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Experiences as a 1948 graduate of the Duke University School of Nursing.

This oral history interview was conducted with Jessie Parker Smith on June 13, 2022 by Patara Williams and transcribed by Josephine McRobbie. Smith's daughter, LaHoma Romocki, was also part of the conversation, and the interview was attended by Heather Lowe (Duke University) and Josephine McRobbie (audio engineer contractor).

Duration: 02:13:12

During the interview, Smith discusses the Durham School of Practical Nursing; African American nurses at Lincoln and Duke Hospitals; experiences interacting with white and Black colleagues; segregation of Duke Hospital facilities and the treatment of white patients; integration of Duke Hospital; care of Black patients with specialty care concerns at Duke Hospital; Smith's work in surgical, thoracic, cardiac, and other units; changes to services at hospitals over time; social activities organized by nurses like bowling, baseball, fashion shows, and racquetball; professional development activities and association; changes in nursing dress codes related to race; meeting her husband, Rev. Dr. Adolphus Smith in Duke Hospital; integration of UNC Hospitals; relationships with physicians and other colleagues, as well as Smith's friendship with LPN Louise Prince; Smith's experiences and perspectives of working as a nurse in regards to patient care; Smith's work with the North Carolina Licensed Practical Nurses Association; caring for her husband during illness; the work and culture of Licensed Practical Nursing throughout Smith's career; and administrative aspects of working for Duke such as the performance evaluation system. The themes of this interview include nursing, racial integration in healthcare, and professional development. Digital files include interview metadata and transcript (PDF), interview with stereo (WAV), interview with mono (MP3), consent form (PDF), consent form addendum (MSG), and TXT files.

Rice Diet; Dr. Walter Kempner; Dr. Newborg's career.

Subjects in this interview include: psychiatry; Duke University Department of Psychiatry chair, his relocation to the South; Dr. Ewald W. Busse; family; Highland Hospital; Durham County Regional Hospital; Veterans Affairs Hospital (Durham, N.C.); John Umstead Hospital; child psychiatry program; departmental research; grants; American Psychiatric Association; American Psychological Association; Bill Bevan; prescribing privileges; chancellorship of Duke University; Terry Sanford; presidency of Duke University; relationship between medical center and university; Levine Science Research Center; regulation of medical center under presidency; Dr. William Anlyan; Dr. Ralph Snyderman; medicine and business; drug testing; continued interest in psychiatry; changes in psychiatry; changes in Duke University; students; transition to new leadership.

This oral history interview was conducted with Dr. Andrew S. Wechsler on June 18, 2019 by Emily Stewart as part of the Dr. David Sabiston Oral History Project.

Duration: 00:57:53

During the interview, Wechsler discusses his early life, education, decision to enter the medical profession, decision to switch from cardiology to cardiac surgery, experiences with Sabiston as a resident and faculty member at Duke, what is was like to move from the North to the South in the seventies, Sabiston's rigid but principled manner, experiences offered to him because of Sabiston's support, reestablishing the cardiac surgery program at the Durham VA, leaving Duke to become a professor and chair in the Department of Surgery at the Medical College of Virginia, and other memories of Sabiston and his wife, Aggie. Digital files include transcript (.DOCX), interview (.WAV), and consent form (.PDF).

This oral history interview was conducted with Dr. Sheila J. Counce-Nicklas on June 21, 2007 by Jessica Roseberry.
Duration: 1:46:03
Dr. Counce-Nicklas discusses her background; her love of science and of learning; her interest in how things work; her Fulbright scholarship to Edinburgh; her professor suggesting she get a PhD instead of diploma at Edinburgh; studying sex-linked lethal chromosomes in fruit flies; the advantage of being a female in working with males; asking for a promotion in the Duke Department of Anatomy; her reputation in Europe; coming to Duke; other women at Duke: Dr. Lois Pounds, Dr. Jo Rae Wright, Dr. Nell Cant, Dr. Rebecca H. Buckley; women during the time period of late 1960s and early 1970s; the necessity of self-assurance for these women; her husband's work in Duke's Department of Zoology; being the lone woman in the department; not being treated much differently; her continued research on sex-linked lethal chromosomes in fruit flies; this research not enabling her to see the way that the sexes develop, as she had hoped; Duke's increasing emphasis on competing in the research arena; changes in the Department of Anatomy; her research being rewarding; her major contribution as being a two-volume work on insect development; her reputation in Europe as an important factor in her promotion; support from colleagues; the solitary nature of working in the laboratory; the work of other members of the department; teaching; Dr. Montrose Moses; service on Academic Council; the necessity of fairness in appointments; mentors; mentorship; the freedom to explore in her work at Duke; the necessity of grants in research; sharing the workload at home with her husband, Bruce Nicklas; the Promotions and Tenure Committee; the move in the field toward cell and molecular biology; the change in the Department of Anatomy under a new chair; Duke's academic reputation; the increase in the number of women since she first arrived; women in the basic sciences; and being outspoken. The transcription of this interview was made possible by a grant from the Josiah Charles Trent Memorial Foundation. Includes 2 master CDs, 2 use CDs, and a transcript.

Dr. Hammond discusses the history of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Duke University including faculty, divisions, facilities, research, fellowships and resident education, relocations, his goals as chair of department, National Institutes of Health funding, changes in ease of funding since becoming chair. He also discusses colleague Dr. F. Bayard "Nick" Carter and Dr. Robert Ross; birth of his own children at Duke; family atmosphere of department; rural 'Outrider' program; Lincoln Hospital; Watts Hospital; racial integration of Duke Hospital; Carter Club; Raleigh Community Hospital; feminist movement; changing gender makeup of the department; generational differences in practitioners; patient acceptance of both genders in physicians; humanism in student education; changing technology in the field; personal research experiences; flexible nature of obstetrics and gynecology; pride in Duke Medical Center; and medical liability.