The medical records in box 3, folder 11 include Protected Health Information (PHI) as defined by the US Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Access is allowed only under the terms of Archives and Special Collections’ Access Policy to Records Containing Protected Health Information.
The papers consist of speeches (mostly on medical education), lecture notes, correspondence, publications, college and graduate school class notes, yearbooks, diplomas, and photographs relating largely to Severinghaus's professional career as an anatomist and medical educator. Many of the records relate to his work on a national survey of pre-professional medical education in the early 1950s sponsored by the John and Mary R. Markle Foundation. Another significant body of records documents Severinghaus's time at the Peking Union Medical College. Included are correspondence, lecture notes and other educational records, printed material, and financial records.
History and Biography
Aura E. Severinghaus, anatomist and medical educator, was born May 5, 1894 in Jeffersonville, Indiana, the son of Charles E. Severinghaus, a Methodist minister, and his wife, Henrietta Mock Severinghaus, a musician. He attended the University of Wisconsin before transferring to Columbia College where he received his B.S. in 1916. He remained at Columbia to earn his Ph.D. in Anatomy in 1927, studying with Edmund B. Wilson.
From 1920-26 he was assistant professor of biology at the Peking Union Medical College in China where he also served as dean of the premedical school, 1923-1925. He returned to the U.S. in 1926 and joined the faculty of the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons (P&S) as an instructor in the Anatomy Department. There he did important research with Philip E. Smith on the pituitary and thyroid glands and was one of five scientists chosen to represent the United States at the First International Congress on the Endocrine Glands held in Paris in 1939.
Severinghaus became assistant dean in medicine in 1942 and associate dean in 1945. About the same time he was named chairman of the Committee on Instruction and of the Committee on Admissions. He retained all these positions until his retirement in 1963. During those years Severinghaus came to know virtually every P&S student and he was instrumental in developing the College's student activities group, the P&S Club, into an extensive student-oriented program under a full-time director. He was named emeritus associate dean upon his retirement in 1963 and received the college's highest tribute, the Distinguished Service Award in 1974. He died April 7, 1979.
Organization
Organized in seven series:
I. Addresses & speeches
II. Medical lecture notes
III. Peking University/Peking Union Medical College
IV. Correspondence & subject files
V. Student notes
VI. Awards & Photographs
VII. Oversize material.
The papers consist of speeches (mostly on medical education), lecture notes, correspondence, publications, class notes, yearbooks, diplomas, and photographs. Almost all of the material relates to Severinghaus's professional life.
There is much relating to his work on a three-year national survey of pre-professional medical education sponsored by the John and Mary R. Markle Foundation. It resulted in the publication of Preparation for Medical Education in the Liberal Arts College (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1953) co-authored with Harry J. Carman, the dean of Columbia College, and William E. Cadbury, Jr., of Haverford College. Many of the speeches and articles in this collection relate to this study and there is correspondence documenting its publication (Box 3:8) and reception (Box 3:10).
Another significant body of records documents Severinghaus's time at the Peking Union Medical College. Included are correspondence, lecture notes and other educational records, printed material, and financial records (Box 2).