The Civil Rights History Project: Survey of Collections and Repositories

Children's Hospital Archives oral history collection

Repository: Children's Hospital Boston Archives

Collection Description (CRHP): This collection includes an audio interview with Dr. Julius Richmond, who in the 1970s was Psychiatrist-in-Chief at Children's Hospital. Richmond worked in the 1960s in the Office of Economic Opportunity under Robert Sargent Shriver, Jr., and went on to become Surgeon General during the Carter administration. He was also the first director of the government's Head Start program (which he helped found in the 1960s). In the interview, Dr. Richmond briefly discusses his work in relation to the civil rights movement -- particularly in regard to access to health care, equal opportunity, and the influence of economic and other social factors on the physical and psychological health of children.

Collection Description (Extant): The Children's Hospital Archives Oral History Project was designed to enhance and humanize the Hospital's historical record, supplementing our archival collections with eyewitness accounts of the hospital's history. Oral histories provide insight into the evolution of both the hospital and the field of pediatrics that cannot be obtained from other sources. The Oral History Project captures stories from physicians, researchers, nurses, administrators, trustees and other non-clinical personnel. Potential interviewees are actively sought by the Archives Committee.

The Children's Hospital Archives Oral History Collection is comprised of audio recordings, transcripts and supporting documentation of each interview. These records were collected in two phases of the project. The first was completed in 1993 to commemorate the hospital's 125th anniversary. The second phase of the project began in 1999 and is ongoing; three to four oral histories are created per year and will be added to the collection as they are made available.

Access Copy Note: More recent interviews, including the interview with Dr. Richmond, are digital -- and most have been digitized.

Collection URL: http://www.childrenshospital.org/about/Site1394/mainpageS1394P89.html

Digital Status: Partial

Extent: audio cassettes; digital audio recordings; transcripts; manuscripts

Language: English

Related Archival Items: The archives does have photos of Dr. Richmond as part of its archival collections as well as a file containing information about Dr. Richmond, such as publications, clippings about him, correspondence, etc.

In the collections (including the oral history collection) of the Children's Hospital Boston Archives, there are occasional references to life at Children's Hospital Boston during the civil rights movement. However, most of these references are only in passing. The collections, of course, deal primarily with the history of the Hospital itself, including official records of departments and such.

Interviewees: Julius Richmond

Rights (Extant): Some restrictions may apply. Contact Hospital Archivist for details.

Subjects:

Head Start Program (U.S.)
Johnson, Lyndon B. (Lyndon Baines), 1908-1973
Medical care
United States. Office of Economic Opportunity

Genres:

Interviews
Manuscripts
Photographs
Sound recordings
Transcripts