Hidden Bibliographic Details
| Varying Form of Title: | Ricketts, Howard Taylor, papers
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| Notes: | The collection is open for research.
Howard T. Ricketts was educated at the University of Nebraska (B.S., 1894) and Northwestern University Medical School (M.D., 1897). After serving his internship at Cook County Hospital, he was appointed research fellow in pathology at Rush Medical College (1898-1900). Ricketts spent a year in Europe studying immunology at hospitals and laboratories in Vienna, Paris, and Berlin. In 1902, he became an associate in the Department of Pathology and Bacteriology at the University of Chicago and was promoted to assistant professor in 1904. Ricketts' research in pathology began at Rush Medical College, where he began a series of experiments on blastomycosis which resulted in an important monograph: Oidiomycosis (Blastomycosis) of the Skin and its Fungi . His most noted medical research, however, was his discovery of the cause of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. Starting in 1906, he ran a series of experiments (in Chicago and Montana) which proved that the disease was transmitted by wood ticks. Eventually, this led to the discovery of a suspicious bacillus in the blood of both victims and infected ticks. When the bacillus was finally isolated in 1916, it was named "Rickettsia" in honor of the man who first noted its presence. Ricketts never completed his work on Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, being drawn instead to the study of a related disease, typhus. In 1909, he was given a one-year leave of absence from Chicago to investigate a typhus epidemic in Mexico City. In a matter of months, using protocols developed in the spotted fever research, Ricketts was able to isolate the louse as the carrier of Mexican typhus, and on April 23, 1910, he announced discovery of a micro-organism in the blood of body lice and typhus patients. The confirmation of this discovery, however, was left to others, for ten days later Howard Ricketts died, a victim of the disease.
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| Summary: | Consists of personal and professional correspondence, research notes and manuscripts relating to his work with Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and typhus. Also includes memorabilia, photographs, awards, and correspondence and photostatic copies of a scrapbook produced after Ricketts' death.
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| Cite as: | When quoting material from this collection, the preferred citation is: Ricketts, Howard Taylor. Papers, [Box #, Folder #], Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.
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| Cumulative Index / Finding Aids Note: | Finding aid available in the Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library, 1100 E. 57th St., Chicago, IL 60637.
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