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Guide to the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health Records, 1937-2018, UA.90.41

Arrangement

Repository
ULS Archives & Special Collections
Title
University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health Records
Creator
University of Pittsburgh. Graduate School of Public Health
Collection Number
UA.90.41
Extent
39 Linear Feet (36 boxes)
Extent
38.4 Gigabytes
Date
1937-2018
Abstract
The University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health (GSPH) was founded in 1948 as the first school of public health in Pennsylvania. It was originally led by its first dean, Thomas Parran, one of the founders of the World Health Organization and former Surgeon General of the United States. The school has contributed important research to various aspects of public health including occupational health and industrial hygiene; genetic counseling; breast-conserving surgery; and early and enduring research into HIV and AIDS. This archival collection documents the school's history through various records it either created or collected, spanning from its formation into the 21st century. These concern such things as its establishment and grant funding by the A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust; the development of curricula and programs; research projects; committee meetings; the organization of schoolwide seminars; faculty hiring; and accreditation. There are also photographs, audio recordings, and videos that depict GSPH faculty, students, ceremonies, lectures, and news appearances.
Language
English .
Author
Ben Snyder
Publisher
ULS Archives & Special Collections
Address
University of Pittsburgh Library System
Archives & Special Collections
Website: library.pitt.edu/archives-special-collections
Business Number: 412-648-3232 (Thomas) | 412-648-8190 (Hillman)
Contact Us: www.library.pitt.edu/ask-archivist
URL: http://library.pitt.edu/archives-special-collections

History

The University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health (GSPH) was founded in 1948 as the first school of public health in Pennsylvania and the tenth to be accredited in the United States. The creation of GSPH was set in motion in 1946 when the A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust asked six prominent citizens to assess Pittsburgh's most urgent needs. Each participant recognized the health problems in the city stemming from such things as industrial pollution and occupational hazards, and so the Trust formed a commission in 1948 which recommended the creation of a school of public health. The commission sought input from Lowell J. Reed, at that time Vice President of Johns Hopkins, and Ernest L. Stebbins, Dean of the School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins, who wrote a plan for a school of public health that would most benefit the Pittsburgh area, known as the "Reed Report." As a result of their proposals, the Trust provided a $13.6 million endowment to establish the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health in 1948 which roughly followed the Reed Report's suggestions for its structure and focus. Thomas Parran, one of the founders of the World Health Organization and Surgeon General of the United States (1936-1948), was hired as the first dean of the school in 1948. Parran would go on to have a strong impact on the school, helping to hire several prominent individuals in the field. The first classes started in the fall of 1950. The school initially rented surplus space in the Municipal Hospital for Contagious Diseases (now Salk Hall). The Pitt Public Health Building (formerly called Parran Hall) was completed in 1957 and the school still operates there today. Upon the opening of the Public Health Building, the A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust had spent a total of $16,207,428 in support of the school.

An early focus, inspired by the heavily industrial economy of Allegheny County, was occupational health and industrial hygiene, with the school's research contributing to the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970. The school has seen a wide variety of other important developments contributing to national and global public health. In 1971, J. Howard Turner established the Genetic Counseling Program, one of the oldest such programs in the U.S. Carol K. Redmond, in the Biostatistics department, collaborated with the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project and had major findings on breast-conserving surgery. The Department of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology is known for its early research into HIV and AIDS; in 1983 the university was awarded one of the National Institutes of Health's first major AIDS research contracts, leading to the Pitt Men's Study and the wider Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study of which it was a part.

Parran was dean of the school for its first ten years, retiring in 1958. James Crabtree, who had been deputy surgeon general under Parran, would succeed him as the school's dean in 1958. Later deans were Antonio Ciocco (1966-68; acting), John C. Cutler (1968-69; acting), Herschel E. Griffin (1969-80), M. Allen Pond (1980-81; acting), Raymond Seltser (1981-87), Edgar N. Duncan (1987; acting), Thomas P. Detre (1987-90; interim), Donald R. Mattison (1990-98), Herbert S. Rosenkrantz (1998-2001; interim), Bernard D. Goldstein (2001-05), Roberta B. Ness (2006; interim), Donald S. Burke (2006-2019), A. Everette James (2019-2020; Interim), and Maureen Lichtveld (2021-present).

