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Minutes of the Committee on Medical Research of the Office of Scientific Research and Development of the United States

Notifications

Held at: Historical Medical Library of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia [Contact Us]19 S. 22nd Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103

This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Historical Medical Library of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.

Overview and metadata sections

Call Number:
MSS 1/003-01
Repository:
Historical Medical Library of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia
Extent:
1 volume
Language:
English
Date:
1944-1946 (inclusive)
Creator:
United States. Office of Scientific Research and Development. ‎Committee on Medical Research‏
Form:
Minutes
Abstract:

The Committee on Medical Research of the U.S. Government's Office of Scientific Research and Development was established on 28 June 1941. It was charged with organizing civilian personnel for research on medical problems of military importance during World War II, particularly problems concerning aviation medicine, antimalarial drugs, and penicillin. Specifically, the committee allotted and supervised government research contracts with universities, hospitals, and other organizations. The chairman of the Committee on Medical Research was Alfred N. Richards, and the committee itself was composed of four presidential appointees and one appointee each from the Secretaries of War and the Navy and the Administrator of the Federal Security Agency.

The committee was first convened on 31 July 1941 and met generally on a weekly basis until the end of the war. It then met infrequently until its final adjournment on 20 January 1947. At the end of the war, many of the committee's contracts were transferred to the Public Health Service, appropriate divisions of the armed forces, or private research groups.

The volume (disbound) contains copies of the minutes with related correspondence of the Committee on Medical Research of the Office of Scientific Research and Development, 1944 Sept. 21-1946 Sept. 27-28, documenting the committee's work through the end of World War II and its demobilization. Included is a list of the committee's resolutions, 19411945. The minutes bear occasional holograph notes written by its chairman, Alfred N. Richards.

Responsibilities and concerns of the committee which are treated in the minutes include: recommendations to fund, terminate, or transfer government research contracts; approval or classification of publications derived from contract projects; and the transition from wartime to peacetime research, including plans for an organization to succeed the Committee on Medical Research. Principal subjects in the minutes are: aviation medicine; the development and uses of penicillin and antimalarial drugs;jconsiderations of volunteer human subjects in antimalarial drug experiments; and the exchange of biomedical information with English and Soviet researchers.

The minutes of the U.S. Office of Scientific Research and Development's Committee on Medical Research were donated to the Historical Collections of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia by the Medical Library of the University of Pennsylvania on 24 October 1973.

The volume was disbound and catalogued in 1991.

Subject

Publisher
Historical Medical Library of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia

Collection Inventory

1. 94th meeting, 21 September 1944.
Box 1 Folder 1
2. 95th meeting, 05 October 1944.
Box 1 Folder 2
3. 96th meeting, 19 October 1944.
Box 1 Folder 3
4. 97th meeting, 09 November 1944.
Box 1 Folder 4
5. 98th meeting, 23 November 1944.
Box 1 Folder 5
6. 99th meeting, 01 December 1944.
Box 1 Folder 6
7. 100th meeting, 07 December 1944.
Box 1 Folder 7
8. 101st meeting, 21 December 1944.
Box 1 Folder 8
9. 102nd meeting, 04 January 1945.
Box 1 Folder 9
10. 103rd meeting, 18 January 1945.
Box 1 Folder 10
11. 104th meeting, 01 February 1945.
Box 1 Folder 11
12. 105th meeting, 15 February 1945.
Box 1 Folder 12
13. 106th meeting, 01 March 1945.
Box 1 Folder 13
14. 107th meeting, 15 March 1945.
Box 1 Folder 14
15. 108th meeting, 16 March 1945.
Box 1 Folder 15
16. 109th meeting, 05 April 1945.
Box 1 Folder 16
17. 110th meeting, 12 April 1945.
Box 1 Folder 17
18. 111th meeting, 19 April 1945.
Box 1 Folder 18
19. 112th meeting, 03 May 1945.
Box 1 Folder 19
20. 113th meeting, 17 May 1945.
Box 1 Folder 20
21. 114th meeting, 31 May 1945.
Box 1 Folder 21
22. 115th meeting, 07 June 1945.
Box 1 Folder 22
23. 116th meeting, 21 June 1945.
Box 1 Folder 23
24. 117th meeting, 12 July 1945.
Box 1 Folder 24
25. 118th meeting, 16 August 1945.
Box 1 Folder 25
26. 119th meeting, 6 September 1945.
Box 1 Folder 26
27. 120th meeting, 11 October 1945.
Box 1 Folder 27
28. 121st meeting, 29 November 1945.
Box 1 Folder 28
29. 122nd meeting, 17 January 1946.
Box 1 Folder 29
30. 123rd meeting, 21 March 1946.
Box 1 Folder 30
31. 124th meeting, 21 June 1946.
Box 1 Folder 31
32. 125th meeting, 27-28 September 1946.
Box 1 Folder 32
33. Resolutions adopted by the Committee on Medical Research, 1941-1945.
Box 1 Folder 33

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