I have an archive of DNFT goodies that fills a file drawer. I had a few of these items scanned and I am posting them for purely historical reasons. There are numerous letters and flyers that are salty and spicy in many ways. Dr. Richard Van Rumpt, the originator and first developer of DNFT was a highly talented man who was never shy about sharing his opinions. I was privileged to be a good personal friend in his later years. I have taken the liberty to share some personal letters from him. Please enjoy them with the caveat that they are personal correspondence between two opinionated and goofy people who bantered regularly.
Correspondence between Dr. Richard Van Rumpt ("Van") and Dr. Harlan Sparer.
August 29, 1980 page one and page two: This note covers DNFT and allergies as well as a reference to Edgar Cayce sending patients to Van.
July 22, 1980 Page one and page two: This note demonstrates some colorful banter between Van and myself and shows that he assuredly had a sense of humor. He also discusses cranial and long distance adjusting.
October 27, 1980 page one and page two: Van comments on my illegible writing and how he feels about non DCs studying DNFT.
DNFT as a technique has been taught for quite a while. Estimates range from the 1930s to the 1940s. Below are some seminar brochures from the1960s that Dr. Chris John found in Van's garage after he passed on in 1987.
1962 DNFT Seminar Brochure: page one, page two, page three, and page four.
1963 DNFT Seminar Brochure: page one, page two, page three, and page four.
1967 DNFT Seminar Brochure: page one, page two, page three, and page four.
When I began learning DNFT in Chiropractic school, I began to receive the infamous "Dr. Van's Newsy Newsletter." This 4 page missive was run off on a good old Gestetner stencil, long before the advent of copying machines.
1979 Newsy Newsletter page one, page two, page three, and page four.
1980 Newsy Newsletter page one, page two, page three, and page four.
1981 Newsy Newsletter page one, page two, page three, and page four.
DR. RICHARD VAN RUMPT – AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY
This is an autobiography by Dr. Richard Van Rumpt, known as Van – the innate man, asking and answering his own questions, such as:
Question: Where was I born?
Answer: I was born in Paterson, New Jersey of Holland-Dutch parents on November 18, 1904. My dad was 2 years of age when he came to this country from Holland, and my mother was 13. My parents had eight children in all. I was the last to be born and the only one still alive. There were two stillbirths, one died from diphtheria, and another burned to death at age 4. My dad was a laborer and worked with a pick and shovel and as a factory worker. My mother was, as they say, “just a housewife”.
Question: What did I do before studying to become a Doctor of Chiropractic?
Answer: I too was a factory worker. I worked in a machine shop, a silk factory and in a garage from the age of 14 to 16. I graduated from the grade school, and I did not go to high school. I started boxing at the age of 8, at smokers and clubs for the amusement of the male adults. I became a professional boxer at the age of 14 – by lying about my age. One had to be at least 16 to become a licensed professional boxer in New Jersey at that time. I had 66 fights under all sorts of names, such as Tiny Trinkle, Dickle Van, Kid Ritchie, and a few other names. I continued to box all during my college days and for a few years after graduated from the National College of Chiropractic in 1923. My original boxing trainer in Paterson, New Jersey was Dunk Robinson. Dunk was a chiropractic addict. I call Dunk an addict because he would sometimes go to two or more various chiropractors daily and fake a neck, back, shoulder or know problem just to see how the various chiropractors would approach these conditions. He would then practice these various methods on the kids he was training, in case we got hurt in these areas. One day, two days before a fight, I sprained my wrist and Dunk did not know how to treat it, so he sent me to his favorite chiropractor – Dr. Carl Schilling, a 1909 graduate of the National College. Dr. Schilling treated my wrist with galvanism and cured it. He then put me on his hard bench, and it really was a bench, and he beat up on my back and sprained his own wrist. Whatever Dr. schilling did to my back and neck relieved my headaches and digestive problems. No one in my family knew I was a professional boxer. Occasionally, I would come home with a black eye or a shiner and my dad thought I got it from street fighting. I then asked Dr. Schilling where and how I could learn or study chiropractic. He told me to go to any school of my choice, but don’t go to Palmer. The school war was really hot in those days. He suggested I go to National, so off I went at the age of 16. Again I lied about my age and said I was 18. I received my D.C. degree on June 27, 1923, and my Philosopher of Chiropractic degree on December 27, 1923. We went 18 months to get our D.C. degree and an additional 6 months to get