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The Department of Physical Therapy at Duke University was established by Helen Kaiser in 1943. In 1970, the program began awarding a Master of Science degree. In 2000, the department transferred from offering a master's degree to offering a Doctor of Physical Therapy degree. The collection contains photographs, faculty-student picnic invitations, anniversary buttons, and graduation programs. The photographs include images of students, facilities, and faculty, including Helen Kaiser. The buttons are from the 50th (1993) and 60th (2003) anniversaries of the program. Materials range in date from 1942 to 2006.

The Doctor of Physical Therapy program at Duke University began as a post-baccalaureate certificate program originally offered by the School of Medicine in 1943. Helen L. Kaiser was brought on by Dr. Lenox Baker to help establish the program and serve as the first Director of Physical Therapy and Associate Professor of Physical Therapy. The program was officially elevated to a Master of Science degree in 1970. In 1998, the Physical Therapy course was lengthened to three years and the Master of Science degree was replaced by the Doctor of Physical Therapy. This collection contains planning files, schedules, syllabi, correspondence, budget records, meeting agendas and notes, research, calendars, admissions policies and statistics, survey results, grading policies, meeting minutes, student handbooks, booklets, student and alumni publications, newsletters, studies, reprints, transcripts, questionnaire results, presentation and lecture materials, audiovisual recordings of events, interviews, anniversary projects, orientation and graduation materials, blank copies of examinations, on-site evaluations, outcome assessments, site team responses, and photographic materials pertaining to the graduate program in Physical Therapy at Duke. Major subjects include courses, ongoing curriculum development, national accreditation, faculty records, publications, and papers collected by department chair Robert Bartlett for the graduate program in physical therapy at Duke University. Materials range in date from 1920 to 2018.

Helen Kaiser (1900-1988), was a professor and the first Director of Physical Therapy at Duke. She was also an active member of the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA), serving as President of APTA from 1938 to 1940 and member of the Board of Directors from 1926 to 1930 and 1940 to 1946. This collection contains professional writings produced and collected by Kaiser over the course of her career and course materials compiled during Kaiser's time as a Professor of Physical Therapy at Duke. Other materials include correspondence, booklets, pamphlets, articles, committee and meeting minutes, reports, course descriptions and evaluations, floorplans, blueprints, grant files, photographic materials, and a scrapbook pertaining to Kaiser's time as the Director of Physical Therapy at Duke, as well as her personal life. Materials range in date from 1903 to 2005, with the bulk of the material dating from 1912 to 1988.

This collection was created to house artifacts and other Duke Health memorabilia. The materials in this collection are from numerous other collections held by the Duke University Medical Center Archives. Includes various artifacts documenting Duke Health. Materials date from 1955 to 2024, but the bulk of the items are undated.