Howard Wilcox Haggard and the Institutionalization of Modern Alcohol Studies.

Abstract

This biographical sketch and accompanying bibliography provide a new look at Howard Wilcox Haggard, M.D., Ph.D., whose career highlights the consolidation of alcohol studies as a field in twentieth-century America. The article relies in large part on the works of Haggard assembled for the bibliography project, supplemented by published and unpublished documents and records from collections at Rutgers University. Haggard began his career in respiratory physiology, influenced by his work on chemical weapons for the Army during the First World War. As his reputation grew, he moved into anesthesiology and supplemented his research with textbooks and popular science bestsellers. Haggard moved into the burgeoning field of alcohol studies after the repeal of National Prohibition and, in 1940, became the inaugural editor and president of the corporation of the Quarterly Journal of Studies on Alcohol, now the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs. Under the aegis of the Yale Laboratory for Applied Physiology, he also assembled and oversaw what would become the Center of Alcohol Studies. Haggard died in 1959, his legacy established as a central figure in the 20th-century transformation of alcohol studies in the United States. A prolific researcher with a talent for tapping into the public zeitgeist, Haggard helped provide the institutional infrastructure, academic credibility, and broad audience that made the renaissance of alcohol studies in post-Prohibition America possible.