SWAN, Alexander (1906-1980)

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0100 KCLCA KH/PP21
Held at	: King's College London College Archives   Click here to find out how to view this collection at http://www.kcl.ac.uk/library/archivespec/ ›
Full title	: SWAN, Alexander (1906-1980)
Date(s)	: 1930-1988
Level of description	: Collection (fonds)
Extent	: 5 boxes & 1 roll or 0.05m3
Name of creator(s)	: Swan | Alexander | 1906-1980 | consultant pathologist and haematologist

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

Born 1906 in Chita, Siberia, and originally named Alexander Lebedeff; moved to Harbin, China, 1922; awarded a Russian Diploma in Civil and Railway Engineering, Harbin Polytechnical Institute, China, 1930; worked in Shanghai, China, on the construction of skyscrapers, submitted articles to the Engineering Society of China, 1931-1935, and became interested in theosophy and naturopathy; enrolled as a student in the Faculty of Medicine, University of Hong Kong, 1936; cadet medical officer in the Hong Kong Defence Force, 1938; lieutenant medical officer, Hong Kong, 1941; Japanese POW, 1941-1945; moved to England, enrolled as a medical student, University of London, 1946, and changed his surname to Swan; Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery, University of London, 1949; worked as a Houseman and locum in General Practice, Sheffield, Yorkshire, 1950-1952; Pathology Department, King's college Hospital, 1952-1954; appointed successively Registrar, Senior Medical Officer and Consultant Pathologist in Haematology, St James Hospital, Balham, London; Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists, 1971; retired 1971; further research in leukaemia, Marsden Hospital Group Cancer Research Foundation Leukaemia Unit, 1972-1974; died 1980.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Papers, 1930-1988, of Alexander Swan (formerly Alexander Lebedeff), including general correspondence relating to his career appointments and leukaemia research, 1959-1974; reports and associated correspondence relating to conferences attended by Swan, notably concerning leukaemia, haematology and fibrinolysis, including a paper delivered in 1962 at a Congress of the Society of Haematology in Mexico by Swan entitled, 'A study of fifty cases of acute leukaemia in adults'; notes on individual cases of acute leukaemia in adults at St James Hospital, Balham, London, [1952-1964]; article by Swan entitled 'Ossification in the metastases of a carcinoma of the rectum', [1953]; offprints of articles contributed by Swan and others to professional journals and conferences, mainly relating to leukaemia research, 1937-1971; notebook of Swan's work at the laboratory of the Department of Pathology, University of Hong Kong, [1936-1938]; papers relating to Swan's earlier career in engineering, 1930-1936, including offprints of articles by Swan on the use of concrete beams, methods of calculating building stresses and soil technology, published in Engineering and Commerce and China Reconstruction and Engineering Review; certificates and diplomas, including comprising Diploma in Civil and Railway Engineering certificate, Harbin Polytechnic Institute, China, 1930, and admission as a Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists, 1971; notes prepared for Swann's obituary by his wife, 1980; Dr Alexander Swan: from Siberia to suburbia edited by Barbara Ellis (Call Print Cooperative Ltd, 1988); two photographs of Swan, 1950 and later.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English, French and Russian.

System of arrangement:

Conditions governing access:

Open, subject to signature of reader?s undertaking form.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Copies, subject to the condition of the original, may be supplied for research use only. Requests to publish original material should be submitted to the Director of Archive Services, King's College London.

Finding aids:

Handlist available in hard copy in the reading room of the College Archives.

Archival Information

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

King's College Hospital.

Allied Materials

Related material:

National Register of Archives: Click here to view NRA record

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:
Source: Dr Alexander Swan: from Siberia to suburbia edited by Barbara Ellis (Call Print Cooperative Ltd, 1988). Compiled by Robert Baxter.

Rules or conventions:
National Council on Archives, Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997; ISAD(G), Second edition, 2000.

Date(s) of descriptions:
Aug 2000.