our Ph.C degree. In order to graduate or qualify to take a state board one had to have a high school degree. So, I studied real hard took the Illinois high school qualifying examination and got my high school qualifying certificate, or diploma. I worked my way through chiropractic college as a boxer, busboy, orderly, switchboard operator, park inspector, factory toilet inspector, and attendant at the emergency room at the great Cook County Hospital in Chicago. My duties as an orderly were in the Orthopedic Surgical and the Nervous Disease Ward at the Cook County Hospital. My jobs as park inspector and factory toilet inspector were political jobs, because I was able to swing about 300 votes among the students at the college. I never inspected a factory toilet. There was only one factory in the 27th Ward and I never went inside it. During my last six months at the National, I was given the job of examining all the politically protected prostitutes in the bucks, and the Senator got $1.00. Yes – we students at National were taught how to make bi-manual vaginal examinations and all the necessary blood and laboratory tests for lues and G.C. infections. I had some scary experiences with pimps and had a knife and gun pointed at my face and neck when we had to take a girl out of service because she was infected. By the way, the tuition for the 18 months was $365.00 – and, I believe, $124.00 for the extra 6 months to receive our Philosopher of Chiropractic degrees, called Ph.C.
Question: What did I do when I left the National College?
Answer: I took the Maryland State Board and practiced in Baltimore from 1924 to 1927, partly full time and partly part time. I left Baltimore in April of 1927 to go to Seattle to practice. I got my Washington State license by reciprocity with Maryland. I bought a so-called practice from a Dr. Bernie Allen for $300.00. I stayed in Seattle for six weeks and went broke. Not even one patient showed up. So, I bought a train ticket to return to Baltimore. At the railroad station, about five minutes before the train pulled in, I called Dr. Allen on the phone – I said a few unkind words to her and I hung up. Oh yes, before leaving Baltimore to go to Seattle, and because chiropractic practice was slow, I studied to become an operating room male nurse, so I am also an R.N. or registered nurse. The nursing course was 18 months and I was allowed to take my training at night time. On my return to Baltimore from Seattle I only stayed in Baltimore about six months in order to recoup my finances – to make enough money to go to New York City to practice. That was in late 1927. Everyone said I was crazy to go to New York, that I would go unnoticed and get lost among seven million people at that time. I fooled them. Within one week I had 40 patients – all foot patients. There was no chiropractic law in New York State at that time and one had to practice without a license. What I did was to call myself a foot correctionist. I had a few hundred cards printed. In New York City, on 39th Street, at that time there were about 10 or 12 orthopedic shoe stores. I went to each store and manipulated all the shoe clerks’ feet and handed each clerk about five cards. In one week these clerks sent me about 40 patients. I had no office. I lived in a rooming house with a hideaway bed. I graduated from the feet to the knees, to the femurs, then to the pelvis and spine. I was asked to move, so I opened an office on West 79th Street. The second and last office I had in New York was at 300 West End Avenue before, and until, I left New York to go to California. I left New York City the last few days of 1953, so I have now been in California for over 30 years. During my practice days in New York City, I took care of 600 patients who had Cayce readings, but only about 300 or less of this 600 were sent to me directly by Edgar Cayce himself. I also took care of dozens of movie actors and actresses, ballet greats, big shots of the stage, comedians, vaudevillians, circus people, opera singers – such as Enrico Caruso, mayors, senators, members of Teddy Roosevelt family, even Russian ambassadors. If I were to mention specific names, one would think I had an inflated imagination. Most of these people are now dead.
Question: So, what has happened since I’ve been in California or Santa Barbara?
Answer: I practiced full time – 7 days a week, 8AM to 6PM – until 1971. I then reduced my full-time practice from 40-60 patients per day to about 10 patients per day, seeing only problem cases sent to me by my fellow D.N.F.T.’ers, until 1976. In 1976 I had six surgeries on my eyes which caused me to be 95 percent blind, and two surgeries on my ears which caused me to become totally deaf, plus extreme vertigo and an abnormal gait, which makes me walk like a drunk. As most of you know, most or all of my chiropractic life – of 61 years so far – I have been a silent chiropractic researcher and field instructor, having taught thousands of seminars all over the United States, and having taught almost 20,000 D.C.’s and students my research findings.
