Collections for College of Nursing & Health Sciences

COLL 201 – Family and Friends for the Mentally Ill (Lafayette, LA) Records

Family and Friends for the Mentally Ill (FFAMI) were one of the first mental health support groups in Louisiana. FFAMI’s main goals were to involve the patient’s family in recovery, to provide understanding and support to families, and to establish an optimistic atmosphere with recovered patients and psychiatric personnel. This collection contains working files of FFAMI arranged alphabetically and scrapbooks for the organization. Maizie Thibeaux, founder, and director of the Family and Friends for the Mentally Ill, donated the collection.

COLL 237 – John J. Burdin, Jr. Papers

John J. Burdin, Jr. was a physician who practiced in Lafayette, LA for 54 years. This collection is divided into two sections. The working files contain ledger books, hospital and insurance records, financial records, correspondence, minutes, by-laws, and other materials. His personal files contain general and financial records, health insurance records, and certificates. Vaughan Baker Simpson donated the collection.

COLL 248 – Edmond A. Dugas Papers

Dr. Dugas was an instructor in Health and Physical Education at the University of Southwestern Louisiana (now the University of Louisiana at Lafayette). He served on the faculty from 1967 until 2001 in a variety of positions and ranks, including coordinator of Men's Physical Education, Coordinator of Graduate Studies for the College of Education, and the Head of the Department of Health and Physical Education. This collection consists of personal files dating from the mid-1970s to 2002. The majority of this collection deals with Health and Physical Education locally and nationally and with the College of Education alumni chapter. Included are correspondence, conference programs, meeting agendas for various committees, and media files.

COLL 289 – Margaret McMillan Papers

Margaret McMillan was an advisor at the Southwestern Louisiana Institute (now the University of Louisiana at Lafayette) from 1941 to 1959 and served as the Coordinator of the University of Southwestern Louisiana women's Physical Education Department from 1972 to 1976. She then founded Macmillan Offshore Survival Technology (MOST), served as a consultant in offshore safety and survival for branches of the U.S. Armed Forces, the British Royal Navy, and the Russian government. This collection contains photographs, correspondence, news clippings, miscellaneous materials, and books. The majority of the news clippings have been copied due to water damage. The books relate to health/fitness, travel, and offshore safety. There are also a number of McMillan’s personal yearbooks from her undergraduate and graduate years.

COLL 406 – Lafayette General Medical Center (Lafayette, LA) Collection

Lafayette General Medical Center is Acadiana’s largest non-profit, community-owned regional health system. This collection consists of correspondence, minutes of meetings, financial records, general records, and other miscellaneous materials. Monique Burdin, daughter-in-law of Dr. John J. Burdin Jr., donated much of the materials in this collection.

COLL 459 – Teche Action Clinic Collection

The Teche Action Clinic (also known as Teche Action Board, Inc.) is a non-profit health center based in Franklin, LA. This collection contains photographs, articles, correspondence, and scrapbooks that were collected by members of Teche Action Clinic. Many of these materials relate to the St. Mary Parish Health Unit and Franklin Health Council. Dr. Gary Wiltz, CEO of Teche Action Clinic, donated the digitized version of this collection with the help of Phebe Hayes.