Helen Clapesattle

Helen Clapesattle
Director of the University of Minnesota Press
In office
1947–1965
Personal details
Born(1908-11-11)November 11, 1908
Fort Wayne, Indiana, U.S.
DiedJune 15, 1993(1993-06-15) (aged 84)
New Mexico, U.S.
Spouse
Roger W. Shugg
​
(died 1993)​
OccupationHistorian
AwardsGuggenheim Fellowship (1957)
Academic background
Alma mater
Academic work
InstitutionsUniversity of Minnesota Press

Helen Berniece Clapesattle (November 11, 1908 – June 15, 1993) was an American historian and publisher. While working as an editorial assistant at the University of Minnesota Press, she was hired to work on The Doctors Mayo, released in 1941. She was the UMP's director from 1953 until 1956, as well as a 1957 Guggenheim Fellow.

Biography

Helen Berniece Clapesattle was born on November 11, 1908, in Fort Wayne, Indiana, the daughter of Laura Rehrer and Fort Wayne pharmacist George Adam Clapesattle.[1] After her parents died in the 1920s, she was a caretaker for three of her siblings and worked at the Allen County Public Library.[2] Following her recovery from headaches sustained by a streetcar injury, she started attending Oberlin College,[2] where she obtained her BA in 1934.[3]

From 1934 to 1937, Clapesattle worked as a history teaching assistant at the University of Minnesota, where she obtained her MA during the latter year.[3] In 1937, she moved to the University of Minnesota Press, becoming an editorial assistant.[2] While working at UMP, the university hired her to write a biography of William James Mayo and Charles Horace Mayo, one of the co-founders of the Mayo Clinic.[4] She had been given the job due to her history degree, and her lack of knowledge allowed her to write without confusing a general audience with unfamiliar medical terminology.[5] In 1941, she published The Doctors Mayo, her serialized biography of the brothers in The Atlantic, as a book; it was so popular it sold out during its first three printings.[1] Her book also spurred interest in working at the Mayo Clinic.[6]

Clapesattle was promoted to assistant editor in 1942 and, after The Doctors Mayo became a success, editor-in-chief in 1945.[3][2] She was a 1942-1945 Rockefeller Foundation regional writing fellow.[3] She was director of UMP from 1953, holding the position before stepping down in 1956 following her marriage.[2][3] In 1957,[7] she was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship "for a study of the part played by the search for health in westward migration and the settlement of frontier areas in the United States".[3] In 1958, she published "When Minnesota Was Florida's Rival", a pamphlet on the trend of 19th-century climate migration to Minnesota.[6] In 1984, she published another physician biography, Dr. Webb of Colorado Springs, centered on Gerald Bertram Webb.[6] Following the release of the book, Shugg confirmed her formal retirement.[5]

Clapesattle was married to Roger W. Shugg, a historian who once served as director of University of Chicago Press, until his death in 1993.[8] They had no children.[6] They moved to Albuquerque in 1967.[5] Known to shun publicity, Clapesattle did not allow an image of her to be added to Dr. Webb of Colorado Springs's jacket.[5]

Clapesattle died on June 15, 1993, in New Mexico; she was 84.[6]

Works

  • The Doctors Mayo (1941)[a]
  • Dr. Webb of Colorado Springs (1984)[b]

Notes

  1. ^ Reviews of this work:[9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21]
  2. ^ Reviews of this work:[22][23][24]

References

  1. ^ a b Steensma & Kyle 2022, p. 2170-2171.
  2. ^ a b c d e Steensma & Kyle 2022, p. 2171.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Reports of the Secretary and of the Treasurer. John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. 1955. p. 104.
  4. ^ Steensma & Kyle 2022, p. 2170.
  5. ^ a b c d Freeberg, Ron (May 17, 1986). "'Doctors Mayo' author chosen for history background". The Post-Bulletin. p. 21 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ a b c d e Steensma & Kyle 2022, p. 2172.
  7. ^ "Helen C. Shugg". Guggenheim Fellowships. Retrieved January 23, 2026.
  8. ^ "DEATHS/FUNERALS". Albuquerque Journal. May 2, 1993. p. D12 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ Adey, Alvin (1942). "Medicine's Halting Progress". Current History. 2 (10): 299–301. ISSN 0011-3530. JSTOR 45306063.
  10. ^ Alexander, Edward P. (1942). "Review of The Doctors Mayo". The Mississippi Valley Historical Review. 28 (4): 630–631. doi:10.2307/1916577. ISSN 0161-391X. JSTOR 1916577.
  11. ^ Blegen, Theodore C. (1941). "Review of The Doctors Mayo". Minnesota History. 22 (4): 404–408. ISSN 0026-5497. JSTOR 20162498.
  12. ^ Blegen, Theodore C. (1955). "Book Surgery". Minnesota History. 34 (5): 203–203. ISSN 0026-5497. JSTOR 20175894.
  13. ^ "The Mayos And Their Clinic". The British Medical Journal. 1 (4238): 415–416. 1942. ISSN 0007-1447. JSTOR 20322770.
  14. ^ Clarke, T. Wood (1943). "Review of The Doctors Mayo". New York History. 24 (1): 94–96. ISSN 0146-437X. JSTOR 23137360.
  15. ^ Cope, Zachary (1955). "William And Charles Mayo". The British Medical Journal. 1 (4929): 1516–1516. ISSN 0007-1447. JSTOR 20364020.
  16. ^ Cope, Zachary (1968). "Origin Of The Mayo Clinic". The British Medical Journal. 4 (5626): 310–310. ISSN 0007-1447. JSTOR 20394588.
  17. ^ Currey, D. V. (1942). "Review of The Doctors Mayo". Canadian Public Health Journal. 33 (8): 426–426. ISSN 0319-2652. JSTOR 41978441.
  18. ^ Hirsh, Joseph (1942). "Review of William Henry Welch and the Heroic Age of American Medicine.; The Doctors Mayo". Social Forces. 20 (4): 526–527. doi:10.2307/2570911. ISSN 0037-7732. JSTOR 2570911.
  19. ^ "Review of The Doctors Mayo". Indiana Magazine of History. 38 (3): 316–317. 1942. ISSN 0019-6673. JSTOR 27787326.
  20. ^ Saunders, J. B. de C. M. (1943). "Review of The Doctors Mayo". Isis. 34 (5): 412–414. ISSN 0021-1753. JSTOR 225742.
  21. ^ Sigerist, Henry E. (1942). "Review of The Doctors Mayo". The American Historical Review. 47 (4): 901–903. doi:10.2307/1841571. ISSN 0002-8762. JSTOR 1841571.
  22. ^ Bruce-Chwatt, L. J. (1985). "The Man Who Made Good". British Medical Journal (Clinical Research Edition). 290 (6477): 1269–1270. ISSN 0267-0623. JSTOR 29519034.
  23. ^ Delaney, James J. (1986). "Review of Dr. Webb of Colorado Springs". Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences. 41 (2): 214–215. ISSN 0022-5045. JSTOR 24633632.
  24. ^ Rogers, Frank Bradway (1985). "Review of Dr. Webb of Colorado Springs". Bulletin of the History of Medicine. 59 (4): 561–562. ISSN 0007-5140. JSTOR 44441935.
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