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Records of the Medical Mycology Laboratory, Department of Dermatology, Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center, and personal papers of Margarita Silva-Hutner, who was Director of the Laboratory, 1956-1981. Included are correspondence, annual reports, lectures, manuscripts of articles, and biographical materials
History and Biography
Margarita Silva-Hutner was born Nov. 28, 1915, in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico. After receiving her B.A. from the University of Puerto Rico in 1936, she worked for several years with Arturo L. Carrión at the Columbia University School of Tropical Medicine in San Juan. In the late 1940s she entered Harvard, doing graduate work in botany under William H. Weston. She received her doctorate in 1952.
Silva began working at the Mycology Laboratory as a Research Associate in 1950, becoming Director of the Laboratory and Assistant Professor of Dermatology in the College of Physicians & Surgeons in 1956. She was promoted to Associate Professor in 1963. Though Silva-Hutner retired in 1981, she remained on the faculty of P&S as a Special Lecturer into the late 1980s. In 1956 she married Seymour H. Hutner. She died in New York City, February 6, 2002.
Departmental History
The Mycology Laboratory of the Department of Dermatology was established in 1926 by J. Gardner Hopkins, Chairman of the department at Presbyterian Hospital and Professor at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. It was the first laboratory in the world exclusively devoted to the study of fungi pathogenic to animals and humans.
In 1929, a $50,000 grant from the Rockefeller Foundation enabled the lab to establish a training fellowship in medical mycology. Early recipients included such future leaders in the field as Arturo L. Carrión, Chester Emmons, Elizabeth L. Hazen, and Mary Ellen Hopper. The Laboratory established the first courses in medical mycology taught in the U.S. and throughout the lab's history, teaching has been a major component of its mission.
The Mycology Laboratory helped develop effective medications to treat fungal infections in American soldiers serving in the South Pacific during World War II. Elizabeth L. Hazen, while working in the Lab in the 1950s, discovered (with Rachel Brown) Nystatin, the first antibiotic to effectively treat fungal diseases.
In 1927, Hopkins hired Columbia botany graduate student, Rhoda Williams Benham (1894-1957), to be the Lab's first full-time mycologist. Benham eventually served as Laboratory Director before retiring in 1956. Margarita Silva-Hutner succeeded her and remained Director until 1981.
Organization
Organized in 9 series:
I. Historical/Biographical
II. General Correspondence
III. Subject Files
IV. Research Grants
V. Training Grants
VI. Teaching & Lectures
VII. Manuscripts
VIII. Professional Organizations
IX. Accession 2003.07.10.
The collection includes both the official records of the Mycology Laboratory of the Department of Dermatology at Columbia-Presbyterian and also personal papers of Silva-Hutner. They document both the Laboratory in particular and the field of medical mycology in general during the latter half of the 20th century.
Silva-Hutner's papers are not separate from the Lab records, but rather intermixed with them. They pertain entirely to her professional life. Researchers should be aware that Series IX, received after Silva-Hutner's death, covers many topics found in earlier series.
Series I. Historical/Biographical.
Included are histories of the Mycology Laboratory and figures associated with it, including Rhoda Williams Benham, Elizabeth L. Hazen, J. Gardner Hopkins, and others. Minutes of meetings (1982-83) of an unidentified group devoted to the history of medical mycology can be found in Box 1:1. There is also extensive material on Arturo L. Carrión, Silva-Hutner's early mentor, who taught at the Columbia University School of Tropical Medicine in Puerto Rico. Included is correspondence, 1948-1981, between Carrión and Silva-Hutner; reprints of Carrión's scientific publications, 1929-1969; and lecture notes.
Series II .General Correspondence.
Incoming correspondence from colleagues in academia and in the pharmaceutical industry; professional organizations; and government agencies. Silva-Hutner's outgoing responses are usually included. While there is correspondence with Columbia-Presbyterian figures, the bulk is from outside the Medical Center. Correspondence is organized alphabetically by correspondent's surname.
Series III. Subject Files.
Files relating to the daily administration of the Mycology Laboratory. Of particular interest are the Lab's annual reports for 1955-1981. They document each year's research work, publications, and personnel changes. Other topics include consultations the Laboratory did for hospitals, industry, and government; requests for cultures; and information on laboratory techniques.
Series IV. Research Grants.
Usually includes proposals, budgets, resumes of the investigators, progress reports, and correspondence with the granting agency. Much of the correspondence is with the Brown-Hazen Fund, which had been created to distribute the royalties from nystatin to support research and training in microbiology and biochemistry.
Series V. Training Grants.
Largely biographical material on and correspondence with the graduate level trainees who worked in the Medical Mycology Laboratory, 1950s-1970s. The correspondence often continues well after the trainees had finished their internship at the Lab.
Series VI. Teaching & Lectures.
The bulk of the series is made up of 22 lectures on medical mycology given, often multiple times, by Silva-Hutner from the 1950s into the 1980s. The lecture files sometimes contain the transcript of the lecture, but often include only rough notes, photocopies of relevant scientific literature, and photographs.
Series VII. Manuscripts.
Included are Silva-Hutner's comments on scientific articles as part of the peer-review process; her reviews of grant applications; and manuscripts of her own articles, talks, and book chapters. The files may often include correspondence with editors and collaborators.
Series VIII. Professional Organizations.
Correspondence, minutes, and publications of several professional organizations in which Silva-Hutner was active. Perhaps the most significant material relates to the founding of the Medical Mycological Society of the Americas (1966) in which Silva-Hutner played an active role. Other organizations for which records are present are the American Society for Microbiology (both the national organization and the New York City branch), and the Medical Mycology Society of New York.
Series IX. Accession 2003.07.10.
Papers received after Silva-Hutner’s death. Unlike the earlier accession, this addition largely documents Silva-Hutner’s career. The papers include biographical materials; professional correspondence; educational materials, especially student notebooks from her doctoral studies at Radcliffe/Harvard; laboratory manuals; a diary; her reprints and other publications; photographs; and diplomas and certificates. There is substantial correspondence with her two academic mentors, Arturo L. Carrión and William H. Weston, and additional biographical materials relating to Rhoda Williams Benham.
Subject Headings and Related Records
Administrative Information
Upon her retirement, Silva-Hutner took the records of her tenure as Laboratory Director home with her with the permission of the dermatology department. She continued to add to the collection, largely biographical and historical material relating to the Laboratory, and publications of professional organizations before donating it to Columbia in 1995 (acc.#95.12.01). Series IX was donated in 2003 by her son, Reed Hutner (acc. 2003.07.10).
Processed by Susie Box, 1996, and Stephen Novak, 2003. Finding aid written by Novak, 2003.