Richard Davidson (1947-), a medical physician and educator, was among the founding participants of the Vanderbilt Student Health Coalition at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn. (1970-1971) and the Mountain People’s Health Council in eastern Tennesee (1975-1976). The Student Health Coalition focused on training medical professionals and medical students for community organizing around local health fairs in isolated Appalachian communities in Tennessee and Virginia. The fairs brought health care to communities that otherwise would have gone without due to location or economic status. The Mountain People’s Health Council follows a model similar to the Student Health Coalition. Both the Student Health Coalition and the Mountain People’s Health Council continue to provide these services to communities and remain active today. This collection contains images taken by Richard Davidson documenting the activities of the Vanderbilt Student Health Coalition from 1970 to 1971 and the Mountain People’s Health Councils from 1975 to 1976. The images depict scenes at fairs and meetings in various locations around Tennessee, including Briceville, Clairfield, Murfreesboro, Norma, Petros, Smithville, Sneedville, Stoney Fork, and White Oak. The photographs were taken by Davidson. Materials include black-and-white and color 35mm slides, a photographic album consisting of prints from slides, some articles about the work of the Student Health Coalition, and a digital sideshow containing images compiled by Davidson for a reunion in 2012.
Richard Davidson Photographs of the Appalachian Student Health Coalition and the Mountain People’s Health Council #05613, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Selected Images from the Richard Davidson Collection. Click the link above to go to the finding aid, which includes all digitized images.
