Vivia B. Appleton
{{short description|American physician and academic; 1879–1978)}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Vivia B. Appleton
| image = ViviaBelleAppleton1924.png
| alt = A middle -aged white woman, dark hair braided across the crown, wearing a simple light-colored top; part of her signature is visible
| caption = Vivia Belle Appleton's 1924 passport photo
| other_names =
| birth_name = Vivia Belle Appleton
| birth_date = May 31, 1879
| birth_place = Tama, Iowa
| death_date = October 23, 1978
| death_place = Honolulu, Hawaii
| occupation = Physician, academic
}}
Vivia Belle Appleton (May 31, 1879 – October 23, 1978) was an American physician, specializing in pediatrics. She worked in San Francisco, in France during World War I, in Labrador, in Shanghai, and in Hawaii.
Early life and education
Vivia Belle Appleton was born in Tama, Iowa,{{Cite news|last=Shultz|first=Gladys Denny|date=1920-11-28|title=An Iowa Girl Follows Close on Peary's Trail|page=53|work=The Des Moines Register|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/85685053/an-iowa-girl-follows-close-on-pearys/|access-date=2021-09-20|via=Newspapers.com}} the daughter of Richard Westcott Appleton and Cora A. (Birdsell) Appleton. Her father was a doctor; her stepfather was federal judge Seba Cormany Huber.{{Cite news|date=1941-12-31|title=Mrs. Huber Dies at Home|pages=1|work=The Honolulu Advertiser|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/85658124/mrs-huber-dies-at-home/|access-date=2021-09-20|via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news|date=1944-08-17|title=Masonic Services Tomorrow for Judge Seba C. Huber|page=3|work=The Honolulu Advertiser|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/85662435/masonic-services-tomorrow-for-judge/|access-date=2021-09-20|via=Newspapers.com}} She attended Rockford College and Cornell University, where she earned a bachelor's degree in 1901.{{Cite book|last=University|first=Cornell|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A4A0AQAAMAAJ&dq=Vivia+Belle+Appleton&pg=PP215|title=Commencement program|date=June 20, 1901|language=en}}
She completed her medical degree at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in 1906, and in 1929 she completed a master's degree in public health, also at Johns Hopkins. Johns Hopkins University gave Appleton a Medallion Award in 1956, as an outstanding alumna. In 1973 she created the Richard Westcott Appleton Scholarship at Johns Hopkins, in memory of her father.U. S. National Library of Medicine, [https://cfmedicine.nlm.nih.gov/physicians/biography_345.html "Dr. Vivia Belle Appleton"], cfmedicine.nlm.nih.gov. Accessed March 10, 2024.
Career
Appleton served internships at the New England Hospital for Women and Children and Babies Hospital in New York, as part of her training. She taught pediatrics at the University of California hospital in San Francisco.{{Cite book|last=Berkeley|first=University of California|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jBoMAQAAIAAJ&dq=Vivia+Belle+Appleton&pg=PA20|title=Register|date=1916|pages=15, 20, 71|language=en}} While based in San Francisco, she spoke at an American Red Cross "better babies" event in Stockton.{{Cite news|last=Hannay|first=Emma Evelyn|date=1915-06-02|title='Twin Day' at Stockton's Better Baby Show|pages=10|work=The Evening Mail|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/85657735/twin-day-at-stocktons-better-baby/|access-date=2021-09-20|via=Newspapers.com}} During World War I, she joined her California colleague William Palmer Lucas in France, to work with the American Red Cross Bureau of Child Welfare.{{Cite book|last=Klaus|first=Alisa|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kuyYDwAAQBAJ&dq=Vivia+Belle+Appleton&pg=PA172|title=Every Child a Lion: The Origins of Maternal and Infant Health Policy in the U.S. and France|date=2019-04-15|publisher=Cornell University Press|isbn=978-1-5017-3867-8|page=172|language=en}}
In 1919 Appleton took an assignment from the national board of the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) to establish a pediatric clinic and health education programs in Forteau, Labrador.{{Cite journal|last=Appleton|first=Vivia Belle|date=January 1920|title=From the YWCA Physicians: Forteau, Labrador|url=https://collections.mun.ca/digital/collection/hs_fisher/id/304|journal=Among the Deep Sea Fishers|volume=17|pages=121}}{{Cite web|last=International Grenfell Association|title=Forteau Nursing Station|url=https://www.findinggrenfell.ca/home/forteau-nursing-station.htm|access-date=2021-09-19|website=Finding Grenfell}}{{Cite news|date=1921-03-07|title=Lecture on Labrador|pages=6|work=Honolulu Star-Bulletin|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/85679991/lecture-on-labrador/|access-date=2021-09-20|via=Newspapers.com}} She worked for three years (1921 to 1924) in Shanghai, where she learned to speak Mandarin{{Cite news|date=1924-10-07|title=Eat Native Foods to Learn Chinese, Says Missionary|pages=4|work=The Brooklyn Daily Eagle|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/85662943/eat-native-foods-to-learn-chinese-says/|access-date=2021-09-20|via=Newspapers.com}} while promoting public health and nutrition programs for the YWCA's Council of Health Education.{{Cite journal|last=Appleton|first=Vivia B.|date=January 1924|title=Children of China|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SVjlAAAAMAAJ&dq=Vivia+B.