Description
Reference code
Name and location of repository
Level of description
Collection
Title
Arpad I. Csapo Papers
Date(s)
Extent
35.95 cubic feet (89 boxes)
Name of creator
Biographical history
Arpad I. Csapo was a Hungarian-American professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Washington University School of Medicine in the 1960s and 1970s. He is best known for his research on the progesterone hormone in the physiology of uterine function. Csapo developed a series of experiments testing a theory that the hormone serves to block the contraction of muscles in the pregnant uterus. His work also identified that after the initial weeks of pregnancy in the human, the blocking action of the hormone progesterone shifts from the ovaries to the placenta and further proved that the placental progesterone exerts its action on the uterus through a local mechanism, thus explaining why twins can be born several weeks apart.
He was born in 1918 in Szeged, Hungary. He studied medicine at the University of Szeged and received his M.D. in 1943. Next, Csapo completed his residency at the Semmelweis Medical University in Budapest. The Nobel Prize-winning biochemist Albert Szent-Gyorgyi was a great influence on Csapo's career, leading him to become interested in laboratory science. Szent-Gyorgyi employed him in his laboratory, where he succeeded in isolating actin and myosin, proteins responsible for contractible properties of muscle. Throughout the late 1940s, Csapo served as a Mannheimer Fellow at the University of Uppsala in Sweden and completed a fellowship with the Carnegie Institution in Baltimore while lecturing in obstetrics at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. In 1956, he became an associate professor at Rockefeller University, where he later became the director of the Laboratory of the Physiology of Reproduction. In 1963, Csapo became professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Washington University, where he remained until his death in 1981.
During his career, Csapo was a prolific writer and promoted international cooperation in uterine physiology research. He published over two hundred articles and contributed chapters to several textbooks. From the 1950s onward, Csapo participated in various projects with Brazilian and Finnish colleagues. He obtained a grant from the U.S. Department of State in 1973, which funded an Advanced Technology Fertility Training Center at Washington University that trained more than 300 physicians from 57 countries for five years. Although he became a U.S. citizen in 1953, Csapo preserved his roots in Hungary, frequently visiting his native country and inviting Hungarian researchers to St. Louis. After his death, Csapo was honored in 1983 with the Michaelis Medallion, a prestigious German prize in obstetrics.
Scope and content
Data files, selected short publications, laboratory notebooks and other laboratory records, lantern slides and other photographs on Csapo's research on the progesterone hormone in the physiology of uterine function and uterine muscle contractibility. These files contain data on drug effects of progesterone, estradiol, caffeine, steroids on the ovaries and uterus in humans, rabbits and mice. Later laboratory notebooks are in Series 1, Data, 1946-1979.
System of arrangement
Arranged in 4 series:
- Data, 1946-1979, 71 boxes;
- Selected short publications, 1948-1964, 1 box in finding aid.
- Laboratory Notebooks, 1948-1954, Boxes 1-4
- Lantern Slides, 1950’s, Boxes 1-4.
Conditions governing access
The collection is open and accessible for research.
Technical access
Conditions governing reproduction
Users of the collection should read and abide by the Rights and Permissions guidelines at the Bernard Becker Medical Library Archives.
Users of the collection who wish to cite items from this collection, in whole or in part, in any form of publication must request, sign, and return a Statement of Use form to the Archives.
For detailed information regarding use of this collection, contact the Archives and Rare Book Department of the Becker Library (arb@wusm.wustl.edu).
Preferred Citation:
Item description, Reference Code, Bernard Becker Medical Library Archives, Washington University in St. Louis.
Languages of the material
- English
Scripts of the material
- Latin
Language and script notes
Finding aids
Preliminary finding aids for each series are in repository (Box application)
Custodial history
Immediate source of acquisition
Gift, Elise Csapo, 1 August 1983, 1983-067, 1983-071
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information
Accruals
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related archival materials
Related descriptions
Specialized notes
Alternative identifier(s)
Rules or conventions
"Describing Archives: A Content Standard, Second Edition (DACS), 2013."
Sources used
Archivist's note
© Copyright 2019 Bernard Becker Medical Library Archives. All rights reserved.
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
- Szent-Györgyi, Albert, 1893-1986 (Subject)