The University of Chicago Library > The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center > Finding Aids > Guide to the Edwin Oakes Jordan Papers 1888-1936
© 2006 University of Chicago Library
| Title: | Jordan, Edwin Oakes. Papers |
|---|---|
| Dates: | 1888-1936 |
| Size: | 2.5 linear ft. (5 boxes) |
| Repository: |
Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center |
| Abstract: | Edwin Oakes Jordan, bacteriologist. The papers contain correspondence, manuscripts, minutes, research reports, and student notes. The Papers document Jordan's career as a bacteriologist at the University of Chicago, contacts with professional colleagues and organizations, consulting work with public health boards and private companies. Major correspondents include Henry H. Donaldson, Isidore S. Falk, Ludvig Hektoen, William H. Welch, and W.M. Wheeler. Topics covered include food poisoning, milk-borne diseases, the American Red Cross and public health issues. |
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When quoting material from this collection, the preferred citation is: Jordan, Edwin Oakes. Papers, [Box #, Folder #], Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library
Edwin Oakes Jordan was born July 28, 1866, in Thomaston, Maine. His interest in bacteriology grew from his studies with William Thompson Sedgwick at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he received a B.S. degree in 1888. Although the work of Pasteur and Koch was well known in America by the time Jordan entered college, he was still among the first generation of students trained in the new science. Sedgwick, who became one of the foremost trainers of public health workers in the nation, had himself begun teaching the subject only a few years earlier. Jordan worked as chief assistant biologist for the Massachusetts State Board of Health from 1888 until 1890, when he received a fellowship at Clark University. Jordan studied zoology with Charles O. Whitman, and received a Ph.D. degree in 1892.
When Whitman left Clark for a professorship at the newly founded University of Chicago several of his students followed him there, including Jordan. Jordan began as an Instructor in Zoology. The courses he taught included general zoology as well as more specialized offerings such as "Sanitary Biology." As the department grew he was able to concentrate on his field of bacteriology. He was made an Assistant Professor in 1895, Associate Professor in 1900, and Professor of Bacteriology in 1907.
The increasing importance of the work of Jordan and others in his field is evidenced by the rapid growth of the department. In 1900, the Department of Pathology and Bacteriology was separated from Zoology, and in 1912 these two disciplines also split, Jordan becoming chairman of the new Department of Hygiene and Bacteriology. Jordan's department received its own quarters in Ricketts Laboratory in 1915. Much of Jordan's work in the 1890s and early 1900s focused on sewage and water treatment systems. His testimony in support of the Chicago drainage canal figured heavily in the lawsuits and controversy that surrounded its construction. He completed reports for several mid-western cities on related problems such as typhoid and milk-borne diseases. His studies in these areas extended beyond public health issues to "pure" bacteriological research. During World War I, he directed the American Red Cross railroad laboratory car "Lister," which traveled to various army camps in order to train technicians and control epidemics. Later Jordan became interested in food poisoning, and was hired as a consultant by several companies such as Swift and H. J. Heinz.
Jordan served as an editor of the Journal of Infectious Diseases and the Journal of Preventive Medicine. He wrote many books and articles, although he was probably most widely known for his textbook, General Bacteriology. First printed in 1908, it went through many editions in his lifetime, and after being updated by William Burrows continued to be published, reaching its 20th edition in 1973.
International health issues also received Jordan's attention. He was a member of the International Health Board of the Rockefeller Foundation from 1920 to 1927, and traveled abroad to study conditions in several countries including Argentina, Puerto Rico, Panama, and Jamaica.
Jordan married Elsie Fay Pratt in 1893, and they had three children.
Jordan retired from active teaching at the University of Chicago in 1933. He died September 2, 1936, in Lewiston, Maine.
The Edwin Oakes Jordan Papers contain correspondence, manuscripts, minutes, research reports, and student notes. The materials in the collection document Jordan's career as a bacteriologist at the University of Chicago, contacts with professional colleagues and organizations, consulting work with public health boards and private companies. Major correspondents include Henry H. Donaldson, Isidore S. Falk, Ludvig Hektoen, William H. Welch, and W.M. Wheeler. Topics covered include food poisoning, milk-borne diseases, the American Red Cross and public health issues.
