Records of the Office of Public Affairs of The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), a biomedical research, educational and clinical institution first located on Prospect Street in La Jolla, California, and later moved to Torrey Pines mesa. The collection contains public relations materials, including photographs, correspondence, brochures, reports, newspaper clippings, and publications.
Scripps Research Institute Office of Public Affairs Records, 1919-1992 (MSS 72)
Extent: 23.5 Linear feet (41 archives boxes, 1 card file box, and 9 flat boxes)
A philanthropic gift by Ellen Browning Scripps in 1924 led to the foundation of the Scripps Metabolic Clinic on Prospect Street in La Jolla, California. The early clinic was dedicated to research, education and patient treatment in the field of metabolic diseases, especially diabetes. For the first three decades of its existence, the Clinic grew slowly and remained largely outside the mainstream of medical and scientific research being conducted on the East Coast.
In 1955 Scripps Metabolic Clinic changed its name to the Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation (SCRF) as part of an initiative that propelled the institution to national prominence as an educational and research facility. The recruitment of Dr. Frank Dixon along with virtually his entire department at the University of Pittsburgh to found SCRF's first basic science department-- experimental pathology-- boosted the Institute's standing. Under the leadership of Dr. Edmund Keeney, SCRF expanded throughout the 1960s and 1970s. In 1964, SCRF doubled its size with the completion of the Timkin-Sturgis Research Building behind the La Jolla Clinic.
In 1976, SCRF relocated to the Torrey Pines facility on land donated by Dow Chemical Company, again doubling the size of the facility. A year later the Research Institute of Scripps Clinic (RISC) was officially designated as a separate corporate entity dedicated to scientific and training programs. SCRF quickly outgrew the Torrey Pines facility and, in conjunction with RISC, sought arrangements with various chemical and pharmaceutical companies, including Johnson and Johnson and PPG Industries Inc., to finance further development and expansion. Such arrangements enabled The Scripps Research Institute to develop a host of facilities including the Anderson Outpatient Pavilion, the Immunology Building, the Molecular Biology Building, and others in the 1980s. Additionally, TSRI now encompasses a network of outpatient clinics throughout San Diego County, with an additional clinic in Riverside County.
Today TSRI is one of the oldest and largest nonprofit, private medical centers in the United States dedicated to continuing medical education, biomedical research and patient care. The Institute now specializes in the areas of allergy and immunology, cardiology, clinical pathology, dermatology, diabetes, endocrinology, gastroenterology, general medicine, hematology, nephrology, neurology, pulmonary diseases, radiology, and rheumatology.
The records of The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) Office of Public Affairs document the growth of a nationally known biomedical facility from its inception in 1924, to its relocation to Torrey Pines mesa in 1976. The collection contains public relations materials, including correspondence, reports, newspaper clippings, publications, and photographs that date from 1919 to 1989, with the majority of materials dating between 1960 and 1980. The photographs provide a valuable visual history of Scripps Clinic. Written materials provide insight into the fundraising and publicity efforts that accompanied TSRI's growth, as well as the image it sought to present to the public.
The materials are arranged in eleven series: 1) SUBJECT FILES; 2) CONSTRUCTION; 3) FUNDRAISING AND DONATIONS; 4) EVENTS AND PROGRAMS; 5) SPECIAL UNITS AND VOLUNTEER ORGANIZATIONS; 6) HISTORIES, REPORTS AND CORRESPONDENCE; 7) BROCHURES, DIRECTORIES AND HANDBOOKS; 8) REPORTS; 9) NEWSLETTERS, BULLETINS AND CLIPPINGS; 10) PHOTOGRAPHS-1; and 11) PHOTOGRAPHS-2.