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Guide to Collections Relating to the History of Artificial Internal Organs

respository

Minnesota Historical Society



address

345 Kellogg Blvd West, St. Paul, MN 44102-1906


Telephone

(651) 296-9989


Fax Number

(651) 296-9961


Website

www.mnhs.org



Contact Person

James E. Fogerty, Head of Acquisitions & Curatorial Department


email

james.fogerty@mnhs.org



Access and Services

Library Hours: Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Tuesday 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Closed Sundays and state holidays



Abstract

The Minnesota Historical Society has been collecting, preserving and telling individual stories for 150 years. Since 1948, The Minnesota Historical Society has used oral history as a means of documenting Minnesota's past and present. The Society's oral history collection now includes hundreds of interviews with Minnesotans from all walks of life and all corners of the state. Topics, chosen to explore specific issues in the state's history and current affairs, include politics, business, labor, agriculture, the environment, ethnicity, religion and education. Interviews are recorded on audio tape, and many include transcripts that allow easy access to the material. Since 1984 the Historical Society has also operated a video history program to complement a number of its oral history projects.




Collections


title/date

Pioneers of the Medical Device Industry in Minnesota Oral History Collection, 1997 and ongoing



Collection ID


Quantity

20 interviews; edited volumes containing the transcripts of each interview



Biographical Note

Minnesota has long been recognized as one of the nation's leaders in nearly all phases of the health care industry, including both medical technology and health care delivery systems. In the course of its development, the health care industry has also become an important component of Minnesota's business community, providing employment for thousands of Minnesotans and products that are distributed across the world. The Minnesota Historical Society is documenting this important industry by focusing on the development of medical device technology. As is true in any new industry, the impetus for its founding and development has been provided by people - the people who generated the ideas, designed the products, and created the marketing organization that form the industry. Some of what they did has been chronicled, but a great deal remains locked in the memories of those who blazed the trails that created today's industrial structure.

Pioneers of the Medical Device Industry in Minnesota - An Oral History Project captures the unwritten relationships that have framed the development of the medical technology industry in Minnesota and the nation. A major component of this project concentrates on the founding and growth of the major companies that are important to this history.



Collection Description

This collection includes interviews with approximately twenty key people in the industry's history selected in consultation with advisors whose different perspectives on the evolution of medical technology, medical history, and business and organizational history and structure ensures interviews with both depth and scope. The advisors also helped determine the major topics that form the basis for the interviews and for research by project staff. Each interview explores the individual narrator's role in the industry, his or her perspective on its growth and development, and predictions for the industry's future. A number of the interviews have a separate video component.

Collection includes the following interviews:

  • Adducci, Anthony interviewed 2000
  • Amplatz, Kurt interviewed 2000
  • Bakken, Earl E. interviewed 1997, 1998, 2000
  • Blackshear, Perry interviewed 2000
  • Dahlberg, Kenneth interviewed 2000
  • Dann, Norman interviewed 1998
  • DeWall, Richard interviewed 1998
  • Hollenhorst, Sandra interviewed 2000
  • Holloran, Thomas E. interviewed 1998
  • Lillehei, C. Walton interviewed 1998
  • Matricaria, Ronald A. interviewed 2000
  • Neuman, Patricia interviewed 1998
  • Timm, Gerald interviewed 2000
  • Villafana, Manuel A. interviewed 1998
  • Wallin, Winston R. interviewed 1998
  • Waters, George interviewed 1999


Finding Aid

Listing available upon request.



Restrictions

None



Related Material

Corporate records available for many Minnesota businesses that may relate to aspects of artificial organ developments