Sayers, Royd R. Papers

Dates: 1920-1962

Chief, Division of Industrial Hygiene, National Institute of Health, 1933-1940; Director, U.S. Bureau of Mines, 1940-1947

The papers of Royd R. Sayers consist of articles, notes, correspondence, memorabilia, memoranda, minutes of meetings, reports, speech drafts, and biographical data relating to Sayers’s work in the U.S. Bureau of Mines and his work pertaining to industrial hygiene.

[Administrative Information | Biographical Sketch | Collection Description | Series Descriptions | Folder Title List]

ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

Size: 1 linear foot, 4 linear inches (about 2400 pages).
Access: Open.
Copyright: No donation of copyright was received with this collection. Documents created by U.S. Government officials in the course of their duties are also in the public domain. Copyright interest in other documents presumably belongs to the creators of those documents, or their heirs.
Processed by: Erwin J. Mueller (1977)
Updated by: Kara Drury (2008) as part of the Truman Library Internship Program.
Supervising Archivists: Randy Sowell and David Clark.


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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

1885 (October 25)

 

Born, Crothersville, Indiana

1907

 

B.A. and M.A., University of Indiana

1911-1913

 

Professor of Electro-Chemistry, University of Buffalo

1914

 

M.D., University of Buffalo

1914-1948

 

Official with the U.S. Public Health Service

1917-1933

 

Chief Surgeon and Chief of Health and Safety Branch, U.S. Bureau of Mines

1933-1940

 

Chief, Division of Industrial Hygiene, National Institute of Health

1940-1947

 

Director, U.S. Bureau of Mines

c. 1950-1960

 

Senior Medical Supervisor of Occupational Diseases, Baltimore City Health Department

1965 (April 23)

 

Died

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COLLECTION DESCRIPTION

The papers of Royd R. Sayers consist of articles, notes, correspondence, memorabilia, memoranda, minutes of meetings, reports, speech drafts, and biographical data relating to Sayers’s work in the U.S. Bureau of Mines and his research on industrial hygiene.

Included in this collection are manuscript articles and publications on the health and safety of miners and industrial hygiene, mostly authored by Sayers. These detail his knowledge in various fields, with titles ranging from “Pulmonary Diseases in the Mining Industry” to a major article entitled “Copper and Health,” which he co-authored with Sara J. Davenport. Also included are lists of every publication that Sayers authored from 1920 to 1940. Various printed materials distributed by the U.S. Bureau of Mines and reports on investigations relating to industrial hygiene by Sayers can also be found in the collection.

A handful of documents outline biographical sketches of Sayers, including an entry from the book Who’s Who in Industrial Medicine.

A large amount of correspondence between Sayers and various people, ranging from letters from President Truman to inter-office memos, is in the collection. There are also memoranda that were sent to various offices. A good portion of the correspondence is from medical doctors asking Sayers for advice on medical cases. The minutes from a meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Industrial Hygiene Foundation and certificates that Sayers received for his work are also in the collection.

Experiments done by Sayers are recorded on handwritten and typed sheets. These experiments were related to studies on industrial hygiene and atmospheric effects on living creatures.

There is a large amount of printed information, circulars, and bulletins, again mostly authored by Sayers. These are all related to his work in the U.S. Bureau of Mines.

Sayers gave a series of lectures on industrial hygiene to the medical students at George Washington University during the 1940s, and his lecture notes can be found in the collection. In addition to this is his correspondence with administrators at George Washington University setting up his lectures.

In addition to the materials described above, various speech drafts concerning Sayers’s work in the Bureau of Mines, a photograph of Sayers, and travel information concerning a trip to Rio de Janeiro are also included in the collection.

Related collections at the Truman Library include the papers of James Boyd (Director, U.S. Bureau of Mines, 1947-1951).

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SERIES DESCRIPTIONS

Container Nos.

 

Series

1-3

  SUBJECT FILE, 1920-1962
Articles, notes, correspondence, memorabilia, memoranda, minutes of meetings, reports, speech drafts, and biographical data relating to work done by Royd R. Sayers in the U.S. Bureau of Mines and his research on industrial hygiene. Arranged alphabetically.
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FOLDER TITLE LIST

SUBJECT FILE, 1920-1962

Box 1

  • Articles and Publications – Industrial Hygiene [1 of 7]
  • Articles and Publications – Industrial Hygiene [2 of 7]
  • Articles and Publications – Industrial Hygiene [3 of 7]
  • Articles and Publications – Industrial Hygiene [4 of 7]
  • Articles and Publications – Industrial Hygiene [5 of 7]

Box 2

  • Articles and Publications – Industrial Hygiene [6 of 7]
  • Articles and Publications – Industrial Hygiene [7 of 7]
  • Biographical Data - Royd R. Sayers
  • Copper and Health by Royd R. Sayers and Sara J. Davenport
  • Correspondence, 1940-1961
  • Experiments – Industrial Hygiene
  • Information Circulars and Bulletins [1 of 4]

Box 3

  • Information Circulars and Bulletins [2 of 4]
  • Information Circulars and Bulletins [3 of 4]
  • Information Circulars and Bulletins [4 of 4]
  • Lectures on Industrial Hygiene – George Washington University
  • Personnel File
  • Reports on Investigations
  • Speech Drafts
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