence is divided into family correspondence, general correspondence, and correspondence with organizations. Gantt's scientific papers are primarily concerned with behavioral studies at the Pavlovian Laboratories. Particularly noteworthy are original handwritten letters from Pavlov and several photographs of Pavlov in his laboratory. A series of Gantt's political papers highlights his interests and studies in Russia. These materials include Russian public health posters, books from Russia, clippings from Russian Science and other publications, and documents concerning Gantt's political associations and social activism. Audiovisual materials consist of films, prints, and audio cassettes. The collection is particularly strong in documenting the influence of Pavlov on human and animal behavioral studies in the United States and abroad.
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Conditions Governing Access Element
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This collection may contain some restricted records. Materials pertaining to patients, students, employees, and human research subjects, as well as unprocessed collections and recent administrative records, carry restrictions on access. For more information about the policies and procedures for access, see the Archives Policy on Access and Use.
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Use/Reproduction Restrictions
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For permission to reproduce images, contact the holder of the copyright.
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Nancy McCall directed two grant-funded projects to process the W. Horsley Gantt Collection. A grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, with matching funds from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine's Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, funded the transfer of the W. Horsley Gantt Collection to the Medical Archives and a preliminary inventory of the collection. The National Library of Medicine provided a generous multi-year grant to fund the processing, conservation, production of an inventory, and publication of a guide. Nancy Heaton served as project archivist for this grant which was completed in 1986. ArchProteus originally converted and encoded the collection finding aid in 2000 under the direction of Lisa A. Mix. Since 1986, additional materials have been added to the collection and several students and volunteers have assisted in sorting this material. Between 2006-2024, Medical Archives volunteer Chris Ponticas processed the accruals under the direction of Phoebe Evans Letocha. Student employee Hope Lomvardias assisted with data entry.
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Gantt's appetite for information, ideas, and friendship was voracious. His concomitant need to document and save was insatiable, and he rarely threw anything away. A well-meaning colleague once took advantage of his absence to sort and organize some of Gantt's legendary stacks of papers, filling a large wastebasket in the process. Gantt's reaction to his neat cleared desk was to retrieve the entire contents of the wastebasket and replace the piles on his desk. In order to accommodate this habit, Gantt eventually purchased a small house in Baltimore in which to store the overflow. At his death in 1980 his papers filled approximately 300 cubic feet of space.
During the 1970's Gantt was approached by several institutions concerning the disposition of his papers, but ultimately he willed them to the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, which had been home base for his research throughout his life. At his death his wife and longtime assistant, Rebecca Gantt, began the process of transferring papers to the Archives from their home. Concurrently, a team of Archives staff began the task of sorting papers in the East Baltimore home, calling upon the expertise of the Hopkins medical community to deal with such troublesome by-products of biomedical research as pathology specimens. A grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, with matching funds from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine's Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, funded the transfer of the Gantt collection to the Medical Archives and a preliminary inventory of the collection.
The sheer size and complexity of Gantt's personal papers made care and processing an expensive, long-term project, exceeding the resources of the Archives. Help came from the National Library of Medicine in the form of a generous two-year grant, which funded processing, conservation, production of an inventory, and publication of a guide.
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| 01- Biographical Papers | 15000 | | Series |
CollectionGanWH- W. Horsley Gantt Collection
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| 02- Family Records and Correspondence | 15106 | | Series |
CollectionGanWH- W. Horsley Gantt Collection
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| 03- General Correspondence | 15114 | | Series |
CollectionGanWH- W. Horsley Gantt Collection
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| 04- Correspondence with Organizations | 19092 | | Series |
CollectionGanWH- W. Horsley Gantt Collection
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| 05- Records of the Pavlovian Society | 19859 | | Series |
CollectionGanWH- W. Horsley Gantt Collection
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| 06- Papers re Gantt's Scientific Research | 19979 | | Series |
CollectionGanWH- W. Horsley Gantt Collection
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| 07- Notes - Scientific and Personal | 20444 | | Series |
CollectionGanWH- W. Horsley Gantt Collection
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| 08- Writings and Publications | 20447 | | Series |
CollectionGanWH- W. Horsley Gantt Collection
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| 09- Professional Meetings and Travel | 21081 | | Series |
CollectionGanWH- W. Horsley Gantt Collection
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| 10- Political Papers | 21095 | | Series |
CollectionGanWH- W. Horsley Gantt Collection
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| 11- Photographs | 21292 | | Series |
CollectionGanWH- W. Horsley Gantt Collection
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| 12- Russian posters and watercolors | 21296 | | Series |
CollectionGanWH- W. Horsley Gantt Collection
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| 13- Memorabilia, Miscellany, and Oversize | 21298 | | Series |
CollectionGanWH- W. Horsley Gantt Collection
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| 14- Printed Matter and Publications | 21303 | | Series |
CollectionGanWH- W. Horsley Gantt Collection
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| 15- Audiovisual materials | 259435 | | Series |
CollectionGanWH- W. Horsley Gantt Collection
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| 85A | Ivan Pavlov |
| 1449A | W. Horsley Gantt Medal |
| 1452A | Vivat: W. Horsley Gantt's Odyssey to Petrograd |
| 2774A | W. Horsley Gantt signature stamp |
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