+Appleton&pg=RA1-PA23|journal=Child Health Magazine|volume=5|pages=23–25}}{{Cite news|date=1923-06-01|title=Teach Chinese Women to Care for the Babies|pages=17|work=Muncie Evening Press|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/85662323/teach-chinese-women-to-care-for-the/|access-date=2021-09-20|via=Newspapers.com}} While in China, she conducted anthropometric research on school children,{{Cite news|date=1927-08-18|title=Environment Influences the Growth of Children|page=18|work=The Honolulu Advertiser|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/85680256/environment-influences-the-growth-of/|access-date=2021-09-20|via=Newspapers.com}} in cooperation with Russian anthropologist S. M. Shirokogoroff.{{Cite book|last1=Anderson|first1=David G.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_LqKDwAAQBAJ&dq=Vivia+B.+Appleton&pg=PT197|title=Life Histories of Etnos Theory in Russia and Beyond|last2=Arzyutov|first2=Dmitry V.|last3=Alymov|first3=Sergei S.|date=2019-02-25|publisher=Open Book Publishers|isbn=978-1-78374-547-0|language=ar}} She continued that work after 1925,{{Cite news|date=1927-11-14|title=Children Here are Taller than Chinese Parents|pages=9|work=Honolulu Star-Bulletin|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/85662240/children-here-are-taller-than-chinese/|access-date=2021-09-20|via=Newspapers.com}} when she became director of the Hawaiian Board of Health's Division of Infancy and Maternity.{{Cite journal|last=Cox|first=Isaac M.|date=September 1928|title=Heredity or Environment?|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PP2fAAAAMAAJ&dq=Vivia+B.+Appleton&pg=PA145|journal=Mind and Body|volume=35|pages=147}}{{Cite news|date=1926-02-06|title=Board of Health Official Must Get M.D. Permit|pages=3|work=Honolulu Star-Bulletin|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/85663689/board-of-health-official-must-get-md/|access-date=2021-09-20|via=Newspapers.com}} She organized 68 local clinics before she was dismissed from that job in 1927.{{Cite news|date=1927-08-02|title=Dr. Appleton Lost to City Health Work|pages=1, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/85663454/dr-appleton-lost-to-city-health-work-c/ 2]|work=The Honolulu Advertiser|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/85663300/dr-appleton-lost-to-city-health-work/|access-date=2021-09-20|via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news|date=1927-07-21|title=Dismissal of Dr. Appleton May be Probed|pages=55|work=Honolulu Star-Bulletin|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/85663558/dismissal-of-dr-appleton-may-be-probed/|access-date=2021-09-20|via=Newspapers.com}}
Appleton stayed in Hawaii for the rest of her career, served on the territory's National Recovery Administration board in 1933,{{Cite news|date=1933-10-11|title=Personnel of NRA Board in Hawaii|pages=3|work=Honolulu Star-Bulletin|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/85658072/personnel-of-nra-board-in-hawaii/|access-date=2021-09-20|via=Newspapers.com}} was a member of the territory's Board of Industrial Schools in 1938 and 1939,{{Cite news|date=1939-02-03|title=Member Hits Procedure in Fronk Choice|pages=1|work=Honolulu Star-Bulletin|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/85662548/member-hits-procedure-in-fronk-choice/|access-date=2021-09-20|via=Newspapers.com}} and taught at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa.
In 1946, she was president of the Pan-Pacific Women's Association.{{Cite news|date=1946-10-16|title=International Women Discuss World Affairs|pages=3|work=The Circleville Herald|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/85682360/international-women-discuss-world/|access-date=2021-09-20|via=Newspapers.com}} In 1956, she and her sister gave $25,000 to establish scholarships at Lebanon Valley College in memory of their mother and stepfather.{{Cite news|date=1957-02-15|title=2 Give $25,000 For Scholarships|pages=15|work=Honolulu Star-Bulletin|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/85682503/2-give-25000-for-scholarships/|access-date=2021-09-20|via=Newspapers.com}} She wrote about her experiences in A Doctor's Letters from China Fifty Years Ago (1976).{{Cite book|last=Appleton|first=Vivia B.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FKkaHAAACAAJ&q=Vivia+B.+Appleton|title=A Doctor's Letters from China Fifty Years Ago|date=1976|publisher=|language=en}}
Personal life
Appleton died at her home in Honolulu, aged 99, in 1978. Her papers are housed in the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa Library.{{Cite web|title=Vivia B. Appleton Papers|url=https://archivesspace.library.manoa.hawaii.edu/repositories/4/resources/8|access-date=2021-09-19|website=UH-Mānoa Catalog for Archival Materials}}
References
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Category:People from Tama, Iowa
Category:American public health doctors
Category:Johns Hopkins School of Medicine alumni
Category:Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health alumni
Category:University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa faculty
Category:University of California, San Francisco faculty
Category:Cornell University alumni
Category:20th-century American physicians
Category:20th-century American women physicians
Category:20th-century American academics