Gaylord W. Anderson papers

Gaylord West Anderson, B.A. (1922) Dartmouth College, M.D. (1928) and Ph.D. (1942) Harvard University. Founder and director of the School of Public Health at the University of Minnesota and internationally recognized public health authority.

Gaylord Anderson was born on 31 December 1901 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His father, Frank Maloy Anderson, was a professor of history at the University of Minnesota from 1894-1914. He earned his B.A. from Dartmouth College in 1922, his M.D. in 1928 and his Ph.D. in public health in 1942 from Harvard University. After completing his M.D., Dr. Anderson joined the Massachusetts Department of Health as a communicable disease specialist. He later became director of that division and deputy commissioner for the Department.

In 1937, Dr. Anderson returned to the University of Minnesota to head the Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health. He served for four years as the Director of Medical Intelligence in the United States Army during World War II (1942-1946). Upon completion of his military service Dr. Anderson returned to Minnesota to found and direct the new School of Public Health. He retired from the University of Minnesota in 1970 as dean emeritus.

Outside of his work in Minnesota, Massachusetts and the U.S. Army, Dr. Anderson consulted for many foreign governments, including Chile, Brazil, Colombia and Korea, and the World Health Organization. He was president of the American Epidemiological Society (1951) and the American Public Health Association (1952). Gaylord Anderson died on 31 January 1979.