| Box 1 Folder 1 | General correspondence, A-B |
| Box 1 Folder 2 | General correspondence, C-D |
| Box 1 Folder 3 | General correspondence, E-F |
| Box 1 Folder 4 | General correspondence, G |
| Box 1 Folder 5 | General correspondence, H |
| Box 1 Folder 6 | General correspondence, I-K |
| Box 1 Folder 7 | General correspondence, L-M |
| Box 1 Folder 8 | General correspondence, N-O |
| Box 1 Folder 9 | General correspondence, P-R |
| Box 1 Folder 10 | General correspondence, S |
| Box 1 Folder 11 | General correspondence, T-V |
| Box 1 Folder 12 | General correspondence, W-Z |
| Box 1 Folder 13 | General correspondence, unidentified |
| Box 2 Folder 1 | American Epidemiological Society |
| Box 2 Folder 2 | American Public Health Association, general |
| Box 2 Folder 3 | American Public Health Association, Committee on Standard Methods |
| Box 2 Folder 4 | American Red Cross, general |
| Box 2 Folder 5 | American Red Cross, Commission to Russia |
| Box 2 Folder 6 | American Red Cross, log of laboratory car "Lister" |
| Box 2 Folder 7 | American Telephone and Telegraph Company |
| Box 2 Folder 8 | Bacteriology, history |
| Box 2 Folder 9 | Board on Excreta Disposal |
| Box 2 Folder 10 | Canal Zone |
| Box 2 Folder 11 | Chicago Board of Health (Herman R. Bundesen) |
| Box 2 Folder 12 | Chicago Drainage Canal |
| Box 2 Folder 13 | City Club of Chicago, Public Health Committee, report of 1936 |
| Box 2 Folder 14 | Conference of Epidemiologists, Johns Hopkins University, 1927 |
| Box 3 Folder 1 | Food poisoning |
| Box 3 Folder 2 | General Bacteriology, notices, reviews, correspondence |
| Box 3 Folder 3 | Heinz, H. J., Company |
| Box 3 Folder 4 | Influenza |
| Box 3 Folder 5 | Influenza Commission, 1919-1921 |
| Box 3 Folder 6 | Jamaica |
| Box 3 Folder 7 | Journal of Preventive Medicine |
| Box 3 Folder 8 | Laboratory notes from class by Dr. Prudden, 1888 |
| Box 3 Folder 9 | Lecture notices |
| Box 3 Folder 10 | McCormick Institute for Infectious Diseases |
| Box 3 Folder 11 | Milk pasteurization |
| Box 3 Folder 12-13 | Milk-sickness |
| Box 3 Folder 14-15 | National Canners Association, correspondence |
| Box 4 Folder 1 | National Canners Association, food poisoning cases |
| Box 4 Folder 2 | The Newer Knowledge of Bacteriology and Immunology |
| Box 4 Folder 3 | Writings, 1889-1894
|
| Box 4 Folder 4 | Writings, 1912-1925
|
| Box 4 Folder 5 | Ozone |
| Box 4 Folder 6 | Pioneer in Public Health, notices, correspondence with Mary Sedgwick |
| Box 4 Folder 7 | Puerto Rico |
| Box 4 Folder 8 | Rockefeller Foundation, International Health Board |
| Box 4 Folder 9 | Rush Medical College |
| Box 4 Folder 10 | School diseases |
| Box 4 Folder 11 | School of Public Health (proposed) |
| Box 4 Folder 12 | Sedgwick, William T., biographical materials |
| Box 4 Folder 13 | Sedgwick, correspondence |
| Box 5 Folder 1-3 | Sedgwick, offprints |
| Box 5 Folder 4 | Sedgwick Memorial Lectures, correspondence, 1926-1928 |
| Box 5 Folder 5 | Sedgwick Memorial Lectures, printed copies, 1924-1928 |
| Box 5 Folder 6 | Sedgwick Memorial Medal |
| Box 5 Folder 7 | Society of American Bacteriologists |
| Box 5 Folder 8 | Swift and Company |
| Box 5 Folder 9 | University Club food poisoning, 1916 |
| Box 5 Folder 10 | University of Chicago, Committee on Hygiene and Sanitation |
| Box 5 Folder 11 | University of Chicago, Department of Hygiene and Bacteriology, correspondence |
| Box 5 Folder 12 | University of Chicago, Department of Hygiene and Bacteriology, history |
| Box 5 Folder 13 | University of Chicago, Department of Hygiene and Bacteriology, proposal for establishment |
| Box 5 Folder 14 | University of Chicago, miscellaneous |
| Box 5 Folder 15 | Water purification, lecture notes |
| Box 5 Folder 16 | Water supply, articles and notes |
| Box 5 Folder 17 | Waterworks in Europe, notes on visits, 1896 |
| Box 5 Folder 18 | Winter cholera |