Jellinek in Canada
While Jellinek is most closely associated with the Yale Center of Alcohol Studies and the World Health Organization, an important and productive chapter of his career unfolded in Canada between 1957 and 1961. Much of what is known about this period is preserved in the Strachan Collection at Rutgers University Libraries. J. George Strachan (1910–1996) was a Canadian researcher, writer, educator, administrator, and consultant whose work was instrumental in establishing alcoholism as a treatable illness within Canadian public health systems. During his stay in Canada, Jellinek played a significant role in that. The unique Jellinek-related artifacts in the collection include letters, drawings, photographs, and unpublished manuscripts to document how Jellinek’s ideas moved across borders to support Canadian alcohol studies.
Road to Canada: Bunky's Doodle
Jellinek and Strachan first met at the Yale Summer School of Alcohol Studies in 1950, a formative training program for professionals entering the emerging field. One of the most distinctive objects associated with this encounter is a simple hand‑drawn diagram known as “Bunky’s Doodle,” or the Progression Phases of Alcoholism.
During that Summer School session, Jellinek introduced what would become one of his most significant contributions to the field: the concept of the progressive phases of alcoholism. In the classroom, he sketched a simple visual diagram to illustrate the course of the illness. Jellinek later gave a copy of this drawing to George and Jane Strachan, a small gesture that might suggest both generosity and recognition of Strachan as someone who would carry these ideas forward.
Preserved in the Strachan Collection, the doodle captures Jellinek’s teaching style, visual, informal, and explanatory, and marks the beginning of a professional relationship that would shape his later career.
Strachan and Jellinek
In July 1959, Jellinek went back to New Haven, where the Yale Summer School of Alcohol Studies was held. This photo was taken in front of Silliman College.
The connection established at Yale between Jellinek and Strachan evolved into decades of exchange of ideas, with many practical outcomes. In the 1950s, faculty from the Center of Alcohol Studies regularly traveled to Alberta to lecture at conferences and training events. The first Alberta Conferences on Alcohol Studies were held in 1954 and 1955, sponsored by the Alcoholism Foundation of Alberta and the University of Alberta. These conferences, featuring Yale-affiliated speakers such as Selden Bacon, Leon Greenberg, and Raymond McCarthy, mirrored the Summer School’s structure and content, effectively translating the Yale model into a Canadian setting.
By the the mid-1950s, Jellinek was the most influential figure in alcohol studies in the world. After leaving the Yale Center of Alcohol Studies, he spent years at the World Health Organization, continuing to develop the frameworks that would transform how medicine and public health understood drinking problems: not as moral weakness or a character flaw, but as a disease. His influence was enormous.
In 1956, Jellinek's time with the WHO was coming to an end, and his professional future was rather uncertain at age 66, despite his significant research potential. Concerned with the state of alcoholism policy in Canada, J. George Strachan, Executive Director of the Alcoholism Foundation of Alberta, and H. David Archibald, Director of the Alcoholism Research Foundation of Ontario, saw an opportunity in this moment. Provincial programs existed, but they varied widely in philosophy and practice. Formal federal engagement was minimal. Neither province had long‑term access to senior scientific consultation in the emerging field of alcoholism studies.
By early 1957, Strachan and Archibald were in communication about the possibility of inviting Jellinek to Canada in a consulting role, proposing a dual appointment that would allow Jellinek to advise both provincial foundations while pursuing scholarly work.
The portrait of E. M. Jellinek, used on the back cover of his seminal book, The Disease Concept of Alcoholism, was taken in Canada.
Correspondence
By April 1957, the Alberta Foundation had approved extending an invitation. Discussion followed on whether the federal government might contribute funding to the arrangement, but this option was soon set aside. Both men concluded that relying on federal involvement would delay matters and introduce additional complications. The final agreement remained entirely with the two provincial organizations.
Several letters between Strachan and Jellinek document the process. Their correspondence continued after Jellinek left Canada to work on the Alcohol Encyclopedia project, too.
Documenting Jellinek's Visit in Canada
What makes Jellinek's Canadian years known today at all is largely due to Strachan , who became one of the principal documenters of this period. In 1965, after Jellinek's death in 1963, Strachan produced an eight-page unpublished manuscript titled "Dr. E. M. Jellinek Comes to Alberta, Canada," recounting the conception of the invitation, Jellinek's activities in the province, and the broader context of his life and work. The following year, he compiled a meticulous chronological record titled "Dates of Events Concerning Dr. E. M. Jellinek's Coming to Alberta and His Stay in Canada," running from February 25, 1957, through December 13, 1961, and cataloging every significant piece of correspondence, salary arrangement, and logistical milestone.
References
- Dr. E. M. Jellinek Comes to Alberta, Canada: An 8-page, unpublished manuscript by Strachan documents the conception, execution, and impact of Jellinek’s Canadian activities and provides contextual biographical details.
- Dates of Events Concerning Dr. E. M. Jellinek’s Coming to Alberta and His Stay in Canada: A chronological account created by Strachan to preserve historical accuracy covering February 25, 1957 – December 13, 1961.
- Correspondence between Strachan and E. M. Jellinek, including letters written during Jellinek’s stays in Toronto and Alberta.
- Correspondence with Ruth Jellinek, created as part of biographical research into Jellinek’s life.
- Appendices and bibliographic compilations related to Jellinek’s work in Canada.
- Strachan, J. G. (1989). E. M. Jellinek, Sc.D, M. Ed., M. D. (Hon.): His stay in Canada. Unpublished manuscript. Draft No. 3. Rutgers Center of Alcohol Studies Archives.