Category: AHC documents

History does not necessarily have to be about people who are no longer around. The Academic Health Center History Project has an oral historian, Dominique Tobbell. Since 2009, Dr. Tobbell has conducted interviews with many of the prominent people of the Academic Health Center from the past century. Here in University Archives, we have finally uploaded the first batch of oral histories she conducted to the University Digital Conservancy. Getting people's recollections and perceptions first hand makes history seem more tangible. If you have a few moments, browsing the recently uploaded oral histories is something worth doing.

In 1954 the University of Minnesota began a partnership with Seoul National University to provide technical and advisory support for educational programs and administrative organization in a variety of disciplines including medicine, nursing, public health, and veterinary medicine. The project with Seoul National University ran for seven years until 1961.

The College of Veterinary Medicine at Seoul National University shares an anniversary date with the U of M's College of Veterinary Medicine - 1947. During the period of the University's work at SNU, John Arnold, professor and head of veterinary surgery and radiology at Minnesota, served as an advisor to the veterinary college and produced a set of recommendations in his final report in 1961. That report is now available in the University Digital Conservancy.

The report provides not only a description of the program and its growth, but also a first-hand account of Prof. Arnold's observations about the changing political structure in Korea and their direct influence on an academic institution.

After his work in Korea, Prof. Arnold continued to be active in international veterinary education. He worked as a consultant at the National University in Bogota, Columbia and hosted visiting veterinarian professors from Iran in the early 1970s.

Read his final report for the SNU project below.

In the fall of 1964, University of Minnesota president, O. Meredith Wilson, appointed a long-range planning committee for the planned physical expansion of the health sciences to correspond with a Board of Regents review of the current health workforce sponsored by the Hill Foundation. Often referred to as the "Learn Committee" in reference to its chair, Elmer Learn, the Committee for the Study of Physical Facilities for the Health Sciences completed its work by 1968 after issuing a three-part report titled "Future Planning for the Health Sciences."

Although these two events are viewed as the beginning of the expansion of health education and facilities on campus, there are clues that the preparation for their work began a few years earlier.

In 1962 a gathering of data about existing facilities used for health science education and research occurred. It is unclear from the documents who gathered the information or to whom it was directed, but they prove to be interesting none the less.

The first document below lists all buildings associated with medical education at the University of Minnesota. The list is divided into two sections; first the "Old Medical Group," an area on campus situated just south of the Pleasant St. loop and second, the "New Medical Group," an area south of Washington Ave and still home to a large majority of health sciences facilities. The list also includes building dates and changes to the building names over the years.