Repository Guide to the Personal Papers Collections of
Alan Mason Chesney Medical Archives
Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions

The Helen B. Taussig Collection

 

Helen B. Taussig by Yousuf Karsh©; black and white photograph, 40 by 30 inches, 1975.

 

 

Collection Summary 

Creator
Taussig, Helen Brooke

Dates
24 May 1898-20 May 1986

Institutional Affiliation(s)
Johns Hopkins Hospital
1927-1963

Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
1930-1986 

Date Range of Collection
1928-1986

Volume of Collection
132 linear feet

 

 

Biography

Helen B. Taussig was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She received her A.B. in 1921 from the University of California and her M.D. in 1927 from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She served as an Archibald Fellow in Medicine at Johns Hopkins and worked at the heart station from 1927 until 1928. From 1928 until 1930, she interned in pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. In 1930, Edwards Park appointed Taussig physician-in-charge of the Harriet Lane Cardiac Clinic, a position she held until 1963. She also served on the faculty of the school of medicine from 1930 until 1963, when she became professor emeritus of pediatrics. Taussig was a pioneer in the diagnosis and treatment of congenital heart disease. She helped to develop the surgical procedure commonly known as the "blue baby" operation and discovered the teratological effects of the drug thalidomide when administered to pregnant women. 

Scope and Content

The Helen B. Taussig Collection spans her entire career at Johns Hopkins and documents her varied professional and personal activities. Professional materials include correspondence, grant records, manuscripts, notes, patient records, and research materials relating to tetralogy of Fallot patients and their long-term follow-up. Personal materials include awards, biographical material, correspondence, manuscripts, photographs, and scrapbooks. The collection documents Taussig's activities as a national leader in promoting health care issues and her support of a wide range of social causes, including her successful campaign in the early 1960's to ban the use of thalidomide by pregnant women.


Additional Information about the Collection

An unpublished inventory is available for this collection at the Archives. A Web-based exhibit on the "blue baby" operation contains further information about the development of the procedure and Taussig's role.


Policy on Access and Use

This collection may contain some restricted records. Materials pertaining to patients, students, employees, and human research subjects, as well as unprocessed collections and recent administrative records, carry restrictions on access. For more information about the policies and procedures for access, see Policy on Access and Use.


Permissions and Credits

When citing material from this collection, credit The Alan Mason Chesney Medical Archives of The Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions. For permission to reproduce images, contact the holder of the copyright.

For permissions contact:
archives@jhmi.edu
 


Copyright © 1999

The copyright to the entire content of this guide, including text, image source files, HTML and SGML source codes, and presentation, is owned by The Johns Hopkins Health System and The Johns Hopkins University.  All rights reserved. 
 

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