Records of The Department of Audiology

The Records of the Department of Audiology fill 23 boxes (including one half box), spanning the years 1950 to 1988, with the bulk of the records dating from the late 1960s to the late 1970s--important and busy years for the Audiology Department. Much of the material relates to research work and studies conducted by Carhart, Elliott, and other Audiology faculty. The records have been organized into four categories: General Audiology Department files, Correspondence, Research, and Graduate Student Files.

General Audiology Department materials include fliers describing the Program, as well as faculty vitae, directories (1969-1978), publications lists (1969-1976) and handwritten notes from staff research meetings from 1975. Other materials include those relating to accreditation by the Education Training Board (1975-77) and to a proposed new Audiology building (1967).

The Correspondence files primarily document communications between Northwestern University's Audiology & Hearing Impairment Department and professional organizations affiliated with hearing impairment. These files include correspondence to and from the Acoustical Society of America, the American Institute of Physics, American Speech and Hearing Association, Outpatient Research Center for Sensorineural Deafness (ORCSND), Professional Services Board and the Rehabilitation Services Association. There is a general correspondence file dating from 1950 to 1981 in which communications and inquiries take place between Dr. Carhart and Northwestern University Audiology Department and numerous medical research establishments, other universities' hearing impairment departments, commercial institutions and other communicative disorder institutions. The remaining two files in this category are correspondence to and from Sandra Hayward, and Travel Authorizations. Sandra Hayward was the Coordinator of the Student Teaching Education of the Hearing Impaired for Northwestern University from 1973 to 1975. Much of the correspondence, as well as materials relating to the various experiments, involves Lois Elliott, the then Head of the Audiology Department.

The Research category largely contains extensive research experiments and studies that the Department conducted during the years 1950-1975. Records of each study include related raw data and results, grant proposals, grant applications, records of paid study subjects.

The Graduate Student files span the years 1962-1981 and fill 34 folders, of which the last 17 are student records. The first folder is graduate scholarship and fellowship information for the years 1978-1981. Following this is a Rehabilitation Service Association teaching grant proposal (1977) and paper work on faculty involved in the RSA. Summaries of awards for grants given to the Audiology Department are in the following folder. Two folders of undated questionnaires are next, filled by supervisors, employees and graduate students. Graduate applications accepted and rejected between 1974 and 1975 are in the following two files; then, examples of Masters comprehensive exams from 1962-1975. The next folder contains Northwestern University Audiology Department course descriptions. The next three files contain post doctorate inquiries. The following file contains questionnaires. The post doctorate inquiries are filed chronologically and the questionnaires span the years 1976-1977. The following folder labeled 'Student Papers' contains one student paper undated and unnamed with written comments by Dr. Carhart. The before-mentioned seventeen files of student records finish this category.