O. Randolph Batson Collection
Content Description
Two boxes of slides and 35 mm films documenting clinical and teaching activities of Dr. Randy Batson (1916-2004). Dr. Batson served as Dean of Vanderbilt Medical School from 1963-1972 and Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs from 1972-1974.
The slides consist of mainly charts and figures, with some photographs of people. The films appear to be of pediatric patients. Subjects appear to be polio, birth defects, congenital amyotonia, fibrocystic disease, and other pediatric diseases. These materials appear to have been created in the 1950s.
Dates
- Majority of material found within 1950-1960
Conditions Governing Access
All collections are subject to applicable Vanderbilt privacy and confidentiality policies. Collection specific restrictions: No Restrictions.
Conditions Governing Use
Copyright is retained by History of Medicine Collections, Eskind Biomedical Library, Vanderbilt University
Biographical / Historical
Oscar Randolph Batson was born in 1916 in Jackson, Mississippi. He graduated from Vanderbilt in 1938 with a Bachelor's degree. While an undergraduate, he was elected president of the student body and president of his fraternity, Sigma Chi. His long-standing ambition was to become a physician, and he graduated MD from Vanderbilt in 1942. During World War II he served as a Captain in the Medical Corps in Europe. He spent the next thirty years at Vanderbilt, rising to Dean of the Medical School (1963-1972) and Vice Chancellor for Medical Affairs (1971-1974). His accomplishments at Vanderbilt were many. During the 1950s, he worked with polio patients and invented a portable respirator. He was considered an expert on the care of polio patients and wrote the definitive chaper on treatment of polio in 1957 for a standard text book. In the early 1960s Batson established a Center of Chronic Diseases of Childhood and obtained national funding for this center. In 1962 he led the effort to build the Round Wing addition, a revolutionary design and concept for hospitals. The Round Wing was the principal site for pediatric inpatients until the new hospital opened in 1980. Dr. Batson clearly had the idea of a pediatric hospital within a hospital and had fostered the necessary support of the Junior League and the Nashville community. In 1964, Dr. Batson directed the reorganization of the medical school curriculum. Dr. Batson was appointed Vanderbilt's first Vice-Chancellor for Medical Affairs, serving in this position from 1972-1974. In 1978 Batson left Vanderbilt to become director of the Charles Henderson Child Health Center in Troy, Alabama, where he established a clinic for better care of rural underprivileged children. Dr. Batson died on December 6, 2004.
Extent
2.57 Cubic Feet (Two Paige boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
Papers and materials beloging to Dr. Randolph Batson documenting his clinical and teaching activities of Dr. Randy Batson (1916-2004). Dr. Batson served as Dean of Vanderbilt Medical School from 1963-1972 and Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs from 1972-1974.
Physical Location
EBL Vault
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Materials were donated by the family of Randolph Batson July 26, 2018
Condition Description
The materials are in good to poor condition, with many glass slides cracked and most of the films with major deterioration, fading, and rust.
- Title
- O. Randolph Batson Collection
- Status
- Unprocessed
- Author
- EBL Special Collections Staff
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Description is in English.
Repository Details
Part of the Eskind Biomedical Library Manuscripts Collection Repository
Eskind Biomedical Library
2209 Garland Ave.
Nashville TN 37232
historyofmedicine@vanderbilt.edu