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Size | 123 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 93000 items) |
Abstract | Courses in public health were first offered at the University of North Carolina in 1933 in the School of Public Administration. With the discontinuation of the School of Public Administration in 1936, the Division of Public Health was established in the School of Medicine with Milton J. Rosenau as Director. The Division's emphasis on graduate-level training increased until, in 1940, it was designated as the School of Public Health, with Dr. Rosenau as Dean. The Division, and then the School, was an important force in the early public health movement in North Carolina. Currently the Dean of the School of Public Health reports to the Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs. The collection contains correspondence and other files relating to the development and history of the School of Public Health; its administration and curriculum; and field studies and training programs conducted by the School. Numerous audiotapes and cassettes of various lectures and meetings are included, as well as a videotape of a lecture by physician and activist, Quentin Young. Of particular interest are files on a study of venereal disease conducted in the 1940s, as well as a file, dated 1936-1943, containing correspondence relating to Rosenau's efforts to aid Jewish physicians fleeing Germany. |
Creator | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. School of Public Health. |
Curatorial Unit | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. University Archives. |
Language | English |
Processed by: University Archives Staff; Jennifer Coggins and Hannah Wang, September 2016
Updated by: Clare Carlson and Laura Smith, October 2019; Anne Wells and Meredith Kite, November 2019; Dawne Howard Lucas and Patrick Cullom, January 2020; Dawne Howard Lucas, February 2022; Davia Webb and Laura Smith, August 2023; Luke Cimarusti and Laura Smith, October 2023
Encoded by: ByteManagers Inc., 2008
Since August 2017, we have added ethnic and racial identities for individuals and families represented in collections. To determine identity, we rely on self-identification; other information supplied to the repository by collection creators or sources; public records, press accounts, and secondary sources; and contextual information in the collection materials. Omissions of ethnic and racial identities in finding aids created or updated after August 2017 are an indication of insufficient information to make an educated guess or an individual's preference for identity information to be excluded from description. When we have misidentified, please let us know at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu.
Back to TopThe 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.
Training in the field of public health at the University of North Carolina began in the School of Public Administration in 1933. A major factor in the creation of the curriculum was recognition of the need for trained sanitary engineers to counter growing health problems in the Southeast. Throughout its early history, the University's public health program was closely tied to the North Carolina State Board of Health and to the United States Public Health Service.
With the discontinuation of the School of Public Administration in 1936, a Division of Public Health was established in the School of Medicine with Dr. Milton Joseph Rosenau as Director. Rosenau (1869-1946), a nationally important figure in public health and preventive medicine, came to Chapel Hill in 1936, after his retirement from Harvard University, where from 1909 to 1935 he had served as Charles Wilder Professor of Medicine. At Harvard, in 1913, he had established the first school of public health in the United States. Consolidated University President Frank Porter Graham personally wooed Rosenau out of retirement by promising to allow him a free hand in developing the program in public health at UNC. While the intent in establishing the program was to provide training for public health personnel in the South, Rosenau's reputation immediately attracted students from all over the nation.
Rosenau used his involvement in the American Public Health Association (of which he was president-elect at the time of his death) to secure prominent figures in the field as guest lecturers, thus supplementing the Division of Public Health's small staff. It was his presence in Chapel Hill that led the U.S. Public Health Service to move its venereal disease laboratory and its training center for health personnel for Interstate Sanitary District No. 2 (Delaware to Florida) from the Johns Hopkins University to UNC in 1936. Rosenau and State Health Officer Carl V. Reynolds worked together closely to develop the Division's program, with the State Board of Health funding many activities.
With the backing of the U.S. Public Health Service and the N.C. State Board of Health, the Division (and subsequently the School) was able to attract other support, notably from the Kellogg Foundation for continuing education, from the Rockefeller Foundation for syphilis research, and from the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation for research in venereal diseases. Despite the limited funding provided by the University, Rosenau quickly expanded the curriculum to include courses in public health administration, education, nursing, sanitation, nutrition, parasitology, industrial hygiene, statistics, and others. The faculty grew from one full-time position in 1936 to eleven in 1946.
The curriculum was originally geared for individuals already working in the public health profession. Few undergraduate students were enrolled. Beginning in 1939, emphasis was placed on graduate level training. Accordingly, in 1940 the Division of Public Health became a separate school offering master's and doctoral degrees. A cooperative program with North Carolina College at Durham (now North Carolina Central University) for the training of Negro public health professionals was established and maintained until UNC's School of Public Health was integrated in 1960.
The new School of Public Health, with Rosenau as Dean, continued to be housed with the School of Medicine. The two were originally located in Caldwell Hall, though courses in sanitary engineering were taught in Phillips Hall. In 1937 Rosenau and Dr. Herman G. Baity, Professor of Sanitary Engineering, used their connections with the U.S. Public Health Service and the Works Progress Administration to secure funding under the Social Security Act to erect a new building for Public Health and Medicine. Public Health was housed on the first floor of this building, now known as MacNider Hall, from 1939 until its move to Rosenau Hall in 1963.
