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Health/PAC records
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This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Temple University Libraries Special Collections Research Center. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
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The Health Policy Advisory Center, or Health/PAC, was established in New York City in 1968, quickly becoming “…an important and formative influence on the health movement in the late 1960s and early 1970s” (Hoffman, p. 160). It grew out of the Institute of Policy Study’s 1967 “Burlage Report” on health policy and New York City’s municipal hospitals, which exposed how private sector “medical empires” benefitted from policies supposedly created in the public sector’s interests. Health/PAC was headed by Robb Burlage, who wrote the “Burlage Report,” and Maxine Kenny, and received funding from the Samuel Rubin Foundation.
Health/PAC, whose staff included a combination of physicians, urban planners, urban health economists and medical students, researched and analyzed the health care system in New York and beyond. It argued for decentralized, community planning and health care facilities and, at different times, worked closely with community groups, doctors and nurses to help bring about change and equity in health care. The organization published its research findings in a variety of pamphlets, brochures and special reports, and two books: The American Health Empire (1971) and Prognosis Negative (1976). Beginning in June 1968, Health/PAC regularly published its newsletter, The Bulletin. In addition, to help spread its message, Health/PAC hosted workshops and seminars, and its staff spoke before activist groups across the United States. An office on the west coast was also opened from 1972 to 1976.
Though Health/PAC got off to a running start, its role as a leading healthcare research and advisory organization was short-lived. A combination of factors contributed to its quick decline beginning in 1977. That year, the Rubin Foundation withdrew its financial support, stating that Health/PAC had received enough seed money. Other sources of revenue were increasingly difficult to obtain. Health policy research had grown in popularity over the decade, making for greater competition both in research opportunities and in obtaining funds. In addition, by the late 1970s, funding priorities had changed; now, “self-help and consumer action groups were ‘getting the grants’” (Hoffman, p. 161). Other, non-financial reasons for its decline included change in the general political climate as well as internal organizational strife regarding what direction Health/PAC work should take. Though the organization essentially ceased to exist, The Bulletin continued to be published with a voluntary editorial board at least into the 1990s.
In the 2000s, Robb Burlage partnered with Rekindling Reform, another health care activist group, in attempt to revive Health/PAC and The Bulletin online.
Bibliography: Burlage, Robb and Robert Padgug, “From the Editors,” HealthPAC online and Rekindling Reform, http://healthpaconline.org/index.htm (accessed on 11/12/2010).
Hoffman, Lily M. The Politics of Knowledge: Activist Movements in Medicine and Planning. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1989.
This collection documents the activities of the Health Policy Advisory Center (Health/PAC), a New York City based organization that collected and disseminated information about health care and politics. The materials in this collection cover the years 1945 to 1985, with the bulk of the materials dating from 1965 to 1977. This collection includes research on various health and health care issues gathered by Health/PAC, Health/PAC’s newsletter ( The Bulletin), newsletters from political activist groups, and correspondence with doctors, activists and politicians. Though the organization was based in New York City, the materials collected by Health/PAC cover health care events and issues throughout the United States (especially Chicago, Illinois) and in several foreign countries including Cuba, China and Mexico. Of particular interest are the materials about changes in women’s health care during this time period; mental health and the treatment of mental illnesses; drug abuse; the Marxist, Socialist and Communist movements within the United States and their relationship to health care issues; and specific health events that occurred during the 1960s and 1970s, such as the discovery of Legionnaire’s Disease and a swine flu outbreak.
The collection is divided into five series: “Administrative records,” “Subject files I,” “Subject files II,” “ The Politics of Health Care: A Bibliography,” and “Health/PAC Bulletin.”
The three largest sections of the collection, “Subject files I,” “Subject files II,” and “ The Politics of Health Care: A Bibliography," are very similar in their content and arrangement and should be cross referenced in any search. It is not entirely certain for what or by whom the two distinct Subject files were kept; however, it is presumed that the files were collected and used during the production of at least one of Health/PAC's publications. “ The Politics of Health Care: A Bibliography" files were maintained by Dr. Ken Rosenberg, who collected and used the files to write and publish The Politics of Health Care: A Bibliography. Though the content of the three series overlaps significantly, topics are not filed consistently. As such, interested researchers are advised to search for subjects both within and across series under multiple headings. For example, records about the drug marijuana may be filed under “Drugs,” “Marijuana” or both.
Series one, “Administrative records,” spans the years 1968 to 1977, along with some undated material, and is arranged in alphabetical order by subject. This small series primarily consists of proposals and related material for various grants and programs organized by Health/PAC. Also included are various staff records such as correspondence and notes from meetings and interviews, as well as materials related to the planning and implementation of Health/PAC’s summer internship program for undergraduate and graduate students interested in health care and public policy.
