John H. Gladney Collection

Collection

Identifier: A3264

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The collection is comprised of various biographical information, awards, professional certificates, and newspaper clippings relating to the life and accomplishments of Dr. John Hersel Gladney. It is arranged alphabetically and spans from 1947 to 2012. There are several date gaps, most significantly 1949-1955, 1957-1967, and 1976-1986. Biographical information for Dr. Gladney includes a curriculum vitae (CV), an unfinished memoir, and several newspaper clippings celebrating his career and accomplishments. Gladney’s memoir includes information about his mother and stories he recalled from his childhood. There is also a copy of Dr. Gladney’s obituary and funeral program with biography in addition to funeral programs for his son, John H. Gladney Jr., and for his wife, Clarice Gladney. The collection includes Dr. Gladney’s medical licenses for Illinois and Missouri; a certificate for completion of his internship at Homer G. Phillips Hospital; and a certificate presented upon becoming a fellow of the American Laryngological, Rhinological, and Otological Society (f.4). There are also several clippings, programs, and certificates in recognition of Dr. Gladney’s professional accomplishments and civic activities. These include a mayoral proclamation for Dr. John H. Gladney Day upon his retirement in 1993, information for a Saint Louis University fellowship named for Dr. Gladney, and a certificate naming Dr. Gladney as a Henry M. Minton Fellow in the Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity (f.1).

Dates

1947-2012

Creator

Agard, Constance Gladney (Collector, Person)

Conditions Governing Access

The collection is open for research use.

Conditions Governing Use

For permission to publish, quote from, or reproduce material in this collection, please contact the Archives Reference Desk at archives@mohistory.org. Copyright restrictions may apply. The researcher assumes full responsibility for conforming to the laws of copyright.

Biographical Sketch

Dr. John Hersel Gladney (1922-2011) was a prominent St. Louis physician and local civic leader. He was born on November 18, 1922, at the home of his parents, Emma Louise (1894-1928) and John Citizen Gladney (1881-1976), in Little Rock, Arkansas. The Gladneys had two other children: Augustus Charles Gladney (1918-1973) and Kathryn Lee Ellis (1925- ). Mrs. Gladney’s untimely death in a segregated hospital inspired her son to study medicine. After graduating from Dunbar High School in Little Rock, Gladney matriculated at the historically black Talladega College in Talladega, Alabama, in 1939. While at Talladega College, he met Agnes Clarice Taylor (1923-2012), whom he married on June 19, 1944. The couple had three children: John Gladney Jr. (1946-2010), Constance Agard, and Judith Gladney. Dr. Gladney died at age eighty-nine on November 26, 2011. During World War II, Gladney was accepted into the Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP) at Meharry Medical School in Nashville, Tennessee, which was one of only six African American colleges with ASTP units. Gladney completed an internship at Homer G. Phillips Hospital in June 1947 and then did otolaryngology residencies at both the Veterans Administration Hospital in Hines, Illinois, and at the Illinois Eye and Ear Infirmary at the University of Illinois in Chicago. After the Army had earlier informed Gladney that it did not need any more “colored doctors,” he enlisted in the Air Force after the outbreak of the Korean War in 1951 and served in Morocco. After practicing in Decatur, Illinois, for three years, Dr. Gladney returned to St. Louis in 1956 and opened a private practice. He became supervisor of the ear, nose, and throat service at Homer G. Phillips Hospital. In 1957, Saint Louis University added him to the faculty as an assistant professor of otolaryngology and as a full professor in 1975. In 1987, Dr. Gladney became chair of the department of otolaryngology, the first African American to hold the position of chairperson of a basic science or clinical department at the school. He retired in 1993, and in 1999, Saint Louis University established the John H. Gladney, M.D. Award. It also established a lecture series in honor of Dr. Gladney. Dr. Gladney achieved prominence in the field of otolaryngology. For his pioneering work in relating hearing loss to diabetes, he became the first African American fellow inducted into the American Laryngological, Rhinological, and Otological Society (The Triological Society) in 1976. In his retirement, Dr. Gladney continued his civic engagement, working in a mentoring program for the St. Louis Public Schools and serving on boards, including the Missouri Historical Society Board of Trustees from 1993 to 1998.