Jack Hughes Oral History Interview, October 3-4, 2019

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Summary

Creator:
Hughes, Jack, 1919-
Abstract:
Dr. Jack Hughes, MD, served the Durham, North Carolina community in private urological practice from 1950 until his retirement in 1988. His work bridged his specialty in urological surgery with an interest in the medical science of stone disease. His clinical practice, research, and service to medical societies often involved collaborating with colleagues in academic medicine, especially at Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. This collection contains 1 oral history interview conducted on October 3 and 4, 2019 by Joseph O'Connell. The October 3 and 4, 2019 interview with Hughes moves more or less chronologically through Hughes' upbringing and education, his military service during World War II, his residency and training in Minnesota, and his experiences at the intersection of academic and private practice medical communities in Durham, North Carolina.
Extent:
1 Interview (1 transcript) and 1.04 GB
Language:
English
Collection ID:
OH.HUGHESJ

Background

Scope and content:

Includes 1 oral history interview with Dr. Jack Hughes. Conducted on October 3 and 4, 2019 by Joseph O'Connell.
The October 3 and 4, 2019 interview with Hughes moves more or less chronologically through Hughes' upbringing and education, his military service during World War II, his residency and training in Minnesota, and his experiences at the intersection of academic and private practice medical communities in Durham, North Carolina.

Hughes became known to the Archives through Duke professor and RNA researcher Jack Keene. Keene socializes with Hughes in the context of an investment club. The 75th anniversary of the D-Day landing, where Hughes served, and the approach of Hughes's 100th birthday prompted Keene to pursue oral history interviews with Hughes. Keene was present at the interviews and participated in posing questions to Hughes.

Biographical / historical:

Dr. Jack Hughes was born in November 1919 and grew up in Tabor City, a small community thirty miles from the southeastern North Carolina coast. After a difficult season growing strawberries on an acre of his father's land, a teenage Hughes turned his ambitions toward practicing medicine. At 15, he enrolled in the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He subsequently completed MD training at the University of Pennsylvania and an internship at the Medical College of Virginia.

In 1943, Hughes decided to forego further educational deferment and join the war effort. He enlisted in the Navy and served as the executive officer of a medical unit. During the D-Day landing at Normandy, Hughes and his unit cared for the wounded at Fox Red, one of the most embattled sites of the invasion. Hughes remained with the unit for six months, making a total of 28 round trips across the English Channel hauling troops and supplies.
For the remainder of the war, Hughes served the Dispensary for the Marine Corp Training Station at Parris Island, South Carolina, where he developed an interest in urological medicine. Acting as the hospital's venereal disease control officer, he fought the spread of diseases such as gonorrhea by means of education, routine checks, and treatment. After the war, Hughes followed this interests to Miller-Ancker Hospitals in Minnesota, where he completed a urology residency under Frederic Foley, one of the field's major figures.

In 1950, Hughes and his family returned to North Carolina, where he entered private urological practice in Durham until his retirement in 1988. His work bridged his specialty in urological surgery with an interest in the medical science of stone disease. His clinical practice, research, and service to medical societies often involved collaborating with colleagues in academic medicine, especially at Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

As a doctor, he served patients at Watts and Lincoln Hospitals. In this racially segregated hospital system, Hughes frequently saw African-American patients who traveled from eastern North Carolina to receive care. During his career, Hughes also took part in a transformation of Duke University's relationship to local private physicians and to the Durham community in general. Hughes helped span the town-gown gap by collaborating with Duke faculty on research projects and procuring university support for public health fairs. His work for community organizations and medical societies includes serving as secretary and president of the North Carolina Medical Society and a board member of the Durham anti-poverty program Operation Breakthrough.

Acquisition information:
Accession A2019.099 (transferred by Joseph O'Connell, November 2019)
Processing information:

Processed by Lucy Waldrop: November 2019

Arrangement:
Organized into the following series: Interview, October 3-4, 2019.
Rules or conventions:
DACS

Subjects

Click on terms below to find related finding aids on this site.

Personal Name(s):
Hughes, Jack, 1919-
Topical Term(s):
World War II.
Urology.
Sexually Transmitted Diseases.
Private Practice.

Contents

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Restrictions:

None.

Terms of access:

Copyright for Official University records is held by Duke University; all other copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred citation:

Jack Hughes Oral History Interview, Duke University Medical Center Archives.