Material is unprocessed; contact hslarchives@columbia.edu for more information.
Preliminary box list available in Archives & Special Collections.
Because the papers include Confidential Health Information (CHI) as defined by Columbia University policies governing data security and privacy, access is allowed only under the terms of Archives and Special Collections' Access Policy to Records Containing Confidential Health Information.
Access to records of fellows and laboratory staff is restricted.
Correspondence; records of fellows and laboratory staff; subject files; manuscripts of papers and lectures; and printed material documenting the career of Robert B. Mellins, a leader in pediatric pulmonology and an authority on childhood asthma.
History and Biography
Robert B. Mellins was a leader in the field of pediatric pulmonology and an internationally recognized authority on childhood asthma. He established and was first director of the Division of Pediatric Pulmonology at the Babies Hospital of the Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center. Mellins was educated at Columbia (1948) and the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine (M.D. 1952) and was on the faculty of the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons from 1957 until his death. Mellins served as president of the American Thoracic Society and of the Fleischner Society and as vice-president of the American Lung Association. He received numerous awards and honors for his work. He died in New York City on December 12, 2012 aged 84.
Organization
Correspondence with colleagues both at Columbia and elsewhere; records of fellows and laboratory staff in the Division of Pediatric Pulmonology; subject files; manuscripts of lectures and papers; and printed material. Most of the correspondents were either involved in the field of pediatric pulmonology, especially as it related to asthma, or were colleagues at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center. Subject files document his work in lead poisoning research in Chicago in the 1950s, and his involvement with the American Lung Association, American Thoracic Society, Babies Hospital Alumni Association, and the Fleischner Society.
Subject Headings and Related Records
Administrative Information
Gift of Robert B. Mellins (accession #2012.011) and Claude Ann Mellins, 2016-2017 (accessions #2016.008; #2017.005).