Following Dr. Rosenau's death in 1946, Dr. Baity, then Chairman of the Department of Sanitary Engineering, was appointed Acting Dean. After protracted negotiations, Dr. Edward G. McGavran was appointed Dean in April 1947. McGavran turned his attention toward securing tenure for the School's faculty, increasing University funding, acquiring additional space for teaching and research, and expanding the School's scope and influence internationally. In the spring of 1948, the establishment of the Department of Field Training brought the number of departments in the School to eight.
The creation of the Division of Health Affairs in 1948 further stimulated the School's growth. The full-time faculty, which numbered fourteen in 1948, swelled to sixty-four by 1964. In large measure, this growth was a result of increased state support for faculty salaries and research facilities. The curriculum grew in scope and depth as new faculty representing new research interests were added to the staff. However, the original emphasis on field training remained constant.
In November 1962, the programs and staff of the School were finally gathered under one roof with the opening of Rosenau Hall. Dr. McGavran returned to full-time teaching on July 1, 1963, and Dr. W. Fred Mayes became the School's third Dean. He was succeeded on September 1, 1972, by Bernard G. Greenberg, Chairman of the Department of Biostatistics. The latter was replaced by Dr. Michel A. Ibrahim, Chairman of the Department of Epidemiology, on September 15, 1982. A complete list of the Deans and their tenures is given below:
During the recent period, the School's instructional program has been supported by eight departments: Biostatistics; Environmental Sciences and Engineering; Epidemiology; Health Behavior and Health Education; Health Policy and Administration; Maternal and Child Health; Nutrition; and Parasitology and Laboratory Practice.
The School's instructional program has also been supported by the Program on Aging, the Institute for Environmental Studies, the Curriculum in Public Health Nursing, the Occupational Health Studies Program, the Occupational Safety and Health Educational Resource Center, the Office of International Public Health Programs, the Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, the Division of Computing and Information Services, the Division of Community Health Service, as well as the administrative units of the Office of the Dean.
Back to TopCorrespondence and other files relating to the development and history of the School of Public Health; its administration and curriculum; and field studies and training programs conducted by the School. Numerous audiotapes ("T") and cassettes ("C") of various lectures and meetings are included throughout the collection, as well as a videotape of a lecture by physician and activist, Quentin Young. Of particular interest are files on a study of venereal disease conducted in the 1940s, as well as a file, dated 1936-1943, containing correspondence relating to Rosenau's efforts to aid Jewish physicians fleeing Germany.
Most of Dean Rosenau's files will be found in Series 1, Subseries 1, Historical Papers. However, a number of the files on Outside Organizations (Series 1, Subseries 7) and most of the files on individual departments contain materials that predate 1946. Additional records on the development of the School will be found in the Records of the Board of Trustees (UNC); Records of the Office of President; Records of the Vice President for Finance; Records of the Office of the Chancellor; and Records of the Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs. Each of these is a separate records group in the University Archives. (See also personal papers of Edward G. McGavran (#4425), Bernard G. Greenberg (#4570), and Milton Joseph Rosenau (#4289) in the Southern Historical Collection.)
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Box
1:2
Folder 69 |
Curricula, 1934-1946 |
Box
1:2
Folder 70 |
Admissions, 1940; 1946; undated |
Box
1:2
Folder 71 |
Budgets, 1936-1946 |
Box
1:2
Folder 72 |
General, 1936-1946 |
Box
1:2
Folder 73 |
Appointments, 1937-1946 |
Box
1:2
Folder 74 |
Committees, 1939-1945 |
Box
1:2
Folder 75 |
Correspondence, General, 1936-1945 |
Box
1:2
Folder 76 |
Curriculum Vitae, 1940-1945 |
Box
1:2
Folder 77 |
Faculty Housing, 1946 |
Box
1:2
Folder 78-79 Folder 78Folder 79 |
Faculty Meeting Minutes, 1936-1945 |
Box 1:26 |
Administrative Correspondence, 1963-1965; 1972-1975 |
Admissions and Administration Committee, 1948-1960 |
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Enrollment, 1947-1968; 1974; 1984-1987 |
Box 1:33 |
Executive Faculty Minutes, 1954-1968 |
Audiocassette C-40120/40 |
General faculty meeting minutes: Dean Ibrahim's addressAudiocassette Original number: UA-A50 |
Box 1:34 |
General Faculty Meetings: Minutes, 1949-1952; 1954-1982 |
Inventory of Faculty Community Services, 1965 |
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Policy and Procedure on Appointments and Reviews, 1965-1968 |
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Report to the Faculty, 1963 |
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Work-Load Study, 1977-1978 |
Correspondence, 1936-1940; 1946-1963 |
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Course/Program Requests, 1946-1960; 1972-1980 |
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Division of Public Health, [ca. 1936] |
The Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering was originally the Department of Sanitary Engineering, one of the original departments established under the School of Public Health in 1936. It was renamed in 1962.
