Papers

The Center for the History of Medicine holds the papers of Mary Ellen Avery. The Mary Ellen Avery Papers, 1929-2002, consist of personal and professional correspondence, teaching materials, professional activities records, grant records, articles and drafts, lectures and speeches, diaries, photographs, and other records from Avery's life and career as a pediatrician in: Boston, Massachusetts; Montreal, Quebec; and Baltimore, Maryland and as a professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School. Correspondence includes letters of recommendation, reports from meetings, and committee and travel correspondence. Professional records consist of correspondence, reports, patient records, notes, newspaper clippings, committee materials, and other records chronicling Avery’s involvement and interactions with professional organizations, committees, publications, and institutions, including the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Joint Program in Neonatology, the American Pediatric Society, and Physicians for Social Responsibility. Professional records also contain correspondence and reports from the Joint Program in Neonatology, Children’s Hospital, Boston, Montreal Children’s Hospital, and Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore. Grants records consist of applications, renewal forms, correspondence, budgets, reports, and other materials related to grants from the National Institutes of Health and Specialized Centers of Research that Avery was involved with, as well as correspondence with the National Tuberculosis Association. Lectures and teaching records contain speech drafts, correspondence, syllabi, and notes from Avery’s travels around the world as a guest lecturer and as a professor at Harvard Medical School. Writings and subject files consist of drafts and reprints of writings by Avery on such topics as respiratory distress syndrome, hyaline membrane disease, bronchopulmonary dysplasia, and oral rehydration. Personal records include diaries, calendars, photographs, and certificates and awards.

The finding aid for this collection is available through OASIS.

For more on Mary Ellen Avery, check out the exhibit Mary Ellen Avery: Highlights from Her Collection.