The school originally had four departments: Department of Public Health Practice, chaired by James A. Crabtree; Department of Biostatistics, chaired by Antonio Ciocco; Department of Occupational Health, chaired by Adolph G. Kammer; and the Department of Epidemiology and Microbiology, chaired by William McDowell Hammon. The next academic year the Department of Biochemistry and Nutrition, chaired by Robert E. Olson, was organized, and it began teaching classes in the 1953-1954 academic year. The Department of Biochemistry and Nutrition would leave GSPH in 1969, becoming part of the School of Arts and Sciences. In 1965 a Population Unit was created, directed by Samuel M. Wishik; it was later renamed to the Population Division, and was dissolved in 1975. In 1968 a Radiation Health Division was formed, and in 1970 this became the Department of Radiation Health, headed by Niel Wald. In 1975 the Department of Epidemiology and Microbiology was divided into the Department of Epidemiology, chaired by Lewis H. Kuller, and the Department of Microbiology, chaired by Monto Ho, later renamed to the Department of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology. Also in 1975 the Department of Public Health Practice was renamed the Department of Health Services Administration, chaired by Gordon K. MacLeod. In 1977 the Department of Occupational Health was renamed the Department of Industrial Environmental Health Services, chaired by Yves C.E. Alarie, later renamed to the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health. In 1989 a Department of Human Genetics was created, chaired by John J. Mulvihill, deriving from an earlier human genetics program. In 2002 the Department of Health Services Administration was split into the Department of Behavioral and Community Health Sciences, chaired by Robert Goodman, and the Department of Health Policy and Management, chaired by Judith R. Lave.

In 2022, the school launched an undergraduate program and was renamed to the School of Public Health.

Scope and Contents

These records were created or collected by the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health. Records date from across the school's history, from its formation into the 21st century; however, the earlier decades of its existence, especially the 1950s, are better documented here. Records derive from the dean, departments, and individual faculty, as well as material from outside the school. This includes correspondence, progress reports, strategic plans, meeting minutes, publications, and news articles. Records document various aspects of the school, including its establishment and grant funding by the A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust; the development of curricula and programs; research projects; committee meetings; the organization of schoolwide seminars; faculty hiring; and accreditation. Alongside paper material, there are photographs as well as audio and video recordings, in analogue and digital formats. There are no records from after the school was renamed in 2022 included here; any archival records deriving from after that date will be included in a separate collection.

Processing Information

This collection was processed by Ben Snyder in 2023 and 2024.

Preferred Citation

University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health Records, 1937-2018, UA.90.41, University Archives, Archives & Special Collections, University of Pittsburgh Library System

Acquisition Information

Transferred from the Graduate School of Public Health to the University Archives in 1997 and 2016.

Access Restrictions

Access to Box 10, Folder 51 requires a signed Confidentiality Agreement due to the presence of sensitive information and the material in this folder cannot be photographed.

Copyright

The University of Pittsburgh holds the property rights to the material in this collection, but the copyright may still be held by the original creator/author. Researchers are therefore advised to follow the regulations set forth in the U.S. Copyright Code when publishing, quoting, or reproducing material from this collection without the consent of the creator/author or that go beyond what is allowed by fair use.

Arrangement

These records are organized into the following series:

Series I. Historical Files

Series II. Reports and Strategic Plans

Series III. Committee Records

Series IV. Correspondence and Subject Files

Series V. Public Health Seminars

Series VI. Public Health Building

Series VII. Accreditation

Series VIII. Publications

Series IX. Publicity

Series X. Photos

Series XI. Audiovisual

Related Materials

Thomas Parran Papers, 1916-1962, UA.90.F14, University Archives, Archives & Special Collections, University of Pittsburgh Library System

Delta Omega Omicron Chapter Records, 1991-2008, UA.90.41.7, University Archives, Archives & Special Collections, University of Pittsburgh Library System

A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust Records, 1930-1980, AIS.1980.29, Archives & Special Collections, University of Pittsburgh Library System

Subjects

    Corporate Names

    • University of Pittsburgh. Graduate School of Public Health -- Records and correspondence
    • Association of Schools of Public Health -- Records and correspondence

    Personal Names

    • Parran, Thomas, Jr., 1892-1968
    • Crabtree, James A. (James Anderson), 1902-1966

    Genres

    • Administrative records
    • Lectures
    • Photographs
    • Articles
    • Correspondence

    Other Subjects

    • Universities and colleges -- Faculty -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh
    • Universities and colleges -- Records and correspondence
    • Schools of public health -- Faculty -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh
    • Schools of public health -- Records and correspondence
    • Public health -- Study and teaching -- Pennsylvania

Container List