Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/St. Louis Estes


 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review).  No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was speedy keep. The nominator has withdrawn, and no delete !votes are present. North America1000 07:31, 25 February 2021 (UTC)

St. Louis Estes

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No reliable references mention St. Louis Estes or his raw food diet. There are Wikipedia articles for other raw foodists that have mainstream coverage in books and medical journals but St. Louis Estes has none. The only references that seem to exist are a few newspaper clippings but even those are very few and do not have any in depth coverage. I don't believe it is enough to qualify for an article. Psychologist Guy (talk) 15:15, 17 February 2021 (UTC)


 * St. Louis Estes was one of the pioneers that kick-started the raw food movements popularity in California in the early 20th century. His book is still in print in various versions at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.  For instance this from Google Books: Raw Food and Health As a pioneer he has a place in the history of the movement.  Other Raw Foodists have not been as eccentric.  He and his wife had ten children within fifteen years which is remarkable as well, as had been pointed out in TIME Magazine.  He was a lecturer, author, and eccentric, and went bankrupt at least once. Many in the modern Raw Food movement trace their inspiration to his work. University Collection.  This article should stay.
 * User:CLColegrove — Preceding undated comment added 06:58, 18 February 2021 (UTC)
 * Comment Retracting my deletion request per Cunard's comment and some other references I found. It appears St. Louis Estes was a notorious quack. I will fix this article up with the references. Psychologist Guy (talk) 01:47, 22 February 2021 (UTC)


 * Note: This discussion has been included in the list of People-related deletion discussions. CommanderWaterford (talk) 15:19, 17 February 2021 (UTC)
 * Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Food and drink-related deletion discussions. CommanderWaterford (talk) 15:19, 17 February 2021 (UTC)
 * Note: This discussion has been included in the list of California-related deletion discussions. CommanderWaterford (talk) 15:19, 17 February 2021 (UTC)
 * Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Medicine-related deletion discussions.  CAPTAIN RAJU (T) 17:36, 17 February 2021 (UTC)
 * Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Missouri-related deletion discussions.  CAPTAIN RAJU (T) 17:36, 17 February 2021 (UTC)

