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Warren Palmer Dearing Papers

 Collection
Identifier: MS C 278

Abstract

Correspondence, documents, reports, and printed matter. Papers on a variety of subjects relating to public health, health education, medical administration, federal health legislation, and civil defense.

Dates

  • 1943-1971

Extent

7.14 Linear Feet (17 MS boxes)

Creator

Physical Location

Materials stored onsite. History of Medicine Division. National Library of Medicine

Language of Materials

Collection materials primarily in English

Restrictions

Collection is not restricted. Contact the Reference Staff for information regarding access.

Copyright and Re-use Information

Donor's copyrights were transferred to the public domain. Archival collections often contain mixed copyrights; while NLM is the owner of the physical items, permission to examine collection materials is not an authorization to publish. These materials are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study. It is the user's responsibility to research and understand any applicable copyright and re-publication rights not allowed by fair use. NLM does not grant permissions to publish. Contact the Reference Staff for details regarding rights.

Privacy Information

Archives and manuscript collections may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations. Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in any collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications for which the National Library of Medicine assumes no responsibility.

Biographical Note

Dr. Ward Dearing was born in Iowa in 1905 and raised in Omak, Washington. He received his BA with high honors from the State College of Washington in 1927, and received his M.D. cum laude from Harvard Medical School in 1931. For the next three years, he served on the faculty of the Department of Preventive Medicine and the School of Public Health as Assistant in Epidemiology. In 1934, he joined the Public Health Service, including nine years as Deputy Surgeon General. He was also appointed Chief of the U.S. delegation to the 14th Pan American Sanitary Congress (1954), served as U.S. representative to the NATO Medical Committee, and named by President Lyndon Johnson to the Consumer Advisory Council (1965).

After leaving goverment service in 1961, he became a consultant to the Group Health Association. He retired in 1971 as the GHA's Executive Director.

Brief Chronology
  • 1934-1941 Hospital Service and epidemiological studies on poliomyelitis and tuberculosis
  • 1941-1944 Asst. and later Chief Medical Officer, Office of Civilian Defense; repsonsible for establishing a system of medical care for civilians injured or otherwise in need through enemy action
  • 1944-1945 Chief, Health Personnel, U.N. Relief and Rehabilitation Agency, Mediterranean theater
  • 1945-1946 Asst. Chief, Division of Public Health Methods; staff work on medical care studies and legislation, including President Truman's first social security health proposals
  • 1946-1948 Chief, Division of Commissioned Officers, Public Health Service
  • 1948-1957 Deputy Surgeon General with major activities in medical education, medical care planning and administration
  • 1957-1961 Director of Health Services, Office of Civil and Defense Modilization; responsible for health manpower and other planning for limited or full military mobilization

Other affiliations

  1. Member, Founders Group of the American Board of Preventive Medicine
  2. Fellow, American Public Health Association
  3. Former member, House of Delegates, American Medical Association
  4. Member, Subcommittee on Medical Care, American Public Health Association
  5. Member, American Society for Public Administration
  6. Former member, Board of Directors, National Society for the Prevention of Blindness

Collection Summary

Correspondence, documents, reports, and printed matter. Papers on a variety of subjects relating to public health, health education, medical administration, federal health legislation, and civil defense.

Includes correspondence from Dean A. Clark, James M. Mackintosh, and David D. Rutstein.

Abstract

Correspondence, documents, reports, and printed matter. Papers on a variety of subjects relating to public health, health education, medical administration, federal health legislation, and civil defense.

Physical Location

Materials stored onsite. History of Medicine Division. National Library of Medicine

Provenance

Acquired from W. Palmer Dearing, 1973.

General

Processed by
HMD Staff
Encoded by
Dan Jenkins
Title
Finding Aid to the Warren Palmer Dearing Papers1943-1971
Status
Unverified Partial Draft
Author
HMD Staff
Date
2000
Language of description
English
Script of description
Code for undetermined script
Language of description note
Finding aid is written in English
Edition statement
Version 1.0

Collecting Area Details

Part of the Archives and Modern Manuscripts Collection Collecting Area

Contact:
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Bldg 38/1E-21, MSC 3819
Bethesda MD 20894 US
1-888-FINDNLM (1-888-346-3656)