Harvard School of Public Health. Department of Maternal and Child Health executive administration files
Overview
The Harvard School of Public Health Department of Maternal and Child Health executive administration files, 1914-1976 (inclusive), 1944-1976 (bulk), are the product of departmental activities. Files include correspondence, subject files, and reprints.
Dates
- Creation: 1914-1976 (inclusive)
- Creation: Majority of material found within 1944-1976
Language of Materials
Files are in English
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for research. Access requires advance notice.
Access to personnel information is restricted for 80 years from the date of creation. Researchers may apply for access to restricted records. Consult Public Services for further information.
Conditions Governing Use
The Harvard Medical Library does not hold copyright on all materials in the collection. Researchers are responsible for identifying and contacting any third-party copyright holders for permission to reproduce or publish. For more information on the Center's use, publication, and reproduction policies, view our Reproductions and Use Policy.
Extent
1.88 cubic feet (1 records center carton, 1 letter size document box, 1 half legal size document box)The Harvard School of Public Health Department of Maternal and Child Health executive administration files, 1914-1976 (inclusive), 1944-1976 (bulk) are the product of departmental activities. Files include correspondence and subject files relating to departmental programs with the World Health Organization, Simmons College (now Simmons University), Boston, Massachusetts, the Frontier Nursing Service, the Massachusetts Committee on Children and Youth, and Children’s Medical Center (now Boston Children’s Hospital), Boston, Massachusetts. There are reprints of articles published by departmental faculty and researchers in outside publications. There are also files relating to administration of the department, including teaching, funding, and visitors.
Records are entirely in English.
Administrative History
The Department of Maternal and Child Health was formed at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, Massachusetts in 1944. The department was previously known as the Department of Child Hygiene.
Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) had courses on maternal and child health since 1913, but a formal department did not exist until the Department of Child Hygiene was founded in 1922. In 1944, the Department of Child Hygiene became the Department of Maternal and Child Health (MCH). In 1979, MCH became the Department of Maternal and Child Health and Aging. The department existed under this name until 1985, when it reverted to the Department of Maternal and Child Health. In 2003, it merged with the Department of Health and Social Behavior to become the Department of Society, Human Development and Health. In 2013, the department became the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences. Former chairs of MCH include Richard Smith (chair 1944-1946), Harold C. Stuart (1891-1976, chair 1946-1957), Martha May Eliot (1891-1978, chair 1957-1961), William M. Schmidt (chair 1961-1976), Robert Haggerty (1926-2018, chair 1976-1978), Isabelle Valadian (1920-, chair 1978-1991), and Marie McCormick (1946-, chair 1991-2003).
The Department of Maternal and Child Health focused on personal health, social services, and family planning services to mothers and children. Students also studied the administrative aspects of providing health services. A Master of Science and a Doctor of Science in Maternal and Child Health were offered.
Collection Arrangement
These papers were assigned a call number upon their reception at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine and were arranged in order by call number. The historical call number order has been maintained. Most of the folders have the same call number, and folders with the same call number are arranged alphabetically within the call number.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The collection was transferred to the Harvard Medical Library by the Harvard School of Public Health, Department of Maternal and Child Health.
- Accession number 2022-045. Harvard School of Public Health. Department of Maternal and Child Health. Date unknown.
Processing Information
Processed by Rebecca Thayer, July 2023.
These materials were originally part of a collection known as the Early School of Public Health records (E72). E72 records were cataloged according to an in-house catalog number system. These catalog numbers and any additional information on the card have been retained where they exist and are located in the file-level scope notes. Defunct box inventories have not been retained in the file-level scope note, but the original cards are retained at the repository. Processing was done by Hanna Clutterbuck-Cook in 2019, 2021 and 2022. Clutterbuck-Cook refoldered and reboxed material and transcribed folder titles from original folders which were then discarded. In cases where the title of an item on the card catalog card differed from the original folder title, the card catalog title was appended to the beginning of the original folder title. Clutterbuck-Cook and Heather Mumford identified offices and records management series for E72. Clutterbuck-Cook arranged the materials accordingly. Clutterbuck-Cook and Mumford conducted research on the department and its history to draft a finding aid. Additional surveying was done in 2023 by Thayer. Thayer separated out and arranged the Department of Maternal and Child Health records. Thayer finished the finding aid.
Genre / Form
Topical
Subject
- Harvard School of Public Health (Organization)
- Title
- Harvard School of Public Health. Department of Maternal and Child Health. Executive administration files, 1914-1976 (inclusive), 1944-1976 (bulk): Finding Aid.
- Author
- Rebecca Thayer
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- eng
- EAD ID
- med00969
Repository Details
Part of the Center for the History of Medicine (Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine) Repository
The Center for the History of Medicine in the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine is one of the world's leading resources for the study of the history of health and medicine. Our mission is to enable the history of medicine and public health to inform healthcare, the health sciences, and the societies in which they are embedded.