I realize this is a very limited and sketchy report, and many things will be or have been left out. Yes – I did go to jail twice in New York and once in New Jersey for practicing without a license. There was no chiropractic board at that time. The charge as they called it, “was practicing medicine without a license”.
I don’t think there is too much interest in how many cups I won for dancing the tango, how many champions I fought as a boxer, or the beatings I took from the Mafia for refusing to throw a fight. If anyone cares to ask for a few more details I dare or care to tell, I will attempt to oblige.
Since I seem to have more space or time on this tape or paper, I will add a few more details, such as when did I first start teaching. I first started teaching while still a student at the National. On about eight or ten occasions, when one of the professors, due to illness or some other reason, was unable to teach a particular day I would occasionally be asked to fill in for them. I had a pretty good knowledge of diseases of the nervous system because of my experience as an orderly in the Nervous Disease Ward at the Cook County Hospital. I would talk about or discuss such diseases as locomotor ataxia – brain tumors, sclerotic changes in the spinal cord, muscular dystrophy, etc. During my many years of research and practice I taught at a dozen or chiropractic colleges, all no longer in existence, such as Progressive, Peerless, American, Standard, Atlantic, Metropolitan, and many others (all for free). I was also considered to be a “Visiting Professor” at many schools, even the Columbia in New York City before it became the New York School. I gave many lectures at the old New York School and the Eastern Institute in New York. I took part in many dozens of college homecomings, and officiated at hundreds of county and state chiropractic association seminars for license renewal purposes; yes, even for Parker. Many of you also know that I was DeJarnette’s first and only so-called Director of the Sacro Occipital Research Society and some of my techniques are in his books, such as my foot technique and endonasal techniques. I was in this capacity for 15 years and conducted S.O.T. review sessions once a week on a Thursday night from 7 to 10PM during these 15 years.
I am often asked, “what do I do to relax”. My answer is, I don’t relax, don’t know how – I worry, don’t sleep, and while in bed I review what I did during the day and what I’m going to do tomorrow, especially if I have one or two problems or failure cases on my hands. It is believed and I believe I was the youngest person to ever graduate from the National. I entered at 16 and I graduated at 18. This I understand is being investigated at the present time.
I have often been accused of being a bit brazen, abrasive, nasty, insulting, tell dirty stories, use cuss words, discuss various religions, and annoy my Southern Baptist friends. Sorry about that. My God has no special denomination. My God is a loving God and loves everyone, even you and me.
I have been asked on occasion “what do I consider my major contribution to chiropractic”. This is very difficult to answer and still be my humble and unassuming self. I have developed hundreds of new, different, and effective chiropractic techniques for various parts of the body and various conditions or diseases, most not taught in any of our schools, even the National. To name just a few, I believe I was the first to use the thumb to adjust any and all parts of the body. Secondly, I believe I developed the most comprehensive and effective foot technique in all the practice of broad chiropractic. I know that without any doubt that I an the original developer of the reactive leg reflex to make a 100 percent perfect listing of any and all subluxated areas in the entire body, osseous or soft, even the abdominal and pelvic organs, by way of the use of the positive and negative fingers. This is true, even though some believe Truscott was first. I am especially proud of my T.M.J. research and I believe it to be the best in all the entire world. I believe my T.M.J. research will go a long way toward advancing and revolutionizing chiropractic, as we know it today, if we, you and I, can get some of our present-day school administrators to listen. I also believe and know, as you do, that I have developed the most complete and effective cervical and low back technique in all of chiropractic. Enough of that self praise. If any wishes to challenge my claims and accomplishments, I am ready and willing to accept their challenge. I beg the opportunity.
Again, on rare occasions, I have been asked how do I want to be remembered when “Lord Calvert” calls me home? I guess my best answer is, “as Van – the innate man,” or as the man that gave his non-denominational God, all the credit for what he has allowed me to accomplish in the name of chiropractic during my stay on His planet Earth.
One day, soon I hope, I will work on an article and tape with questions and answers relative to my researching, developing, and teaching of my D.N.F.T. Anyone wishing to send me a list of questions they would like to have me answer may do so.