The Department of Field Training was organized in 1948 under the McGavran deanship. (See also Series 11, Subseries 3)
Box 3:1 |
General, 1972-1979 |
Activity Reports, 1949-1951 |
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Continuation Education Project, 1949-1951 |
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Courses and Curricula, 1947-1962; 1972-1979 |
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Field Experience Committee, 1952-1953 |
One of the original departments established under the School of Public Health in 1936, this department was first named Public Health Administration. That name changed in 1969 to Health Administration and in 1982 to Health Policy and Administration.
One of the original departments established under the School of Public Health in 1936.
The Nutrition department was established in 1946.
The Department of Maternal and Child Health was established in 1950.
This department was established in 1942 as the Department of Health Education. The name changed to its present form in 1988.
The Department of Biostatistics was established in 1949.
From 1936 to 1947 the Department of Experimental Medicine was known as the Reynolds Research Laboratory and/or the Venereal Disease Laboratory. It received its present name when it became a permanent department in 1947.
General, 1973-1982 |
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Advisory Committee, 1972-1973 |
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Five-Year Program Plan, 1980 |
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Quarterly Reports, 1974-1982 |
(See also Series 3, above)
[Vacant; see Learning Resource Center, Advisory Committee on, in Series 1, Subseries 2.1)
Originally named Department of Parasitology, this department was one of the first to be established in 1936. Its name changed to the present form in 1968.
The Public Health Nursing Curriculum was established as a full-fledged department in 1940. It was converted to a curriculum in 1984.
The Institute for Environmental Studies is the successor to the original Institute for Environmental Health Studies, which was organized on the campus in 1966. It became part of the Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering in 1980.
The Department of Mental Health was established in 1951. In 1974 it was eliminated and its courses dispersed within the School of Public Health.
Transferred from the School of Public Health in June 2016 (RT 20160622.2).
This addition includes photos of students and faculty, including photos documenting the International Program in Sanitary Engineering Design, the Agency for International Development Environmental Engineering Program, International Program in Environmental Aspects of Industrial Development, and the Gordon Research Conferences. It also includes curricula vitae of School of Public Health faculty members and student files from the International Program in Sanitary Engineering Design.
Box 17:4 closed until 2044 due to FERPA regulations.
Acquisitions Information: RT 20190718.1.
Scans of negatives and slides depicting people, places, and events connected to the School of Public Health. Also included are a few slide presentations. Wilson Special Collections Library does not hold the original negatives and slides.
Digital Folder DF-40120/1 |
School of Public Health scanned negatives and slides, 1950s-1990s (bulk 1970s) |
Acquisitions Information: RT 2006005, 2014004, 2014010, 20151022.1.
Materials in this subseries were originally held in the Health Sciences Library and were later transferred to the University Archives and reprocessed in January 2020. The folder numbering system used in the Health Sciences Library is no longer in use, but some folders are still labeled with the now obsolete numbers.
Promotional materials and records documenting the history of the School of Public Health and the alumni association, including photographs, brochures, posters, newsletters, and newspaper clippings. Also includes records from the office of Harriet Barr, a clinical associate professor in the Department of Health Behavior and the School's first director of alumni affairs. Materials include documentation of the annual Fred T. Foard Lecture and Alumni Day Conference. Barr's files also include information pertaining to her work with the Department of Health Behavior and the Coalition of National Health Education Organizations (CNHEO). A few items from the appear to be student work or faculty/administrator notes from the 1940s, including a quiz that might have been passed back and forth in class.
Box 17:5 |
Class Materials, 1940s |
Fred Foard Poetry and Prose |
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Morgan-Tyler Recognition Banquet, 1966 |
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Lucy Morgan Oral History Transcription, 1987, 1993 |
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Alumni Affairs Records |
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Fred Foard Memorial Lectures, 1970s-2000s |
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Alumni Day Conference, 1970s-2000s |
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Community Development Seminar, 1963 |
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Bernard Greenberg Alumni Endowment, 1980s |
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Board of Advisors |
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Development Files, 1989-2000 |
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Box 17:6 |
Distinguished Alumni Meeting, 2000 |
Faculty Memos, 1989-1999 |
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Carolina First Campaign Materials, 1998-2000 |
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Newspaper Clippings, 1980s |
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Santa Clara Project |
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Image Box IB-40120/3-14
IB-40120/3IB-40120/4IB-40120/5IB-40120/6IB-40120/7IB-40120/8IB-40120/9IB-40120/10IB-40120/11IB-40120/12IB-40120/13IB-40120/14 |
PhotographsApproximately 4000 Images Photographic Prints, Photographic Negatives, 35mm Slides (Mounted) A majority of the photographic materials in these boxes have been lightly processed and are in labeled folder. |
Acquisitions Information: Accession 20230724.1.