Because the papers include Confidential Health Information (CHI) as defined by Columbia University policies governing data security and privacy, access is allowed only under the terms of Archives and Special Collections’ Access Policy to Records Containing Confidential Health Information.
The collection is stored off-site. Researchers will need to request this material from Archives & Special Collections at least two business days in advance to use the collection in our reading room. Archives & Special Collections will not recall more than 6 cartons or 12 boxes at a time.
The papers document Bassett's academic career at P&S and his later private practice, with very little information on his personal life. Included are correspondence; conference papers; research notes; raw data, photographs and x-rays from experiments; publicity files; treatment protocols for specific injuries/illnesses; video and audio recordings; grant applications and reports and other fundraising correspondence; materials from cases where he served as an expert witness, as well as various malpractice suits against him; and a limited quantity of patient records.
History and Biography
Charles Andrew L. Bassett, usually known as Andrew Bassett, was born August 4, 1924 in Crisfield, MD. Bassett enrolled in Princeton in 1941 intending to pursue an engineering degree, but in 1943 he was called to active duty with the Air Force Enlisted Reserve. He served as a corpsman with Patton’s Third Army, where he received basic medical training that inspired him to undertake a medical career and to specialize in orthopedics.
After the war, Bassett completed additional pre-medical work at Washington and Lee University in Virginia and City College of New York before attending the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons (P&S), earning his MD in 1948.
In 1950, Bassett was an orthopedics resident at Presbyterian Hospital when the Korean conflict called him back to the military. He served in the Navy at the Tissue Bank at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. After further training at St. Luke’s Hospital (New York, NY), Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital (Cooperstown, NY) and the New York Orthopedic Hospital (New York, NY), he returned to P&S as a Junior Kane Fellow in Orthopedic Surgery in 1953, and in 1955 he joined the staff of P&S and the Presbyterian Hospital. That same year, he earned a Doctor of Medical Science degree from Columbia. Bassett remained at Columbia for the bulk of his career, serving as a professor of orthopedic surgery from 1967 to 1982, and as the head of the Orthopedics Research Lab from 1957 to 1986. He was engaged in private practice from 1986 until his death in 1994.
Within orthopedics, Bassett both invented and specialized in the field of bioelectromagnetics. In 1962, he worked with Robert O. Becker to define the electrophysiological base of bone, and then proceeded to devote his career to performing pioneering clinical research exploring the therapeutic uses of pulsed electromagnetic frequencies (PEMFs) most notably in the areas of recalcitrant fractures, nerve regeneration, wound healing and tissue revascularization.
Bassett received numerous awards and prizes for his work, including the Max Weinstein Award from United Cerebral Palsy (shared with J.B. Campbell); the Joseph Mather Smith Prize from Columbia in 1971; and the D’Arsonval Prize for Bioelectromagnetics from the Bio-Electromagnetics Society in 1991. He was also a fellow of the American College of Surgeons and the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.
In addition to his academic work, Bassett was involved in the commercial side of orthopedics. In 1979 he co-founded Electro-Biology, Inc. (EBI) in order to to produce the Bi-Osteogen device which he had co-designed with Arthur A. Pilla, and following his departure from CPMC and P&S, he moved on to his second venture: co-founding Osteodyne Inc., in Research Triangle Park, NC.
Bassett was a prolific writer and speaker, attended numerous national and international conferences and meetings, served as an expert witness on medical uses of electricity and electro-magnetic waves, and was a member of numerous federal and private committees, including the National Research Council’s Committee on Skeletal Research and the Food and Drug Administration’s Ad-Hoc Committee on Medical Devices.
Basset died in 1994 in New York of a brain tumor, and was survived by his wife, Nancy; his brother, Govert L. Bassett; three children; and three grandchildren.
Organization
The collection has been divided into nine series:
I. Correspondence and subject files, 1976-1994
II. Correspondence, 1959-1992
III. Grants, 1961-1988
IV. Lectures and Meetings, 1966-1994
V. Legal, 1963-1993
VI. Reprints, 1951-1994
VII. Research materials, 1971-1994
VIII. Patient records, 1969-1988
IX. Audio-visual materials, 1978-1991.
The papers document Basset’s academic career at P&S and his later private practice. There is very little information on his personal life. Included are correspondence; conference papers; research notes; raw data, photographs and x-rays from experiments; publicity files; treatment protocols for specific injuries/illnesses; video and audio recordings; grant applications and reports and other fundraising correspondence; materials from cases where he served as an expert witness, as well as various malpractice suits against him; and a limited quantity of patient records.
Note: The two correspondence series overlap in terms of topics and time periods covered, and researchers should be sure to consult both of them when searching for materials.