Previously, I mentioned that I had an Illinois high school qualifying certificate. The fact is I have two high school certificates. I also have one in the State of New York. To avoid arrest for practicing chiropractic in New York, many of us studied physiotherapy at the Metropolitan School of Physiotherapy to become licensed physiotherapists. We as physiotherapy students were given two years credit for or towards our chiropractic training and our years of field experience. We attended night sessions from 7 to 10PM, five nights a week for two years. By attending an extra year, or three years in all, we were given a Doctor of Science degree in physiotherapy. The reason for my second high school degree was because New York State would not recognize the Illinois degree, so I had to take a New York qualifying examination.
I have also been asked when did I actually start my chiropractic researching career. I actually started during my college days, by researching the use of the positive and negative fingers to make a nerve interference or subluxation listing of any and all parts of the body, not just the spine. This is after reading an article in a four page Rosicrucian Magazine in 1922 regarding the body being both positive and negative. Also, during my college days, I started researching using less and less force to make a dynamic adjustment, by use of the thumb to adjust any and all parts of the body, both osseous and soft. It was somewhere late in 1924 when I taught my first field seminar. My subject was neurological reflexes to diagnose diseases of the nervous system, Which I learned by observing two of the greatest neurologists in Chicago during my duties as an orderly. My next series of field seminars were in teaching my foot technique to D.C.’s in the New York, New Jersey Connecticut and Pennsylvania areas. I taught my foot technique for three weekends on a Saturday and Sunday from 9AM to 4PM. It took me 36 hours for the average D.C. to learn and master my foot technique. My next series of field seminars were in the area of diversified technique which including bone setting of actual dislocations of the shoulders, clavicles, elbows, wrists, femurs, knees, and feet, which I learned from bone setters Richter and Reese during my college days. I organized classes for them. Included in my diversified technique seminars were adjustments of soft tissues, abdominal and pelvic organs, externally and per vagina and rectum for malpositions of uterus, adhesions, and prostatic problems. I actually started teaching my Directional Non-Force Technique somewhere in the early ‘40’s after I had my coronary heart attack from smoking 10 cigars a day and a pack of cigarettes. During my teaching of D.N.F.T., I taught my D.N.F.T. full scale on a national basis. I taught my 6 day seminars in such cities as Montreal, New York, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Miami, Chicago, Cleveland, St. Louis, Minneapolis, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Denver, New Orleans, Portland, Oregon, and many other cities. When it became evident that most D.C.’s would not stay away from their offices for six days, I cut the time down to four days. I preferred the four days because I did a better job and most D.C.’s learned D.N.F.T. much better. Oh yes, I almost forgot, also taught my endonasal technique from about 1929 to about 1945, mostly on the east coast, again on weekends. I first learned my endonasal and cranial work from an osteopath in Chicago whom I met in a speakeasy somewhere in late 1922 or early 1923. He had exceptionally large hands and thick fingers and hurt his patients. He claimed he learned endonasal and cranial technique in Germany. After he taught me endonasal technique, I took care of all his endonasal cases on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, seeing eight to ten patients each day for almost two years. I started teaching endonasal technique before Dr. Tom Lake. Dr. Lake deserves full credit for popularizing endonasal technique because he held many more seminars than I did and he also wrote a book. I had other teaching interests, Whereas endonasal was Lake’s one and only interest. By the way, took care of Dr. Tom Lake up until the time he died with prostate cancer. We were very close friends. I also forgot to mention I also have a Naturopathic degree which I earned by teaching dissection for four years at the Philadelphia College of Naturopathy which Dr. Lake owned. I also happen to have two other important degrees which have nothing to do with my chiropractic research and teaching. Worth mentioning might be that I attended many hundreds of autopsies at the Cook County Hospital and Research and Education Hospital of Chicago. I attended these autopsies weekends, late at night, holidays, and whenever time was available.
So – to bring this very sketchy so-called autobiography to a close, I am now approaching in late 1984 full and complete retirement from my teaching of seminars, but hope to continue my research and share it with those who are sincerely interested in sharing it with me. So now, even though there is much more to say, I must really say, God bless – God Love You – and so do I.
Van – the innate man.
