Collections

Highland Hospital was a premiere residential psychiatric hospital located in Asheville, North Carolina, owned and operated by Duke University from 1944 to 1980. The bulk of the collection contains records pertaining to the acquisition, administration, expansion of the hospital in the mid-twentieth century, and the sale of the facility in 1980. This includes agreements, annual reports, architectural plans, appraisals, audits, brochures, budgets, clippings, correspondence, data on lawsuits resulting from fire and accident, deeds, fiscal reports, insurance papers, minutes, monthly statements, newsletters, photographs, programs, publications, reports, as well as sale and lease papers. Major subjects in this collection include A. S. Brower, Robert S. Carroll, R. Charman Carroll, and the Duke University Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. Also includes a small amount of notebooks with nursing lecture notes. The materials date from 1906 to 1981 with the majority of the records including the period between 1939 to 1957 and 1978 to 1980.

Albert Behnke, a physician and captain in the United States Navy; pioneered the development of body composition assessment through the study of elite athletes; member of the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society. Collection contains correspondence, reports, committee materials, text of speeches and lectures, presentation notes, manuscript materials, research files, reprints, and grant files. Major subjects include diving, decompression, diving physiology, and body composition. Materials range in date from 1906 to 1997.

Contains the personal papers of Bruce Wayne Dixon (1939-2013), former Duke Internal Medicine chief resident, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine professor, head of the Allegheny County Health Department, and community health expert. Types of materials include photographs, memorials and tributes, articles, a silver bowl awarded to Dixon at Duke for teaching excellence, and other types of materials documenting his career in medicine. Materials date from 1906 to 2013.

Watts Hospital, located in Durham, North Carolina, was the city's first hospital. It was funded by George W. Watts and opened in 1895 as a private 22-bed, modern hospital, dedicated to the care of Durham's white citizens. African American citizens were cared for at Lincoln Hospital, which opened in 1901. By 1909, Watts Hospital's 22-bed facility was too small for a fast growing Durham, and a newer facility was built on 25 acres at the intersection of Club Boulevard and Board Street. This is where the hospital remained until it closed in 1976 when it merged with Lincoln Hospital when Durham County General Hospital (now Duke Regional Hospital) opened. The grounds and buildings of the hospital's 1909 campus were converted into the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, which opened in 1980. Types of materials hospital ledgers documenting births and expenses. Materials date from 1909 to 1940.

Contains the personal and professional papers of Frederic Moir Hanes (1883-1946), pathologist, neurologist, and chair of the Department of Medicine at Duke University. Types of materials include correspondence, reprints, writings, budgets, minutes, scrapbooks, and memoranda. Major subjects include the Hanes Fund, Duke University School of Medicine, Department of Pathology, Department of Medicine, study and teaching of medicine in North Carolina, physicians, pathology, and the Sarah P. Duke Gardens. Materials range in date from 1909 to 1967.

Contains the personal and professional papers of Dr. Eleanor Beamer Easley, MD (1907-1998), a doctor of obstetrics and gynecology who practiced in Durham, North Carolina. Easley was the first female graduate of Duke University School of Medicine's first four-year class. In 1941, Easley helped co-found the Durham Women's Clinic. Types of materials include notes from talks and presentations, writings, meeting minutes, agendas, articles, reports, photographs, correspondence, memberships, degrees, awards, and clippings. Major subjects include Durham, North Carolina; nursing; obstetrics and gynecology; women physicians; women's health; and Watts Hospital. Materials range in date from 1910 to 2004.

Contains the professional and personal papers of Roger Denio Baker (1902-1994), an original faculty member at the Duke University School of Medicine and professor of pathology. Types of materials include journals, diaries, day planners, manuscripts, drafts, reprints, correspondence, photographs, notes, bound volumes, lab notebooks, brochures, clippings, certificates, correspondence, newsletters, sketches, and programs pertaining to Baker's education, teaching, and research. Materials date from 1912 to 1993.

Deputy Head of the Division of Environmental Stress, Naval Medical Research Center, United States; member of the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society.

The Department of Biochemistry was established in 1930, making it one of the original departments of the Duke University School of Medicine. Chairs of the department include William A. Perlzweig, Philip Handler, Robert Hill, Christian R. H. Raetz, interim chair Peter Agre, interim chair Kenneth Kreuzer, and Richard G. Brennan. This collection contains general correspondence from the Department of Biochemistry, index cards containing student information, long range plans, artwork, framed images, and publications by W.A. Perlzweig, Phillip Handler, and other authors. Materials range in date from 1930 to 2004, with the bulk of material dating between 1930 and 1975.

Contains the personal and professional papers of Onyekwere E. Akwari (1942-2019), the first African-American surgeon on the faculty of Duke University. Types of materials include correspondence, pamphlets, programs, financial information, calendars, datebooks, identification cards, passports and visas, applications, memorabilia, printed materials, a yearbook, certificates, building plans, cassette tapes, CDs, DVDs, U-Matic video cassettes, 16mm film reels, certificates, notes, meeting minutes and agendas, funeral programs and obituaries, photographs, newspaper clippings, publications, reprints, textiles, artifacts, scrapbooks, binders, transcripts, and electronic records pertaining to Akwari's personal and professional interests and activities. Major subjects include the Society of Black American Surgeons (SBAS) and St. Titus Episcopal Church (Durham, N.C.). Materials date from 1914 to 2021.