McGill Library
McLennan Library Building3459 rue McTavish
Montreal, Quebec
H3A 0C9
George Eli Armstrong Fonds
Fonds
7 cm of textual records.
A native of Leeds, Québec, George Armstrong received his M.D., C.M. from McGill in 1877. He spent several years of study abroad in England, Germany and France. At the Radium Institute in Paris he investigated therapeutic uses of this element and later introduced these techniques to Montréal. From 1890 to 1911 he was a surgeon at the Montreal General Hospital, and in 1911 was appointed chief surgeon of the Royal Victoria Hospital. He joined the staff of McGill's Medical Faculty in 1894 where he remained until his retirement, as Emeritus Professor, in 1923. During his last year at McGill he was Dean of the Faculty. In 1916 Armstrong was named consulting surgeon to the Canadian Expeditionary Forces, and was awarded a C.M.G. in 1918 for his war services. He passed away in 1933.
Fonds primarily documents Armstrong’s social life. They consist overwhelmingly of correspondence for the period 1909-1933. Letters from his professional colleagues, such as Sir William Osler, F.J. Shepard, Edward Archibald, William J. Mayo and others in the Mayo Clinic, are concerned largely with personal greetings, association memberships, or Medical Faculty business, particularly honorary degrees. Armstrong's non-medical correspondents include Lord Beaverbrook, Lord Atholstan, Sir Hugh Allan, Arthur Meighen, George Foster and Herbert Symonds. Topics include politics, Armstrong's war work and honours, some medicals matters, and personal news. Appended to this main series are obituaries and letters of sympathy to Armstrong's widow (1933), six photographs, including one of Armstrong in an operating room, and admission cards and diplomas from Armstrong's student years.
Material in English.