Title: Fitzhugh Mullan Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1964-1980

Creator:

• Mullan, Fitzhugh, 1942-

Call Number: Mss 595

Quantity: 2.0 c.f. (4 archives boxes)

Repository:

Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

Abstract:

Papers of Fitzhugh Mullan, a pediatrician and health activist who worked with the Student Health Organization (SHO) in Chicago and the Lincoln Hospital Collective in New York, and served as director of the National Health Service Corps, Bureau of Community Health Services. In 1976 Mullan published a book on his experiences in New York called White Coat, Clenched Fist. The collection includes SHO communications, proposals for a SHO National Service Center, minutes of Collective and departmental meetings at Lincoln Hospital, and information about the 1971 billing action. There are also many articles written by Mullan and a corrected typescript of his book, as well as many SHO publications.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mss00595

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Fitzhugh Mullan was born in 1942, raised in New York City, and attended medical school at the University of Chicago in the late 1960s. While at Chicago, Mullan became active in the Student Health Organization, a nationwide group of medical students seeking to improve the quality of health care and medical education. He directed the Chicago Student Health Project in 1968, and served as chairman of the Student Health Organization of Chicago in 1969. After completing medical school, Mullan returned to New York City and served his internship and residency in pediatrics at Lincoln Hospital in South Bronx. While there he continued his interest in health service reform. He was an active member of the Lincoln Collective, which sought to restructure care distribution within the hospital, and headed up the budget protests and billing action of 1971 when, as a protest against cuts in services interns and residents withheld patient medicaid forms so the hospital could not be compensated. The same year, Mullan also served as president of the Committee of Interns and Residents of New York City. Mullan completed his training in 1972 and moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico to practice at La Clinica, a free health clinic. He later served as director of the National Health Service Corps, and also began to write a book about his experiences at Lincoln Hospital. White Coat, Clenched Fist was published in 1976.

The Papers provide a view of the working atmosphere of a big city hospital. They also give information about the health reform movement, the politicization of physicians and the relation of the health reform movement to other radical movements of the 1960s and 1970s.

The collection is divided into four series. They are the Student Health Organization records, the Lincoln Hospital records, Mullan's Writing, and a Subject File.

The STUDENT HEALTH ORGANIZATION (SHO) records include documents and communications from 1968 to 1969 dealing with the Chicago SHO and the origin of the SHO National Service Center. There are also copies of many publications by SHOs in other cities from 1966 to 1969, including Catalyst, Contact, Current, Encounter, In VIVO, Up Against the Lab Bench, Yes, and a New York City-SHO Newsletter.

The LINCOLN HOSPITAL records include materials relating directly to Mullan's involvement in the Lincoln Collective and the 1971 billing action, including minutes of Collective meetings from 1970 to 1973. There are also many records about health and social problems in South Bronx and the hospital staff's attempts to alleviate them. Materials pertaining to the day-to-day routines and considerations of hospital administration, covering topics ranging from emergency room procedure to attempts to get the doctors to dress better, are also present.

MULLAN'S WRITING includes a corrected typescript of White Coat, Clenched Fist, along with many articles Mullan wrote from 1968 to 1980 including the column “Mullings” which appeared in Hospital Physician. The articles are arranged in chronological order.

The SUBJECT FILE, in addition to general articles on health activism, contains copies, 1964-1966, of Borborygmi, the University of Southern California Medical student journal, and information about the Community of Interns and Residents of New York City from June 1969 to November 1970 and about health conditions and services in South Bronx. Information about organizations involved in the health reform movement such as Aspira, Inc., the Adolescent Center, the Community Mental Health Center, the Dominican Sisters Home Health Services, Logos, the Neighborhood Medical Care Demonstration, the South Bronx Clergy Coalition and the St. Francis Neighborhood Family Care Center, is also available. Finally, there are materials about other activist activities in the South Bronx, such as a pamphlet about the Young Lords Party, and also some newspaper clippings on a variety of topics.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Fitzhugh Mullan, Garrett Park, Maryland, April 1981. Accession Number: M81-207

Processing Information

Processed by Amy Groskopf and Joanne Hohler, April 1983.

	Series: Student Health Organization
Box   1 Folder   1-2	SHO National Service Center Documents and Communication, 1968-1969
Box   1 Folder   3-7	SHO publications, 1966-1969
Box   1 Folder   8	Chicago SHO documents, 1967
Box   1 Folder   9	SHO Service Center Progress Report, 1969 Jul 1 - 1969 Dec 1
	Series: Lincoln Hospital	⇧
	Lincoln Collective
	Minutes-large group meetings
Box   2 Folder   1-2	, 1970 Oct 6 - 1972 Dec 12 (two bound volumes)
Box   2 Folder   3	1970 Oct 13 - 1973 Jun 6, with gaps (unbound)
Box   2 Folder   3	Minutes-small group IV, 1972 Jan 11-1972 Mar 28
Box   2 Folder   4	Minutes-small group I, 1973 Jan 29-1973 June 5
Box   2 Folder   5	Collective policy, origins, and activities
Box   2 Folder   6	Budget controversy and billing action, 1971
Box   2 Folder   7	Community Elective Program, 1970 - 1971
Box   2 Folder   8-9	General information about Lincoln Hospital for recruiting purposes, 1970 - 1971
Box   2 Folder   10	Miscellaneous documents relating to Lincoln Hospital, 1971
Box   2 Folder   11	Other Lincoln organizations, 1970 - 1974
	Pediatrics Department
Box   3 Folder   1-3	Minutes-department meetings, house staff meetings, out-patient department meetings, 1970 Oct 8 - 1973 Dec 19
Box   3 Folder   4	Out-Patient Care Program: guide for all staff
Box   3 Folder   5	Policy and procedures, 1971 Feb 5 - 1974 Sep 18
Box   3 Folder   6	Policy and procedures, undated
Box   3 Folder   7	Published material about the Lincoln Collective, Lincoln Hospital, Medical care in South Bronx, 1970, 1972
	Series: Mullan's Writing	⇧
Box   3 Folder   8	Articles, 1968-1980 (chronological order)
Box   3 Folder   9-12	Typescript of White Coat, Clenched Fist
	Series: Subject File	⇧
Box   4 Folder   1	Activist activities in the South Bronx, 1972-1973
Box   4 Folder   1	Articles pertaining to health activism in general, 1970-1971
Box   4 Folder   2-3	Borborygmi, 1964 Sep 8 - 1966 June 9
Box   4 Folder   4	Committee of Interns and Residents of New York City, reports, 1969 Jun - 1970 Nov
Box   4 Folder   5	General information about health conditions and services in the South Bronx, 1973
Box   4 Folder   6	La Clinica, 1973
Box   4 Folder   7	National Health Service Corps information, 1978-1979
Box   4 Folder   8	Newspaper clippings, 1972-1974