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The Gelman papers contain extensive manuscript notes and printed material relating to Gelman's personal and family history; letters and holiday cards from alumni and professional colleagues; photographs; teaching materials for several epidemiology courses offered by the Mailman School of Public Health, sometimes in conjunction with the School of Nursing and the Schoolof Dental and Oral Surgery; clippings and reprints on a variety of epidemiological topics, including multiple articles on cholera and the work of John Snow; and reports, correspondence and reprints related to her own research in the areas of multi-phasic testing, tuberculosis and the epidemiology of drug addiction.
History and Biography
Anna Cheskis Gelman, a professor of epidemiology at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, was born in Boston, Massachusetts on August 30, 1911. She earned her AB from Hunter College in New York in 1932, and in 1934 was one of very few women to earn a Master of Public Health degree from MIT. Following her graduation from MIT, Gelman moved with her parents to Moscow in what was then the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), where she served as a research assistant to future Nobel Prize winner Herman J. Muller at the Institute of Genetics, Academy of Sciences of the USSR from 1934-1935 and to Eugene N. Pavlovksy at the Department of Medical Parasitology, All-Union Institute of Experimental Medicine from 1935-1937.
In 1938, in response to worsening conditions in the USSR, Gelman and her mother returned to the United States. Her father, who was not a US citizen, remained in the USSR. He was later arrested by the government, and died in a Soviet prison.
Meanwhile, after a brief period working as both a bacteriologist and a research assistant for institutions in Massachusetts, Gelman moved to New York and in 1941 began her career at the Columbia University School of Public Health, then known as the Delamar Institute of Public Health. She served as a research assistant from 1941-1943, an Instructor in Epidemiology from 1943-1958, and became an Assistant Professor in 1958. She served as the acting head of the department from 1972-1973, and retired in 1980. She was named Professor Emerita in 2000.
In addition to her teaching responsibilities, Gelman was active supporter of the Alumni Association of the Mailman School of Public Health, and maintained connections with students from around the world.
Outside of Columbia, Gelman participated in government and privately funded research projects in the areas of multi-phasic health testing/screening; the epidemiology of drug use in New York; the incidence of physicians reporting venereal disease, and the containment of tuberculosis on Long Island.
Gelman was married twice, first to Jacob Kling from approximately 1942 to 1946, and then to Murray Gelman from 1946 until his death in 1998. She died on February 3, 2005, on Bainbridge Island, Washington, survived by her extended family.
Organization
The papers are organized into three series, as follows:
I. Personal and genealogical papers
II. Mailman School of Public Health
III. Publications and other research.
The Gelman papers contain extensive manuscript notes and printed material relating to Gelman’s personal and family history; letters and holiday cards from alumni and professional colleagues; photographs; teaching materials for several epidemiology courses offered by the Mailman School of Public Health, sometimes in conjunction with the School of Nursing and the School of Dental and Oral Surgery; clippings and reprints on a variety of epidemiological topics, including multiple articles on cholera and the work of John Snow; and reports, correspondence and reprints related to her own research in the areas of multi-phasic testing, tuberculosis and the epidemiology of drug addiction.
Series I: Personal and genealogical papers.
Boxes 1-3
Personal correspondence; manuscript notes on personal and family history, including a account of Gelman’s time in Stalinist Russia, some with printed transcripts of the notes; extensive family correspondence with cousins, nieces and nephews, mostly regarding contributions she made to college funds for children; photographs; and a binder of material compiled for a 2001 family reunion, including a printed history of the Cheskis family, with notes and stories on significant individuals.
Sub-series 1.1: Family and personal history (1 box and 1 folder, .33 cu. feet)
Manuscript notes on topics of personal and family history, some with printed transcriptions; binder with printed material produced by Gelman and also other family members; datebooks and diaries from Gelman’s retirement years.
Sub-series 1.2: Personal correspondence (1.5 boxes, .44 cu. feet)
Letters from family remaining in the USSR regarding the fate of Gelman’s father, 1939; Christmas letters from a classmate of Gelman’s at MIT; and other personal correspondence, including extensive communications with cousins and children of cousins to whom she made significant donations in support of their education.
Sub-series 1.3: Murray Gelman (.5 boxes, 5 folders)
Records relating to the personal and professional life of Anna Gelman’s second husband, including a copy of their marriage license, 1946; Murray Gelman’s professional papers relating to his work at a vocational high school in Manhattan; manuscript notes made by Gelman documenting Murray Gelman’s treatment at Presbyterian Hospital following a severe accident in 1998.
