Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. Open for research.

Restrictions to Use

No usage restrictions.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the Robert Briggs Watson Diary, #3844, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Special Collections Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Gift of Robert Briggs Watson of Chapel Hill, N.C., 1974.

Additional Descriptive Resources

A copy of the original finding aid for this collection is filed in folder 1a.

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

Processed by: SHC Staff

Encoded by: Noah Huffman, December 2007

Updated by: Adam Fielding, Kate Stratton, and Jodi Berkowitz, December 2010

This collection was rehoused and a summary created with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

This finding aid was created with support from NC ECHO.

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

• Brazil--Social conditions--1945-1964.
• Diaries.
• East Asia--Social conditions.
• Epidemiology--Research.
• Malaria--Research.
• Memphis (Tenn.)--Social conditions--20th century.
• Parasitology--Research.
• Physicians--United States--History--20th century.
• Public health administration.
• Rockefeller Foundation. International Health Division--History.
• Tennessee--Social conditions.
• Travelers--Diaries.
• Watson, Robert Briggs, 1903-1978.
• World health.

Robert Briggs Watson (1903-1978), native of Clemson, S.C., was a physician who specialized in malaria research, parasitology, epidemiology, and public health administration. He served as a field staff member of the International Health Division of the Rockefeller Foundation from 1942-1966.

Watson studied agriculture at the University of Tennessee and received his medical degree from there in 1930. After three years of private practice in Memphis and Knoxville, Tenn., he became a fellow of the Rockefeller Foundation International Health Division in 1934. He obtained his master's degree in public health from Johns Hopkins Medical School in 1939, and served as a malariologist and epidemiologist with the Tennessee Valley Association before becoming a field staff member with the International Health Division of the Rockefeller Foundation in 1942.

Watson was headquartered at Memphis, Tenn., concentrating on malaria studies in 1942-1945; 1946-1954 his work centered on East Asia; 1955-1962 his work shifted to Brazil and other Latin American countries. In 1964, he started a new project in St. Lucia, and in 1966 he began teaching at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Public health, becoming Professor of Parasitology and Laboratory Practice.

The collection consists of typed diaries of physician Robert Briggs Watson (1903-1978), kept during his service as a field staff member of the International Health Division of the Rockefeller Foundation. The journals concern his activities related to malaria studies in Memphis, Tenn., 1942-1945. From 1946-1954, Watson's work centered on East Asia, traveling to China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan (formally Formosa), the Philippines, Thailand (formally Siam), India, Sri Lanka (formally Ceylon), Macau, and Pakistan. From 1955-1962 his work shifted to Brazil and other areas in that part of the world, traveling to Chile, Argentina, Peru, Uruguay, Puerto Rico, Colombia, and Panama, and numerous other locations around the world. Entries dated 1963-1966 cover Watson's work in St. Lucia, and he traveled to other areas as well. These entries also document his time in Chapel Hill, N.C., where he began teaching in 1966. The diaries are a record of Watson's daily work, together with information related to traveling and living conditions, personal and family affairs, cultural and social occasions, and current events in the countries to which he was assigned. The first four volumes, 1942-1946, are not indexed, but beginning with volume 5 in 1949 there is an index of personal names for each year. For some years there is also a chronological list of subjects, events, and travels. Copies of Watson's annual reports and occasional special reports to the Rockefeller Foundation are included in some volumes, and some of the later volumes also contain clippings and photographs.