The bulk of this collection consists of Wise's correspondence from the 1950s to the 1990s. It also contains a few added biographical items, reprints, research on the Magee Professorship, newspaper clippings, photographs, diplomas, and certificates.
The collection is organized chronologically within individual series. Items have largely been kept in their original order with the folder titles Wise assigned. Date ranges for foldered material has been added. Since the collection follows Wise's organization, many of the series contain items that could be added to other series. For example, within the correspondence files there are items that can be classified as addresses, events and ephemera, photographs, newspaper clippings, manuscripts, and notes. However, since they are within folders that contain primarily correspondence and represent Wise's original order, their placement has been maintained.
This collection also contains three folders of restricted material.
Robert Irby Wise was born May 19, 1915 in Barstow, Texas. He received his B.A. in 1937 from the University of Texas and his M.S. in 1938 and PhD in 1942 from the University of Illinois. Wise then worked as the Director of the regional Public Health Laboratories of the Texas State Department of Health in Houston and Wichita Falls for one year before becoming an Associate Professor of Bacteriology at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, where he also received his M.D in 1950. The following year he held an internship at the U.S. Public Health Service Hospital in New Orleans. He then began working at the University of Minnesota Hospital, first in the Department of Infectious Diseases and then as Assistant Professor of Medicine, Assistant Professor of Bacteriology, and Director of the Bacteriological Laboratories studying staphylococcal diseases. Wise came to Jefferson Medical College in 1955, and in 1959 he was appointed the Magee Professor and Chair of the Department of Medicine, a position he held until his retirement in 1975. He would go on to become the chief of staff at the Veterans Medical Center in Togus, Maine until 1984. He died June 15, 2011.
I. Biography (1959-2011)
II. Addresses (1960-1987)
III. Correspondence (1934-2009)
A. Professional (1938-1998)
B. Speaking engagements (1954-1974)
C. Personal (1934-2009)
D. Dr. Wesley W. Spink (1946-2004)
E. Professional organizations (1957-1994)
F. Regarding the collection (2005)
IV. Publications (1942-1989)
V. Manuscripts (1963-1996)
VI. University of Minnesota Hospital (1952-1962)
VII. Jefferson Hospital (1958-1982)
VIII. Jefferson History (1945-1998)
IX. Brucellosis Technical Commission (1947-1984)
X. Legal (1959-1975)
XI. Images (1951-1985)
XII. Newspaper Clippings (1970-1995)
XIII. Events and Ephemera (1965-1984)
XIV. Certificates (1938-2001)
XV. Awards (1969)
Robert I. Wise Papers, MS-088. Thomas Jefferson University - Archives and Special Collections.
Robert I. Wise Papers, MS-088. Thomas Jefferson University - Archives and Special Collections. http://aisrmedia1.jefferson.edu:81/repositories/2/resources/54 Accessed May 14, 2024.