Diaries, reprints of scientific articles, photographs, genealogical material, certificates, and awards. The bulk of the papers consists of the diaries Jolliffe kept intermittently from 1935 to a few months before his death. While they primarily record his research at Bellevue Hospital and, later, at the New York City Dept. of Health, the diaries cover a wide range of personal and professional matters.
Of particular interest is his record of a European trip made in 1937 to study alcoholism research for the Rockefeller Foundation. He also kept a diary during two visits to Newfoundland in 1944 and 1948 while conducting a survey of nutritional needs for its government. Other items of interest are photographs and newspaper clippings documenting Jolliffe's work for the Cuban government in 1955-56; and letters written by him and his wife during a professional trip and vacation to East Asia (primarily Taiwan), India, and Europe in 1954-55
History and Biography
Norman Jolliffe, physician and public health official, was born August 18, 1901 in Knob Fork, West Virginia. He obtained his B.S. from the University of West Virginia in 1923 and received his medical degree from New York University in 1926.
After an internship and residency in the Third (NYU) Medical Division of Bellevue Hospital, Jolliffe joined the faculty of the New York University School of Medicine. He also served as Chief of Medical Service of Bellevue's Psychiatric Division from 1932 to 1946. Jolliffe taught at the Columbia University School of Public Health from 1945 until his death and rose to become an Associate Professor of Nutrition. He established the first Nutrition Clinic of the New York City Department of Health in 1945 and was Director of the department's Bureau of Nutrition from 1949 to 1961.
Jolliffe was among a number of physicians whose research into alcoholism in the 1930s helped shift the American perception of this condition from a "temperance" to a "disease" model. His work on obesity, appetite and the role of cholesterol in heart disease in the 1940s and '50s was also highly important and foreshadowed the widespread American concern with weight loss that greatly intensified in the last quarter of the 20th century.
While head of the Bureau of Nutrition, Jolliffe established the "Anti-Coronary Club," a group of businessmen in their 40s and 50s who were put on a diet of cold cereal, margarine, chicken and fish in an attempt to reduce their cholesterol. While the results and meaning of this experiment are still disputed, it marked a significant step in identifying a high cholesterol diet as a cause of heart disease.
Besides over a hundred scientific articles, Jolliffe was author of Reduce and Stay Reduced (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1952; 2nd ed., 1957), a popular guide to dieting. He was also editor of Clinical Nutrition (1950), published for the Food and Nutrition Board of the National Research Council.
Jolliffe was first married to Edna Suddaby Jolliffe. They had one child before her sudden death in 1938. The next year Jolliffe married Lillian Lebowitz. He died August 1, 1961 survived by his wife and son.
Organization
The Jolliffe papers include diaries, reprints of scientific articles, photographs, genealogical material, certificates, and awards. The bulk is comprised of the diaries Jolliffe kept intermittently from 1935 to a few months before his death. While primarily a record of his research interests and his activities first at Bellevue and later at the New York City Department of Health, the diaries cover a wide range of personal and professional matters. Jolliffe comments on medical lectures and professional meetings; movies and plays; his family; politics; his own health (especially his diabetes and, later in life, his deteriorating eyesight); the sales of his popular diet book; travels; the activities of the "Anti-Coronary Club;" his finances; and his work with foreign governments as an expert on nutrition.
Of particular interest is his record of a European trip made in 1937 to study alcoholism research for the Rockefeller Foundation. Jolliffe consulted numerous experts in the British Isles and Scandinavia and also visited Berlin, Vienna, Budapest, Zurich, Paris and Amsterdam. He also kept a diary during two visits to Newfoundland in 1944 and 1948 while conducting a survey of nutritional needs for its government.
Other items of interest are photographs and newspaper clippings documenting Jolliffe's work for the Cuban government in 1955-56 (Box 2:7); and letters written by him and his wife during a professional trip and vacation to East Asia (primarily Taiwan), India and Europe in 1954-55 (Box 2:8).
In addition, there are three boxes of slides. One includes 53 glass slides, mostly of charts and graphs, that appear to be from one of Jolliffe's Newfoundland surveys. The two other boxes contain 2" x 2" film slides. One is a set of images of nutritional diseases published by the Clay-Adams Co. of New York for which Jolliffe served as consultant. The other holds about 45 images of dining facilities including industrial plant cafeterias, diners and restaurants and domestic kitchens. Several are dated 1942.
| Box | Folder | Contents |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Diary, August 12 - December 27, 1944; August 9 - September 1, 1948: Jolliffe's trips to Newfoundland to conduct medical survey of nutrition |
| 2-3 | Diary, January 22 - September 16, 1958; October 1, 1960 - April 15, 1961: includes use copy on acid-free paper and original | |
| 4 | Notebooks: drafts of letters, etc., ca. 1960 (2 v.) | |
| Loose in box: | Diaries: February 18, 1935 - July 22, 1937; June 14, 1938 - Dec. 28, 1939 (1 v.); August 17, 1951 - January 21, 1958 (16 v., spiral stenographer's notebooks, numbered 2-17) | |
| 2 | 1 | Certificates, licenses, awards, 1930s-1950s |
| 2 | "The Clinical Signs of Malnutrition," by Jolliffe, Tisdall and Cannon, 1950: includes illustrations | |
| 3 | Ephemera: Christmas cards, Braille alphabet | |
| 4 | Genealogical materials, Jolliffe and related families | |
| 5 | Medical presentations: "Restoration to flour of vitamins and minerals removed in processing," (Nov. 7, 1940, New York Academy of Medicine); "Recent advances in vitamin B-complex therapy," undated | |
| 6 | National Vitamin Foundation: Tribute to Jolliffe, 1959 (bound volume) | |
| 7 | "Nutritional Status Survey of the Population of Cuba," January 1956: newsclippings from Cuban publications; photos of Jolliffe receiving the Finlay Medal | |
| 8 | Trip to East Asia, India and Europe, 1954-1955: mimeographed letters from Norman and Lillian Jolliffe | |
| 9 | Williams-Waterman Fund: Memorial statement upon Jolliffe's death, 1961 (bound volume) | |
| 10 | Photographs | |
| 3 | Loose in box: | "Studies of the Third (New York University) Medical Division" [Bellevue Hospital], July 1928-July 1937 (3 volumes) |
| Reprints of Jolliffe's scientific papers, 1930-1963 (5 volumes) | ||
| Jolliffe, Hylton George. The Jolliffes of Staffordshire and Their Descendants down to the Year 1835: compiled from Family Papers and other Sources. (London and Aylesbury: Privately printed by Hazell, Watson and Viney, 1892) | ||
| 1 microfilm roll of genealogical material on the Jolliffe family | ||
| In Map Case 2, drawer 9: | 1 folder of certificates and awards. | |
| Shelved separately: | 3 boxes of slides. | |
Subject Headings and Related Records
Administrative Information
Unknown (acc. #2004.01.08).
Papers processed and finding written by Stephen E. Novak, January 2004