This is a photograph of Dr. Karl Augustus Menninger. He was born in Topeka, Kansas on July 22, 1893. He studied at Washburn College in Topeka, Indiana University, and the University of Wisconsin before finally graduating cum laude from Harvard Medical School in 1917. Dr. Karl became interested in psychiatry and the mental health needs of children during his medical internship at Boston Psychopathic Hospital.
Dr. Karl returned to Topeka and began practicing medicine with his father, Dr. Charles Fredrick Menninger; together the two opened the Menninger Diagnostic Clinic in 1919. By 1925, the two doctors started the Menninger Sanitarium, a private facility that served as an alternative to state hospitalization. After securing the services of Dr. William Claire Menninger, Karl's younger brother, the Menninger Foundation was created, offering a variety of mental health services and programs for both adults and children. Dr. Karl also helped to establish, with collaboration from the federal government, the Winter VA Hospital, whose potential as a training ground for students of psychiatry became the impetus for the creation of the Karl Menninger School of Psychiatry. In 2003, the Menninger Foundation partnered with the Baylor College of Medicine and relocated to Houston, Texas. The Menninger Foundation archives, including Karl Augustus Menninger's collection, is now housed at the Kansas Historical Society.
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