Chesney Archives
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Biography

Alan Mason Chesney was born in Baltimore. He received his A.B. in 1908 from the Johns Hopkins University and his M.D. in 1912 from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. After serving in the Medical Corps of the U. S. Army during World War I and working as head of the infectious disease division of the department of medicine at Washington University in St. Louis, Chesney returned to Johns Hopkins in 1921 to direct the newly formed syphilis division. His studies in syphilis have influenced all subsequent studies in the area. He became dean of the school of medicine in 1929, serving for twenty-four years. While dean, he began working on a three-volume history, The Johns Hopkins Hospital and the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine: A Chronicle. Chesney’s efforts to preserve the early records that he located in his research resulted in the establishment in 1978 of the archives which bears his name.

Scope and Content

The Alan Mason Chesney Collection spans his entire life. Series include personal and professional correspondence, reprints, research notes from Chesney’s history of Johns Hopkins, publication announcements, biographical information, records from the Committee on Research in Syphilis, and photographs. Additional Chesney material can be found in the records of the office of the Dean of the School of Medicine

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