Finding Aid of the Dr. George Marion Cooper Photograph Collection, PHC.41

[Identification of item], PhC.41, Dr. George Marion Cooper Photograph Collection, State Archives of North Carolina; Raleigh, NC.

The collection consists of photographs taken in conjunction with Dr. George M. Cooper's public health career. The prints are predominantly Kodak snapshots, but there are a good number of commercial photographs scattered throughout the collection. The earliest photographs (1914-1915) are of Sampson County during his experiments in community sanitation. The majority of the pictures show dental and tonsil and adenoid clinic locations throughout the state. There are views of schools, students, dentists, nurses, etc. The collection also contains scenic views (especially coastal and mountain regions) as well as public buildings (courthouses, etc.). Both interior and exterior views are included. Apparently many of the photographs were sent to Dr. Cooper by public health workers in the field. As editor of "The Health Bulletin" Cooper collected these materials as possible illustrations for this journal and other medical periodicals.

The collection also contains 8 copies of "The Health Bulletin" (N. C. State Board of Health), 1919-1931 and 1 copy of Modern Medicine (magazine), July, 1919. The typescripts are a "Report of the Lenoir County Dental Campaign," (30 pages), 1918 and "The Great Children's Clinic of Rochester, N. Y." (7 pages), ca. 1921.

The photographs are organized primarily in chronological order.

This collection belonged to Dr. George M. Cooper, a pioneer public health official who was associated with the North Carolina State Board of Health for thirty five years. Dr. Cooper (1876-1950) was born in Clinton, Sampson County, North Carolina, April 24, 1876. His parents were Amos J. (died November 25, 1920) and Elizabeth (Britt) Cooper, both of whom were born in Sampson County, North Carolina. Dr. Cooper was one of six children, including John H., O. F. Cooper, Gordon B., Thomas N., and Margaret (Cooper) Fitzgerald.

Dr. Cooper attended the common schools of Salemburg and the high schools of Sampson County and worked as a teacher in Sampson County for four years. He graduated from the University College of Medicine, Richmond, Virginia with the degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1905. After graduation, he formed a private practice with Dr. Frank H. Holmes in Clinton which continued for eight years. As part time Sampson County physician (1909-1913) he administered the first typhoid vaccine in the state. Later, as full time Sampson County Health Officer, he conducted experiments in community sanitation at Ingold and Salemburg. On May 1, 1915, Dr. Cooper was named head of the State Board of Health's Department of Rural Sanitation. By 1917 he had become the Director of the Bureau of Medical Inspection of Schools. A year later he inaugurated the system of dental work for all the state's public school children. In 1919 he instigated the clinics for the removal of diseased tonsils and adenoids of school children. On March 1, 1923, Dr. Cooper was promoted to Assistant State Health Officer and editor of "The Health Bulletin". He directed the State Health Department's Division of Personal Health Services. In 1931 he attained the position of Director of the Division of Preventive Medicine. The Cooper Memorial Building on McDowell Street, which houses the Division of Health Services, Department of Human Resources, in Raleigh, is named in his honor.

In 1907 Dr. Cooper married Miss Cornelia Powell, of Clinton. They had four children: John Phil, Marion Holmes, George M., Jr., and Elizabeth Neal. Dr. Cooper was active in the Wake County Medical Society, the North Carolina State Medical Society, the Southern Medical Association, the American Medical Association and the American Public Health Association. See the paper finding aid located in the Search Room for further biographical information.

Architecture, Domestic

Dental public health--North Carolina--History.

Dentists.

Nurses

Public buildings

Public health administration--North Carolina--History.

School children--Health and hygiene

Schools--North Carolina--1910-1940.

Sampson County (N.C.)

The collection was acquired about 1985 from an unidentified donor.