CWRU School of Dental Medicine receives historic collection
CWRU School of Dental Medicine has been entrusted to preserve and provide accessibility to the Richardson Collection, physical elements of a landmark longitudinal growth study representing 98 African-American children conducted by pioneering researcher Elisha R. Richardson, BS, DDS, MS, PhD. The radiographs and dental casts are now housed in the Bolton-Brush Growth Study Center in the Dental Research Building at CWRU.
“This collection has been lost to the orthodontic community since the turn of the century,” said Mark Hans, DDS, MSD (DEN '79, '81), chair of the Department of Orthodontics. “CWRU has now taken steps to preserve it and make it available to the local dental community. This is the best control data we have for African American subjects. Once we have the resources to scan the data into an online format, it can be made available worldwide.”
Richardson’s family chose CWRU as the permanent home for the collection to recognize the professional bond he had with Dean Kenneth Chance, DDS (DEN ’79), who succeeded him as dean at Meharry Medical College School of Dentistry before he arrived at CWRU.
