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Subgroup II - Medical and Natural Sciences Program

Subgroup II, Medical and Natural Sciences Program, has been arranged in three series:

1. Series I - Administrative Files
2. Series II - All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS)
3. Series III - Virus Research Center, Poona

Series I, Administrative Files, dates from 1935, the year in which the RF began operations in New dehli. Annual reports (1935-1973) from the RF's Representative in New dehli to the Government of India provide valuable summaries of work in progress and identify current office staff. In their correspondence (1957-1958), John C. Bugher, Director (1955-1959) of MEPH, and John M. Weir, Assoc. Director (1955-1959), discuss the desirability of combining the medical and agricultural programs in one New dehli office. Other correspondents include LeRoy R. Allen, Representative in India and Consultant to the AIIMS (1960-1967), and Lucien A. Gregg, Adviser to the Director of the AIIMS (1958-1962).

Files in Series II, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, relate to three cooperative programs of the AIIMS: the Comprehensive Rural Health Services Project at Ballabhgarh (1960-1973), the joint Harvard-AIIMS project to study health and population pressures in rural communities (1966-1967), and a staff exchange program with the Massachusetts General Hospital (1962, 1964-1967), which was never implemented. The Ballabhgarh project is the most fully documented. This was a cooperative program of the AIIMS, the Government of Hariana, and the RF, which sought to build and operate rural health centers and conduct family planning studies. LeRoy R. Allen served as Project Director. Files include data on family planning (1965-1967), site plans for hospital construction (1964-1965), budget summaries (1964-1968), and correspondence with temporary field staff.

Early in 1951, a Virus Research Center was established in Poona in cooperation with the Indian Council of Medical Research. Files (1951-1970) retained by the New dehli office document the center's establishment, administration, and research program. They are located in Series III and alphabetically arranged by subject.

In October 1951, Dr. J. Austin Kerr arrived to organize and direct the Virus Research Center. Kerr's correspondence and that of his successor, Telford H. Work, is filed under "Director's office correspondence." This correspondence fills nine folders and is arranged in groupings designated by the field office: New York office, New dehli office, Indian Council of Medical Research, and colleagues in India. Files include both incoming and outgoing correspondence with these other offices and individuals.

Research centered on the identification and isolation of Indian viruses transmitted by blood-sucking arthropods. Files relating to individual viruses are arranged by virus name. Interim activity reports (1952-1957) provide information on ongoing virus work. The Calcutta School of Tropical Medicine and the Indian Veterinary Research Institute at Izatnagar participated in the research effort; correspondence between Poona and these institutions is filed at the end of Series III.

Series I - Administrative Files, 1935-1973 (.4 cubic feet)
Box 138

989 - Annual reports (to Government of India), 1935-1973
Correspondence, 1949-1971
990-991 - Fellowships, 1949-1967
992 - General policy, 1950-1966
993 - Grants-in-Aid, 1950, 1953, 1956-1958, 1960-1962, 1964-1966
994 - Health minister, 1954-1960
995 - Import regulations, 1961-1962
996 - Office establishment (joint IAP/MNS), 1957-1958
997 - Program development, 1950-1960

998 - Program development, 1961-1963
999 - Staff assignments (Allen, LeRoy R.), 1960-1971
1000 - Staff assignments (Gregg, Lucien A.), 1957-1962

1001-1002 - General correspondence, 1957-1964
Ballabhgarh Rural Health Centers, 1960-1973
1003-1007 - General, 1960-1973
1008 - Architectural services, 1968-1970

1009-1012 - Budgets and budget summaries, 1964-1968
1013 - Family planning studies, 1965-1967
1014 - Hospital construction, 1969-1970
1015 - Project staff, 1965-1967
Site plans, 1964-1965, n.d. - See below, Box 142, Oversize
1016 - Supplies and equipment, 1967-1969
1017-1018 - Harvard-AIIMS population studies, 1966-1967
1019 - Massachusetts General Hospital-AIIMS project, 1962, 1964-1967

1020-1021 - Post-graduate nursing course, 1960-1961, 1965-1968
1022-1023 - Review committee, 1964-1965

1024-1027 - Site plans (blue prints), 1964-1965, n.d.

Administrative correspondence, 1951-1965
1028-1029 - Establishment and organization, 1951-1953
1030-1031 - General, 1952-1957, 1959-1966
1032 - Arms and ammunition imports, 1959-1960
1033 - Bank accounts and expenditures, 1955-1958
1034-1035 - Budgetary matters, 1951-1960
1036 - Buildings and grounds, 1951-1955
1037 - Equipment (general), 1951-1955

1038 - Equipment (general), 1956-1959
1039 - Equipment (donations), 1967-1970
1040 - Equipment (library), 1959-1960
1041 - Equipment inventories, 1952-1957
1042 - Insurance coverage, 1951, 1954-1955, 1957
1043 - Public Law 480 funds, 1962-1965
1044-1046 - Staff recruitment, 1951-1955, 1962-1965
1047-1049 - Director's office correspondence (New York office), 1951-1958

1050-1052 - Director's office correspondence (New dehli office), 1952-1968
1053 - Director's office correspondence (Indian Council of Medical Research), 1953-1959
1054-1055 - Director's office correspondence (colleagues in India), 1952-1958
1056-1057 - Interim activity reports, 1952-1957
1058-1059 - Property lists, 1967

Virus diseases (draft reports and correspondence)
1060 - Diabetes Insipidus, 1952-1954
1061 - Encephalitis Vellore, 1955-1956
1062 - Encephalitis, Viral, 1952-1953, 1957-1958
1063-1065 - Jamshedpur Fever, 1954-1955
1066 - Poliomyelitis, 1952, 1955
1067 - "Q" fever, 1952-1954
1068 - Taxonomy of culicifacies, 1952
1069-1071 - Kyasanoor Forest disease, 1957-1958
1072 - Yellow fever, 1951-1952, 1954-1955

Virus research (participating institutions), 1951-1955
1073 - Calcutta School of Tropical Medicine, 1951, 1953-1954
1074 - Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izatnagar, 1952-1955