William Jefferson Darby Papers
Collection Scope and Content Summary
Dates
- 1944 - 2001
Creator
Notes about Access to this Collection
Reproduction Rights
Historical or Biographical Note
Dr. Darby, was born in Galloway, Arkansas, November 6, 1913. He graduated MD from the University of Arkansas, and then a fellowship took him to the University of Michigan where he obtained a Ph. D. degree in Biological Chemistry. Dr. Darby came to Vanderbilt in 1942 as a Special Fellow in Nutrition of the International Health Division of The Rockefeller Foundation. The following year he moved to North Carolina where he taught at Duke and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and served as Director of Nutrition for the State Board of Health. He returned to Vanderbilt in 1944 as Assistant Professor of Biochemistry and Medicine. Dr. Darby became chair of the Department of Biochemistry in 1949 and served in this position until 1971. Dr. Darby worked to obtain the outside funding that led to the establishment of the first separate identifiable nutrition unit in an American medical school. In 1972 William Darby was elected a member of the National Academy of Science and became President of the Nutrition Foundation.
Dr. Darby served as Honorary Curator for the History of Medicine Collection in the Eskind Library while in retirement. His passion for old books began in his graduate student days in the early 1940s. One of Dr. Darby's early and enduring collecting interests was the history of scurvy. Dr. Darby's research interests and his travels influenced his book collecting. As a result he collected works on nutritional problems such as goiter, anemia, protein deficiency, pellagra, and kwashiorkor.
For more information and pictures please see the VUMC Online Biography of William J. Darby or the Obituary of Dr. Darby in the VUMC Reporter.
Extent
102.69 Cubic Feet (80 Paige boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements note
Physical Location
Acquisition Information
Processing History
Creator
- Title
- William Jefferson Darby Papers
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- History of Medicine Collections Staff
- Date
- 2005-07-18
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- 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