Materials in this collection were donated in 1970 to the library of the University of Texas Medical School at San Antonio by the Bexar County Medical Society.
Dr. John Silas Lankford, a noted San Antonio physician, was born October 27, 1858, in Pontotoc County, Mississippi, where he received his early education. His academic education was obtained in Austin College, Sherman, Texas. He earned his medical degree from the University of Louisville School of Medicine, Louisville, Kentucky, in 1882 and began the practice of medicine in Atoka, Indian Territory before it became Oklahoma. In 1891 he moved to San Antonio, Texas.
Dr. Lankford married Miss Belle Gatewood of Sherman in July,1882. She died in 1932. They had one son and three daughters. They also adopted their granddaughter when her father, the son of Dr. Lankford, died in 1918.
Dr. Lankford took an active part in the medical affairs of Texas throughout his entire professional career. He was president of the Western Texas Medical Association, the Texas State Medical Association, the Texas Insurance Medical Directors Association, the Bexar County Medical Society, and the Scientific Society of San Antonio. He was editor of Southwest Texas Medicine and vice president of the American Medical Editors and Authors Association, serving as contributing editor to their publication
In addition to his professional activities, he was active in the civic affairs of San Antonio, serving as president of the San Antonio Board of Education for fifteen years. He was a member of the San Antonio Health Board and served as chairman of the Committee on Sanitation. He was untiring in the promotion of teaching preventive medicine and mosquito destruction. Dr. Lankford's most noted contributions to medical literature were in the fields of public health and endocrinology.
Dr. Lankford died September 21, 1936, at the age of 77.
The Lankford papers span the years 1884 – 1936 and include biographical information, reprints of published articles, correspondence, receipts for medical supplies, and certificates of membership in various medical organizations.
The collection is organized in 1 box in 3 series as follows: -->
The collection is open for research use. Materials may be viewed in the reading room of the P. I. Nixon Medical Historical Library, located on the 5th floor of the Briscoe Library at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. Access to patient records is restricted.
Some materials are very brittle or torn on the edges and may require an electronic copy or photocopy for use.
Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
Received as part of a donation of manuscripts and historical books from the Bexar County Medical Society Library in 1970.
[Identification of item], in the John Silas Lankford Papers, MS 3, University Archives, UTHSC Libraries, The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.
Finding aid created by: Anne Comeaux, October 2011.