The second series, “Subject files I,” contains research materials such as pamphlets, clippings and newsletters gathered by Health/PAC about various health and public policy issues. The materials date from 1947 to 1980, with the bulk of the records dating from 1965 to 1975. There are also some undated materials. Particularly well documented topics include hospital patients’ rights (particularly in New York City), national health insurance, medical student organizations’ activities, the self-care health movement, and international health care trends. Of notable interest are the materials related to the free health clinics movement, such as pamphlets and newsletters from the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood free clinic, the Spanish language materials from Los Siete free clinic in Chicago, and various women’s clinics. There also are some materials concerning the swine flu outbreak in 1976, the emergence of sickle cell anemia and increased awareness about lead poisoning. Researchers should note that many topics found in “Subject files I” can also be found in “Subject files II.”
The third series, “Subject files II,” dates from 1945 to 1980, including some undated materials, with the bulk of the records dating from 1968 to 1975. Like the previous series, “Subject files I,” this series contains research materials such as pamphlets, clippings, legal records and newsletters collected by Health/PAC about various health and public policy issues. There is a notable focus on issues such as health insurance, Medicare and Medicaid, illegal drug use and prescription drug manufacturing, federal health policy development, and city hospitals. Of particular interest are the clippings, pamphlets, newsletters and court case records related to mental health, as they document radical shifts in approaches to psychiatric diagnosis, care and therapy, especially concerning women, children and minorities. Also of interest is documentation of the “ghetto medicine” initiative in inner cities, as well as materials detailing changes in medical education and the roles of health care workers such as nurses, hospital employees and physician’s assistants. Researchers should note that many subjects found in “Subject files II” can also be found in “Subject files I.”
Series four, “The Politics of Health Care: A Bibliography,” contains subject files collected by Dr. Ken Rosenberg and related to his research for and publication of The Politics of Health Care: A Bibliography in 1973, as well as several later editions. The Bibliography presents a list of important publications on several broad topics in health care. Topics include, “Power in the health system,” “Health economics and health capitalism,” “Women and the health system,” and “Other countries: Alternative systems of health care.” The series is arranged into three distinct sections. First, researchers will find several copies of the published version of the Bibliography and related administrative materials. Following are two distinctly arranged groups of subject files, both containing a mix of printed materials on various health topics. The first group is arranged into the broad subject categories included in the Bibliography. These files are organized in the same order as the chapters in the final published version of the Bibliography. The second group of printed materials is arranged alphabetically by general subject, with miscellaneous materials filed at the end.
The fifth series, “Health/PAC Bulletin” is composed of materials related to the publication of Health/PAC’s newsletter. These items date from 1966 to 1986, although the bulk of these materials are from 1977 to 1984. Items are arranged into the following groups and then chronologically within those groups: articles submitted to Health/PAC for publication (although not necessarily published in The Bulletin), and two distinct sets of drafts and working papers for published issues. Published issues of the newsletter are available in Temple University's Contemporary Culture Collection. Researchers should note that the name of the newsletter changed in the late 1970s, initially The Health/PAC Bulletin, it was later shortened to The Bulletin. Researchers interested in a specific issue or article published in and copies of the final published version The Bulletin should also look at “Subject files I” and “Subject files II,” as these materials may have been collected for Health/PAC publication research, including newsletter articles.
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The processing of this collection was made possible through generous funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, administered through the Council on Library and Information Resources’ “Cataloging Hidden Special Collections and Archives” Project.
This collection was minimally processed in 2009-2011, as part of an experimental project conducted under the auspices of the Philadelphia Area Consortium of Special Collections Libraries to help eliminate processing backlog in Philadelphia repositories. A minimally processed collection is one processed at a less intensive rate than traditionally thought necessary to make a collection ready for use by researchers. When citing sources from this collection, researchers are advised to defer to folder titles provided in the finding aid rather than those provided on the physical folder.
Employing processing strategies outlined in Mark Greene's and Dennis Meissner's 2005 article, More Product, Less Process: Revamping Traditional Processing Approaches to Deal With Late 20th-Century Collections, the project team tested the limits of minimal processing on collections of all types and ages, in 23 Philadelphia area repositories. A primary goal of the project, the team processed at an average rate of 2-3 hours per linear foot of records, a fraction of the time ordinarily reserved for the arrangement and description of collections. Among other time saving strategies, the project team did not extensively review the content of the collections, replace acidic folders or complete any preservation work.
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- Temple University Libraries Special Collections Research Center
- Finding Aid Author
- Finding aid prepared by Christiana Dobrzynski Grippe and Sarah Newhouse
- Finding Aid Date
- 2011 April 7
- Sponsor
- The processing of this collection was made possible through generous funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, administered through the Council on Library and Information Resources’ “Cataloging Hidden Special Collections and Archives” Project. The collection was processed to the folder level.
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This collection is open for research use.
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Copyright restrictions may apply. Please contact the Temple University Libraries Special Collections Research Center with requests for copying and for authorization to publish, quote or reproduce the material.