Suggested Research Topics - Education of the General Public Regarding Medicine, Hygiene, and Public Health
In the first three decades of the twentieth century the medical profession was coming to grips with the concurrent revolutions in medical knowledge and communication. Breakthroughs in understanding regarding the etiology of disease, diet and nutrition, hygiene and health had advanced medicine to the threshold of science. Doctors were gaining confidence that they could prevent disease and preserve health. The advances in communication were grounded in the First World War as improvements in mass communication (especially print and film) media were turned to the task of focusing the American public on winning the war. Add to this the advent in the 1920s of the radio and advertising industries and the groundwork seemed well laid for a program of mass education on matters of health. Problems remained for doctors for as medicine became more scientific and professional, it became more difficult for the lay public to grasp intuitively. The medical profession had to design a medical education program that balanced fair representation of medical science with a message that was accessible to the general public.
Who in the medical profession took it on themselves to educate the lay public? How did they frame their message? How high/fast did they pitch the science? (Was it "dummied down" for mass consumption?) How well do doctors handle the shift in communication media from print to the visual media (film)? and to the new verbal media (radio and phonograph)? Does the media dictate the message? Given that U-M was a medical research center, an institution dedicated to education, and (ostensibly) committed to public service, how well does the U-M do in educating the general public on medical, hygienic, and public health matters?
Examples of Primary Source Collections and Other Resources:
- U-M Medical School, see Victor Vaughan correspondence in boxes 32-35.
- John Sundwall, boxes 1-3.
- William DeKleine, box 1.
- Washtenaw County Medical Society, box 4.
- Royal S. Copeland, see correspondence in boxes 17-19; pamphlets in box 28.
- John H. Kellogg, see correspondence in box 1; Speeches and lecture materials in boxes 3-10; Scrapbooks in boxes 13-14; Pamphlets listed separately under Kellogg and Battle Creek Sanitarium in the printed works catalog.
In an effort to encourage creative thinking about possible research topics for students unfamiliar with archives and their inevitable complexities, archivists and student employees of the Bentley Historical Library have authored "suggested research topics ." The purpose of these is not to define a topic but rather to stimulate thinking about a topic where the holdings of the Bentley Library are particularly strong.