Biographical Note
Alfred E. Lange was born in St. Paul, Minnesota on June 17, 1892. He
graduated from Whitman College in 1915 and attended medical school at the
University of Minnesota School of Medicine. After his graduation from medical
school in 1919, he did a residency at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester,
Minnesota.
In 1921, he married Ruth Wedge, and in July 1923, he established his
family medical practice in Walla Walla, Washington. While active in his
practice, he returned to Whitman College as a faculty member, serving as
Lecturer in Hygiene from 1934-1943. At the time of his retirement in 1966, he
was affiliated with the Catherine St. Clinic.
In 1966, Alfred E. Lange moved to the Washington coast. He died in
Seattle on August 18, 1981.
Content Description
The collection consists of two items: a funeral program and Lange’s
unpublished 45 page memoirs about his profession, titled “Trials and
Tribulations of Practice in Walla Walla.” His reminiscences provide a rich
source of information about relationships between physicians and hospital
administrators, interactions among physicians, and the practice of medicine,
particularly pediatrics, obstetrics, and gynecology in Walla Walla during the
mid 20th century. Lange vividly describes his colleagues and his patients and
covers a number of medical cases in depth. He devotes significant portions of
his memoirs to discussions of abortion and changes in the medical management of
childbirth. Researchers should note that Lange’s family edited his original
manuscript.
