Abstract:William Castle DeVries is the American heart surgeon who implanted the first total artificial heart (TAH) in a human patient in 1982. His collection of correspondence, medical records, x-rays, protocol and procedural documents, reports, scientific articles, manuscripts, publicity clippings, photographic images, and audiovisual materials mostly documents his professional career at the University of Utah Medical Center and the Humana Heart Institute International. The primary focus of this collection is on the experimental TAH procedures he performed during the 1980s, particularly the well-publicized implants in Barney Clark, William Schroeder, Murray Haydon, and Jack Burcham. The collection contains little material of a personal nature or from his life after leaving Humana.

Abstract:U.S. heart surgeon Henry Swan II made significant contributions to the development of open heart surgery techniques, particularly through his research in hypothermia and suspended circulation. Dr. Swan's professional career as a cardiac surgeon is documented in a collection of surgery records, correspondence, reprints, book drafts, speeches, reports, and biographical material.