Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine
A Guide to the Records

HISTORICAL NOTE
The Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine was founded shortly after World War II by Dr. Howard A. Rusk, a pioneer in the field of rehabilitation medicine. A native of Missouri , Rusk earned his M.D. at the University of Pennsylvania in 1925, and soon entered private practice.

After entering the Army Air Corps in 1942, Rusk served as Chief of Medical Services at the Jefferson Barracks in St. Louis . While there, he observed that the patients were frequently bored, and due to inadequate physical fitness, often unable to rejoin their units after release from the hospital. Enough patients were readmitted to the hospital to cause Rusk to develop a program of mental and physical stimulation. The program significantly reduced the number of men re-entering the hospital, and attracted the attention of generals in Washington , D.C. Rusk was asked to design a program for the entire Army Air Corps, which became the Convalescent Training Program. Rusk earned a Distinguished Service Medal for his efforts, which gave disabled veterans hope and a sense of purpose.

After the war, Rusk persuaded the NYU School of Medicine to convert some wards in Bellevue and Goldwater Hospitals for the purpose of rehabilitating civilians. Although his work was initially regarded with skepticism by his colleagues, Rusk gained the support of several prominent philanthropists, including Bernard M. Baruch, Louis J. Horowitz, and Bernard and Alva Gimbel, enabling him to raise funds and gain publicity for his work. In this same period Arthur Hays Sulzberger, owner of The New York Times , hired Rusk to write a weekly column on health issues for the paper, which Rusk wrote until 1971.

Rusk work tirelessly to promote the concept of rehabilitation for civilians, and his successes grew. In 1950, with the help of his benefactors, he founded the Institute of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at New York University Medical Center . Later renamed the Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine , in 1984 NYU honored Rusk by renaming the Institute one last time - the Howard A. Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine.

Howard Rusk died on 4 November 1989 , leaving as his legacy a world-renowned rehabilitation hospital.

SCOPE AND CONTENTS OF THE COLLECTION
NOTE: These materials were acquired by donation in 2002, from the Western Historical Manuscript Collections, University of Missouri . More information on the WHMC holdings pertaining to Howard Rusk can be found at: http://www.umsystem.edu/whmc/invent/3981.html .

The collection is by no means comprehensive. The two boxes in the Archives contain records of the Institute and it’s Auxiliary from the 1950’s to the 1980’s, including annual reports, publications, correspondence (patients, physicians and staff), and fund raising efforts.

ARRANGEMENT OF THE RECORDS
The records are arranged in the following series:

General
Administrative
Auxiliary
Bellevue
Correspondence
History
Patients
People
Photographs
Programs/Services
Publications/Brochures
Publicity

RESTRICTIONS: None.

PREFERRED CITATION: { Indicate the cited item and box number here. } Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine Collection. Archives, Frederick L. Ehrman Medical Library, NYU School of Medicine.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE COLLECTION

Note to researchers: To request materials, please refer to the item and box number, unless another location is indicated.