Charles W. Shilling Papers, 1932-1994

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Summary

Creator:
Shilling, Charles W. (Charles Wesley)
Abstract:
Contains the personal and professional papers of Charles W. Shilling (1901-1994), a physician, a leader in the field of undersea and hyperbaric medicine, research, education, and former Captain of the Medical Corps with the United States Navy. This collection contains correspondence, notes, photographs, a scrapbook, a transcript, speeches, awards, addresses, clippings, pamphlets, plaques, certificates, and a mug. Major subjects include the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society, diving, hyperbaric oxygenation, United States Atomic Energy Commission, and U.S. Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery. Materials range in date from 1932 to 1994.
Extent:
5 Linear Feet (2 cartons, 3 manuscript boxes, 1 flat box) and 1 artifact
Language:
English
Collection ID:
MC.0101

Background

Scope and content:

Contains the personal and professional papers of Charles W. Shilling, a physician, a leader in the field of undersea and hyperbaric medicine, research, education, and former Captain of the Medical Corps with the United States Navy. Includes work reports, time logs, handwritten notes, diary entries, and brief writings pertaining to the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine Society (UHMS formerly known as the Undersea Medical Society), letters to and from Shilling regarding professional society membership and activities, correspondence, diagrams, research in the field of hyperbaric medicine, work in progress, appointments, congratulations, job offers, evaluations of current technologies, writings by Shilling and in cooperation with others, articles and reports concerning Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society projects, other publications by Shilling, reviews, opinions, collaborative efforts with various governmental and private organizations, awards, photographs, speeches, an interview transcript, addresses, appointment notifications, clippings, a scrapbook album, pamphlets, plaques, certificates, photographs, and a mug. Major subjects reflected in this series include the role of research, medical librarianship, naval hospitals, hyperbaric medicine, psychology and psychiatry, biological warfare, and naval vessels. Materials range in date from 1932 to 1994.

Biographical / historical:

Charles Wesley Shilling was born September 21, 1901 in Upland, Indiana on the campus of Taylor University where his father was President. He received a B.S. degree from Taylor University in 1923 and a B.A. degree from the University of Michigan in 1923. In 1927 he received his M.D. from the University of Michigan. He interned at Chelsea Naval Hospital and took graduate courses at the Harvard School of Public Health.
Shilling was a leader in the field of undersea diving and hyperbaric research and education. He studied, researched, and published on a variety of topics including submarine and deep sea diving, life in confined spaces, radiation biology, and atmospheric medicine. Shilling was widely recognized as an expert on naval medicine, submarine capabilities, and deep sea diving.
Shilling was a captain of the Medical Corps with the United States Navy, a senior medical officer, and the head of the Department of Hygiene at the Office of Naval Research. In 1939, he was the Senior Medical Officer in the rescue of personnel from the submarine U.S.S. Squalus that sank off the coast of New Hampshire. He served as deputy director, Division of Biology and Medicine, U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (1955-1960); and director of the Biology Science Community Project at George Washington University (1960-1973).
During his career, he was a member of the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine, the American Physiological Society, the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States, the Aerospace Medical Association, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Sigma Xi, and served as Executive Secretary of the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society in 1973.
Among many awards and honors, Shilling received, the Founders Medal from the Association of Military Surgeons for work in diving medicine (1953); the Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Michigan (1959); the Golden Cross of the Order of the Phoenix from the Greek Government for creating a method of radiation sterilization of a fly, a technique which helped save the Greek olive crop (1960); Alumnus of the Year from Taylor University (1960); the NOGI Award from the Academy of Underwater Arts and Sciences (1979); the Chamber of Achievement Award from Taylor University (1980); the Florida Underwater Council Service Award (1980); the Smithsonian Science Information Exchange Award (1980); the Schiffahrtmedizinsches Institut Der Marine Award (1980); and the Excellence in Diving Medal Award (1982), formerly known as the Craig Hoffman Memorial / Charles W. Shilling Award. In 1954, Dr. Shilling received an honorary Doctorate of Science from Taylor University.
Shilling and his wife, Mariam T. Shilling had two children: Charles and Charlotte. He died on December 23, 1994 in Fredericksburg, Virginia. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery with his wife Miriam who died in 1993.

Acquisition information:
Accession A2005.063 (gift, December 2005), Accession A2006.035 (gift, February 2006), Accession A2007.013 (transferred, January 2007), Accession A2010.049 (transferred, August 2010), Accession A2012.016 (gift, February 2012), Accession A2017.052 (transferred by Russell Koonts, December 2017)
Processing information:

Processed by Emily Glenn: June 2006; encoded by Emily Glenn: June 2006; updated by Lucy Waldrop: January 2020

Arrangement:
Organized into the following series: Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine Files, 1973-1988; Correspondence, 1943-1987; Writings, 1936-1987; Biographic Materials, Awards, and Photographs, 1932-1994; Unprocessed Papers, 1944-1985. There is unprocessed material within this collection. Researchers should note that unprocessed material might overlap with/or relate to material found in other processed series. In order to locate all relevant material within this collection, researchers will need to consult each series described in the Series Scope and Contents section.
Physical location:
For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Duke University Medical Center Library's online catalog.
Rules or conventions:
DACS

Contents

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Restrictions:

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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:

[Identification of item], Charles W. Shilling Papers, Duke University Medical Center Archives.