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Dummett (Clifton O.) papers
925.001
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Table of contents
Contributing Institution:
Jennifer Ann Wilson Dental Library & Learning Center, HSC Library
Title: Clifton O. Dummett papers
Creator:
Dummett, Clifton O. (Clifton Orrin)
Identifier/Call Number: 925.001
Identifier/Call Number: /repositories/11/resources/2088
Physical Description:
153.771 Linear Feet
144 boxes
Date (inclusive): 1941-2013
Abstract: This collection contains the papers of Dr. Clifton O. Dummett (1919-2011), an African-American pioneer in the field of dentistry
and a professor at the University of Southern California.
Language of Material:
English.
Dr. Clifton Orrin Dummett (1919-2011) was an African-American pioneer in the field of dentistry and a professor at the University
of Southern California. He was born in British Guyana in 1919 and studied at Howard University before receiving a B.S. from
Roosevelt University in Chicago. Dummett went on to receive a D.D.S. from Northwestern University in 1941, an M.Sc.D. in periodontics
from Northwestern University, and a Masters in Public Health from the University of Michigan in 1947. He was the first African-American
dentist to receive a master's degree in public health.
At twenty-eight, Dummett was appointed dean of the Meharry College of Dentistry, becoming the youngest dental dean in the
United States. He worked at Meharry until 1949, when he because chief of dental service at the Veterans Administration Hospital
in Tuskegee, Alabama. In 1954, Dummett was commissioned as a Major in the U.S. Air Force Dental Corps and granted a leave
of absence from the VA Hospital. He was assigned to active duty at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage, Alaska, as chief
of periodontics and oral medicine. In 1966, Dummett was appointed chief of dental service at the VA Research Hospital in
Chicago, Illinois, as well as an associate professor of periodontics at Northwestern University.
That same year, he was granted a leave of absence from the VA to become Dental Director of the South Central Multipurpose
Health Services Center in Los Angeles, where he also became a professor of dentistry at the University of Southern California.
He retired from the USC School of Dentistry as a professor emeritus in 1989.
Dummett served as president of the International Association of Dental Research, the American Association of Dental Editors,
the American Academy of the History of Dentistry, and the Los Angeles Dental Society. Dummett was elected to the National
Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine in 1972.
Dummett was a prolific writer and authored over 300 articles. Beginning in 1952, Dummett served as editor-in-chief of the
National Dental Association for twenty-two years beginning in 1953.
He married Lois Doyle (1919-2013) in 1943, and they had one child, Dr. Clifton O. Dummett, Jr., who also became a dentist.
Lois and Clifton Dummett authored nine books together.
This collection contains the papers of Dr. Clifton O. Dummett (1919-2011), an African-American pioneer in the field of dentistry
and a professor at the University of Southern California. Much of the collection consists of publications of professional
organizations reflecting the research, career, and community involvement of Dummett from the 1940s to the early 2000s. Publication
types include professional journals, books, rosters, directories, reports, and conference programs, which are associated
with Dummett in his role as an author, editor, speaker, or cited source. In addition, the collection also includes awards,
certificates, and degrees awarded to Dummett; books written by Dummett (and often co-authored with his wife, Lois Dummett);
photographs and slides; audiovisual materials; and yearbooks. There is also a small set of papers which contain some professional
correspondence and administrative documents chiefly dating from the 1980s-1990s. There are also some items related to his
time as chief of periodontics and oral medicine at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage, Alaska, in the late 1950s.
Advance notice required for access.
Rights Statement for Archival Description
Finding aid description and metadata are licensed under an Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license.
All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Wilson Dental Library.
Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Wilson Dental Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended
to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Lois M. Dummett, May 2013.
[Box/folder no. or item name], Clifton O. Dummett papers, Collection no. 925-001, Wilson Dental Library, USC Libraries, University
of Southern California.
This collection is unprocessed.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
African Americans -- History
Dentistry
Dentists -- United States -- Archival resources
Film reels
Periodicals
Photographs
Slides (photographs)
Universities and colleges -- Faculty -- Archival resources
Plaques (flat objects)
Books
Photographs
Scrapbooks
Dummett, Clifton O. (Clifton Orrin) -- Archives