Series I. Correspondence and subject files, 1976-1994
Boxes 1-17
Records include correspondence on various topics with fellow orthopedic surgeons (colleagues and friends), professional societies, and government agencies, as well as records relating to grants and other funding sources for experimental projects and research and development records for business Bassett founded or co-founded. There is significant volume of records regarding the following institutions or topics: Bioelectric Magnetics Society (BEMS) (1978-1994); Electrobiology, Inc. (EBI), 1991-1994; and scholarly manuscripts reviewed for publication, (1989-1994). Arranged alphabetically.
Series II. Correspondence and subject files, 1959 – 1992
Box 17-34
Records include correspondence on various topics with fellow orthopedic surgeons (colleagues and friends), professional societies, and government agencies, as well as records relating to grants and other funding sources for experimental projects and research and development records for business Bassett founded or co-founded. There is significant volume of records regarding the following institutions or topics: Electrical therapy (1959-1974); Food and Drug Administration (1963-1988); Johnson & Johnson (1971-1980); and the National Research Council (1964-1970); arranged alphabetically.
Series III. Grants, 1961-1988
Boxes 34-38
Grant applications and reports produced for various scientific agencies in pursuit of multiple research topics; arranged chronologically.
Series IV. Lectures and Meetings, 1966-1994
Boxes 38-48
Lectures given and meetings attended by Bassett, multiple topics and organizations; arranged chronologically.
Sub-series 4.1: General records, 1966-1981 (Five folders)
Correspondence regarding lectures he refused as well as general lecture ideas.
Sub-series 4.2: Lectures and Meetings, 1967-1994 (9.5 boxes, 3.33 cu. feet)
Correspondence and other records from meetings attended and lectures given.
Series V. Legal, 1963-1993
Boxes 48-52
Records of legal cases where Bassett served as an expert witness or was otherwise involved; arranged alphabetically.
Series VI: Reprints, 1951-1994
Boxes 52-55
Articles on various topics authored or co-authored by Bassett. About one-third of the materials were collected, arranged and indexed by Basset; the remainder were found loose in the files, and arranged chronologically.
Sub-series 6.1: Binders, 1951-1979 (1 box, .33 cu. feet)
Transferred from binders to folders, some indexes available; arranged chronologically.
Sub-series 6.2: Loose, 1951-1994 (2 boxes, .66 cu. feet)
Found loose in the box, arranged chronologically.
Series VII: Research materials, 1971-1984
Boxes 56-68
Records documenting Basset’s years as director of the Columbia University Orthopedic Research Lab, and his personal and collaborative research, including data sheets, animal record books, and others related materials; arranged alphabetically and then chronologically.
Sub-series 7.1: Columbia University Orthopedic Research Lab, 1971-1991 (5 boxes, 1.66 cu. feet)
Annual reports, correspondence, memos, data, protocol documents and other materials from the Columbia University Orthopedic Research Lab; arranged alphabetically and then chronologically.
Sub-series 7.2: Pulsed Electromagnetic Fields (PEMF), 1971-1984 (6 boxes, 2 cu. feet)
Notes and correspondence relating to research by Bassett and others on impact of PEMFs on avian chondrocytes, avian fibroblasts, avian rudiments, avascular necrosis, bacteria, disuse oseteoporosis, spinal cord regeneration, fracture grafts, and other topics. There is significant material related to the following topics: cancerous tumors in mice (1971-1981); radial osteotomies (1974-1981); rat osteoporosis (1976-1979); sciatic nerve regeneration (1978-81); and a skin lesion study (1981). Arranged alphabetically and then chronologically.
Sub-series 7.3: Uncategorized research data, 1960-1976 (1.5 boxes, .55 cu. feet)
Assorted research notebooks and data sheets from an unnamed experiment; arranged chronologically.
Series VIII. Patient Records, 1969-1988
Boxes 68-69
Cases that were either related to ongoing research, followed by Bassett over many years, or may otherwise be of academic interest.
Series IX. Audio-visual materials, 1979-1986
Box 69-70
Audio and video tapes of lectures and television and radio interviews, loose in box.
Sub-series 9.1: Photographs, 1979-1985 (8 folders)
A portrait of Dr. Basset, several photographs of PEMF equipment, and examples of explanatory figures, arranged chronologically.
Sub-series 9.2: Audio tapes, 1979-1986 (six tapes)
Interviews on the therapeutic uses of pulsed electromagnetic fields, the Bi-Osteogen system and ununited fractures.
Sub-series 9.3: VHS tapes, 1985-1991 (three tapes)
Appearances on the Today Show, in By the Year 2000 series, and at a Bioelectromagnetic Society (BEMS) Annual Meeting.
Subject Headings and Related Records
Administrative Information
Donated by Nancy Bassett, 1994 (acc. #1994.12.01).
Processed and finding aid written by Jennifer McGillan, May-November 2010. Duplicates, loose x-rays, previously published photographs and patient records lacking in historical value or research interest were discarded. Photographs and audio-visual materials were separated from correspondence files and made into a separate series.