Keep per the significant coverage in multiple independent reliable sources.  The article is in the public domain per Public domain since it was published in 1924, which is before 1 January 1 1926. Here is the entire text of the article: "Raw Claims for Raw Foods: During the last few years, various metropolitan centers have been regaled by a series of alleged health lectures staged by one Dr. St. Louis Estes. Estes, who is not a physician, but seems to have been a dentist is 'president' of that hearfully and wonderfully named organization, 'The American Raw Food Health and Psychological Clubs.' According to the Estes advertising material, seven years ago he was a physical wreck and was given up by his doctors. He had, if we are to believe his claims, 'chronic smelling catarrh,' frontal sinus trouble, 'weak lungs,' chronic appendicitis with adhesions, chronic throat trouble, chronic neuritis, 'rheumatism of heart and joints,' enlarged heart, Bright's disease, constipation, and partial paralysis of the limbs from the hips down. Otherwise, apparently he was all right—except that was baldheaded. Then by his 'System of Dynamic Breathing' and the use of raw foods, he has rebuilt himself and today is 'bubbling over with health, vitality and energy'—and if his pictures tell the truth, has a good head of hair. Is it any wonder that he calls himself 'The World's Greatest Health Scientist Psychologist and International Authority on Old Age, Raw Foods, and Dynamic Oxygenation?' At present, Dr. Estes is giving his lectures in Chicago, and the papers both in their advertising and in their news columns, relate of the Estes marvels. One of the claims made by St. Louis Estes, both today and for a few years past, is that he is 'Lecturer on U. S. Public Health Service.' The Surgeon-General of the United States Public Health Service, under date of Oct. 20, 1924, notified the American Medical Association that St. Estes has never been connected with the Public Health Service in any way.—Journal of the American Medical Ass'n., Nov. 1 1924."  This is an extensive profile St. Louis Estes and his family.  The article notes that Estes is a "famed educator raw food exponent and back-to-back nature sponsor", is 72 years old, has six children under six, and is "internationally known as founder of the raw food movement in America". It notes that he used to be on the faculty of Northwestern University, that he is first vice president of the American Academy of Applied Dental Science, and has seven degrees from universities and "other bodies interested in scientific and educational facts". The article notes that when he was 40 years old, Estes was "an invalid". It said that although he was sick for 28 years, was completely blind for two of those years, and was bald for 18 years, he said through natural living he could fix all of these ills. The article discusses his children.   The article notes that Mrs. Esther Estes, 37, gave birth to an eleventh child, a nine-pound girl. The article notes that the couple have five sons and six daughters and the songs bear their father's name and are named St. Louis Estes II, St. Louis Estes III, until St. Louis Estes VI. The eldest girl is named Suzanne. Two of the girls prior to the sixth girls' birth are unnamed and have the nicknames Dimples and Chickadee. The article notes, "Dr. Estes, who has been living with his family in a Hollywood Hills residence the last nine years, wears only a loin cloth while in his home or in his garden. His children dress similarly except when they have to go to school." The Los Angeles Times called Esther Estes "a living example of the back-to-nature movement" espoused by her husband, Dr. St. Louis Estes, 72.</li> <li> The article notes that the late Dr. St. Louis Estes bought the St. Louis Estes I house roughly 25-years ago. It notes that  upon "los[ing] heavily during the slump which blighted the Florida land boom in the 20s", Estes moved to California. Estes was from St. Louis, Missouri. Estes had 12 children: six daughters and six sons. Esther married Esther Estes. He told her he would name the boys and she could name the girls. He named the boys starting with St. Louis II until St. Louis VII. Esther Estes named the girls: Suzanne, Dixie Lou, Natascha, Yvonne, Malinda, and Cindy. Esther Estes "died last April".</li> <li> The article notes: "The father and founder of the Raw Food and Back to Nature Movement, Dr. St. Louis Estes of New York and Chicago, discoverer of "brain breathing" who has been teaching the people everywhere how to regain their health, turn inefficiency into cash, old age into youth for the past twenty-three years, is back in Oakland." The article notes that he is the president of the "Back to Nature Corporation", that is a "recognized health scientist", that he wrote the book "Raw Food and Health" about raw foods, that he is editor-in-chief of the magazine "Back to Nature", that he is a member of the Northwestern University club, Northwestern Alumni, American Birth Control league, World Vigilance committee, and the San Francisco Advertising club.</li> <li> The article calls St. Louis Estes a "world-famed educator, raw-food exponent and sponsor of the back-to-nature doctrine".</li> <li></li> <li> The family was featured in a Strange as It Seems cartoon noting that "The sons of Mr. and Mrs. St. Louis Estes I, San San Francisco, are: [St. Louis Estes II through St. Louis Estes VII]"</li> <li></li> <li> The column is in the public domain per Public domain since it was published in 1922, which is before 1 January 1 1926. The column notes, "Now comes the enlightening information from Trenton, N. J. that there is hope for the baldheaded man if he would live "the natural life" and eat raw foods. Dr. St. Louis Estes, first vice-president of the International Institute of Applied Esychology, of Chicago, is authority for the statement. By the way, what a fine name for a highbrow organization. Well, Dr. St. Louis Estes told the bunch how he himself had become a nervous wreck, lost his hair and was a candidate for the undertakers, who were but two jumps behind him? Not much. He just pulled his shattered constitution and the 18th amendment together and went out and got close to nature. He avoided cooked foods and subsisted on a raw diet, and soon regained his health with a fine crop of hair thrown in. Dr. St. Louis Estes does not say what he ate, but the chances are he subsited on herbs, grape nuts, bananas, smelts a la Newburg, wild oats, wild flowers, etc."</li> <li> The article has a photo of Dr. St. Louis Estes; St. Louis, III; and Raquel Torres.</li> <li> The book notes, "To solve this problem, he decided to adopt the diet espoused by St. Louis Albert Estes. Estes was a trained doctor and proponent of raw food diets. He believed this method of eating could cure most chronic illnesses."</li> <li></li> </ol>There is sufficient coverage in reliable sources to allow St. Louis Estes to pass Notability, which requires "significant coverage in reliable sources that are independent of the subject". Cunard (talk) 12:06, 21 February 2021 (UTC) </li></ul>
 * This search on Newspapers.com returns numerous additional sources that I have not listed here. Cunard (talk) 12:06, 21 February 2021 (UTC)


 * Comment I am retracting my deletion vote. I also managed to find other sources. I will re-write the article. Psychologist Guy (talk) 01:48, 22 February 2021 (UTC)


 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. <b style="color:red">Please do not modify it.</b> Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.