Alvin S. Hartz oral history collection

Collection

Identifier: HHC 143

Staff Only

Scope and Content

This interview with Dr. Alvin S. Hartz (1915-1989) of Farmington, New Mexico, surveys his 35 years' practice of medicine in New Mexico. The first board certified internist in northwest New Mexico, Dr. Hartz arrived in Farmington in 1953 and was in private practice there uninterruptedly until his retirement in 1988. This interview surveys his career, discussing his personal and professional backgrounds; his reasons for selection of Farmington as a practice site and his appraisal of that city, its medical facilities and its physicians in the early 1950's; the development of Farmington medicine through the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s; and the creation of the University of New Mexico School of Medicine and its impact on the northwest part of the state.

Dates

March 1987

Creator

Spidle, Jake W., 1941- (Person)

Language of Materials

English

Access Restrictions

The collection is open for research.

Copy Restrictions

Limited duplication of print materials allowed for research purposes. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.

Biography / History

Alvin S. Hartz was born in 1915 in Baltimore, Maryland. He received his B.A. from Johns Hopkins in 1934 and stayed to attend graduate school in Public Health from 1934-1935. He graduated from the University of Maryland School of Medicine in 1939. Dr. Hartz completed his internship and residency in Internal Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland in 1943.

After serving in the United States Army Medical Corps from 1943-1946, Dr. Hartz returned to private and hospital practice in Internal Medicine in Baltimore. A desire for a different kind of practice and a need to find a more hospitable climate for his young asthmatic son, led Dr. Hartz to Farmington, New Mexico in 1953. He joined the San Juan Clinic, where he was the first board-certified specialist in the community. Dr. Hartz practiced in Farmington until he retired in 1989. Dr. Hartz died in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on September 6, 1989, at the age of 73.