NMAH Staff Archives Center, National Museum of American History P.O. Box 37012 Suite 1100, MRC 601 Washington, D.C. 20013-7012 archivescenter@si.edu http://americanhistory.si.edu/archives
Table of Contents Collection Overview... 1 Administrative Information... 1 Arrangement... 2 Scope and Contents... 2 Biographical / Historical... 2 Names and Subjects... 2 Container Listing...
Collection Overview Repository: Title: Identifier: Archives Center, National Museum of American History David Vetter Collection Date: 1971-1986 Extent: 4.6 cubic feet (14 boxes) Creator: Vetter, David, 1971-1984 Vetter, David J., Jr. Vetter, Carol Ann Texas Children's Hospital Science, Medicine and Society, Division of (NMAH, SI). National Aeronautics and Space Administration Language: English Container: Box 1 Container: Box 2 Container: Box 3 Container: Box 4 Container: Box 5 Container: Box 6 Administrative Information Immediate Source of Acquisiton The collection was donated by David Vetter's parents, David and Carol Ann Vetter in 1986. Provenance Transferred to the Archives Center from the Division of of Science, Medicine and Society in 2007. Processing Information Collection is unprocessed. Preferred Citation David Vetter Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History. Page 1 of 3
Restrictions on Access Collection is open for research. Researchers must handle unprotected photographs with cotton gloves. Terms Governing Use and Reproduction Reproduction restricted due to copyright or trademark, and privacy concerns. Biographical / Historical David Vetter was a Texas boy who was born with Severe Combined Immune Deficiency, a disease which required him to live in a sterile, plastic isolation unit. NASA scientists designed and created a special suit for David, which resembled astronauts' space suits. His parents, family, church, doctors, and community all made efforts to enable him to have a normal childhood and life. At age 12, he underwent experimental bone marrow surgery, which was not successful, and David died in 1984. Scope and Contents Papers relating to David Vetter, a Texas boy with an immunological disease. The papers document his and his family's efforts to maintain normalcy in his life in spite of the limitations imposed by his disease, and medical efforts to reduce or cope with the limitations. A special suit was designed for David by NASA scientists to give him mobility, and the papers include documentation of the development and implementation of the suit. The collection includes letters and greeting cards, photographs and photograph albums, medical records and internal hospital memoranda and documents from the Texas Children's Hospital, procedures manuals for the isolation unit, specifications for the space suit, David's school records and school art projects, receipts and other financial papers, trade literature for products used in creating the sterile isolation unit, medical journals, legislation proposing a Presidential Medal of Freedom for David, medical journals, and clippings. Arrangement 1 series. Names and Subject Terms This collection is indexed in the online catalog of the Smithsonian Institution under the following terms: Subjects: Greeting cards -- 20th century Hospitals Immune diseases Immunological deficiency syndromes Page 2 of 3
Isolation (Hospital care) Severe combined immunodeficiency Space suits Types of Materials: Articles -- 20th century Correspondence -- 20th century Financial records -- 20th century Legislative documents Manuals Periodicals Photographs -- 20th century Reports -- 1950-1980 Reprints School records Specifications Student drawings Trade literature Names: Science, Medicine and Society, Division of (NMAH, SI). Vetter, Carol Ann Vetter, David J., Jr. Page 3 of 3