Annabelle and C. Bernard Brack Collection

Biography

Biography: Annabelle Gleason Brack

Annabelle Gleason Brack was born in Belcher, Louisiana. She received a nursing diploma from the Johns Hopkins Hospital in January, 1930 (Class of 1929). Brack (nee Gleason) was appointed head nurse of the Johns Hopkins Hospital Women’s Clinic in 1930 before leaving for a position as chief nurse at the Notre Dame Bay Memorial Hospital in Twillingate, Newfoundland (1931-1932). She married C. Bernard Brack (JHUSOM Class of 1933) in Twillingate in July, 1932. Brack returned to Baltimore in 1932 and worked as a private duty nurse and as head nurse at the Johns Hopkins Hospital Henry Phipps Psychiatric Clinic during the next two decades. After her husband’s death in 1963, Brack worked at the Silver Hill Foundation in Connecticut (1964-1966). She returned to Baltimore in 1967 to work at the Phipps Psychiatric Clinic and retired in 1971.

Biography: C. Bernard Brack

Charles Bernard Brack was born in Baltimore, Maryland. He earned an A.B. from the Johns Hopkins University in 1929 and an M.D. from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1933. Brack completed all his post-graduate training at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in gynecology with a fellowship in pathology. He was appointed as a Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine instructor in gynecology in 1937, chief of the Gynecological Radium Clinic (1940-1947) and Cancer Detection Clinic (1947-1954). Brack opened a private practice at 11 E. Chase Street in 1938. He served during World War II with the 18th General Hospital, U.S.A., as chief of Urological Surgery from 1942 to 1945 and was discharged with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. He was promoted to Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine associate professor of gynecology in 1952, and was also associated with the other major Baltimore hospitals. Brack was chairman of the board of the American Cancer Society from 1956 to 1961 and its national director from 1954 to 1958. He was president of the Maryland Division of the American Cancer Society from 1951 to 1956 and from 1961 to 1963. He was president of the Maryland Obstetrical and Gynecological Society from 1954 to 1958.

Scope and Content

The Annabelle and C. Bernard Brack Collection includes correspondence, reports, memorabilia, photographs, and clippings, primarily about their experience assisting at Notre Dame Bay Memorial Hospital, Twillingate, Newfoundland in 1931-1932. A biographical sketch written by their son, William Brack describes that experience. Additional correspondence from Annabelle Brack to Milton Eisenhower and Barry Wood express her ardent support of a collegiate nursing program at Johns Hopkins University.

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