Sub-series 1.4: Family photographs (3 folders)
Pictures of Gelman as well as family members; partially identified.
Series II: Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.
Box 4-28
Correspondence, notes and teaching materials spanning Gelman’s forty year career in the Department of Epidemiology at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.
Sub-series 2.1: Department of Epidemiology (.25 boxes, 9 folders)
Meeting minutes and correspondence related to the internal operations of the Department of Epidemiology of the Mailman School of Public Health.
Sub-series 2.2: Appointment/retirement papers and correspondence (.25 boxes, 7 folders)
Promotion letters and other official correspondence regarding Gelman’s association with the Mailman School of Public Health.
Sub-series 2.3: Correspondence and subject files (4.5 boxes, 1.25 cu. feet)
Sub-sub series 2.3.1: Correspondence (2.25 boxes, .70 cu. feet)
Professional correspondence and other materials on a variety of topics, including student recommendations, communications with professional bodies such as the American Public Health Association (APHA); Gelman’s several significant gifts to the Mailman School of Public Health, including a named professorship and a state of the art microbiology lab; and photographs.
Sub-sub series 2.3.2: Death file (.5 boxes, .17 cu. feet)
Obituaries for professional colleagues in Russia and at Columbia, personal and professional correspondence, lists of deceased friends and family members, and some reprints, originally found in a file labeled “People I used to know, some of which are now dead.”
Sub-sub series 2.3.3: Subject files (1 box, .33 cu. feet)
Manuscript notes from a variety of lectures, clippings, documents related to a streptococcus hemplyticus survey, book reviews, alumni profiles, and other materials generally related to epidemiology.
Sub-sub series 2.3.4: Photographs (2 folders)
A small number of photographs of Gelman teaching and performing other duties within the Department of Epidemiology, as well as some shots from her retirement party.
Sub-sub series 2.3.5 Gelman Professorship Album: (3 folders, 1 item)
Album of congratulatory letters to Gelman regarding establishment of the Gelman Professorship at the School of Public Health, 1998, as well as one folder of papers found loose in the album. Due to the nature of the album sleeves, the letters have been removed and housed in a folder.
Sub-series 2.4. Teaching materials and student work (10 boxes, 3.33 cu. feet)
Class and lecture syllabi, class exercises and reprints for courses in epidemiology, biostatistics, and special epidemiology classes offered at the School of Nursing and for dental hygienists; student-created charts and bibliographies for a wide range of diseases; and extensive notes, clippings, and reprints about cholera and John Snow’s work in identifying the source of a major outbreak of the disease in London, used to develop a class exercise.
Sub-series 2.5: School of Public Health Alumni Association (2 boxes, .66 cu. feet)
A small quantity of member correspondence, newsletters and meeting minutes for the Alumni Association; letters, postcards, holiday cards and some photographs from alumni around the world, 1940s - 1970s. Correspondence of note has been separated, and includes letters from Pakistan and Egypt in the 1950s, Beirut in 1961, and Haiti and Spain in the 1980s.
Series III: Publications and other research.
Boxes 28-32
Sub-series 3.1: Publications and research (1 box, .33 cu. feet)
Articles written by Gelman, 1939-1970; correspondence, committee minutes and reports for a narcotics study; correspondence and interim report for a research study of tuberculosis in Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island; correspondence and report for a research study of sources of morbidity in New York, paid for by the New York State Department of Health; notes, correspondence and report on the subject of preventative measure for health care organizations.
Sub-series 3.2: Multi-phasic screening / testing (2 boxes, .66 cu. feet)
Notes, offprints, clippings and correspondence on the subject of multi-phasic screening/testing, 1955-1990
Sub-series 3.3: Reprints and clippings (2 boxes, .66 cu. feet)
Scholarly and other articles, mostly on topics of epidemiological interest.
Subject Headings and Related Records
Administrative Information
Received from Barbara Aron, Administrator, Dept. of Epidemiology, School of Public Health. (Accession #2005.05.31)
Collection processed and finding aid written, July – October 2011, by Jennifer McGillan. Duplicates were removed and some reorganization was performed. Photographs that were actually on photographic paper segregated and sleeved; digitally printed images on printer paper retained in files.