Warren T. Reich Papers
Collection
Identifier: BRL-005
The collection contains the files of Warren Reich, dating from 1958 to 1999. It includes records of the Kennedy Institute of Ethics (particularly funding and planning documents), files on bioethics and medical humanities courses taught at Georgetown University, research files on Andre Hellegers and the history of bioethics, documents related to the Narrative Bioethics Seminar at Hiram College, and professional correspondence. It also contains Andre Hellegers documents that had been collected by Reich.
The collection includes interviews conducted by Reich in the early 1990s on the history of the Kennedy Institute of Ethics, Andre Hellegers, and bioethics as a field. These include interviews with John Collins Harvey, Charlotte Hellegers, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, and LeRoy Walters.
Please be aware that the collection contains documents that use outdated and potentially offensive terminology with regards to developmental disabilities.
Unpublished Georgetown University administrative records may be consulted only with the permission of the University office which created it. This includes administrative records and courses files found in boxes 1-4.
All other processed materials are generally open for research.
Researchers are solely responsible for determining the copyright status of the materials being used, establishing who the copyright owner is, locating the copyright owner, and obtaining permission for intended use.
Warren T. Reich was the Distinguished Research Professor of Religion and Ethics in the Georgetown University Theology Department and Professor Emeritus of Bioethics in the Georgetown University School of Medicine.
As a founding member of the University's Kennedy Institute of Ethics, he created the award-winning Encyclopedia of Bioethics between 1971 and 1978, and a fully revised five-volume edition between 1990 and 1995 - an interdisciplinary work that played a major role in establishing the field of bioethics and that continues to shape and support the field. He established and for 20 years directed the Bioethics and Medical Humanities program in the Georgetown University Medical Center, between 1977 and 1997.
In recent years, Dr. Reich has been visiting professor, senior fellow, or senior lecturer at the Universities of Bonn (Center for European Integration Studies), Tuebingen (von Humboldt Professor, Faculties of Theology and Medicine), New South Wales (Center for Research in the Humanities), Melbourne (Graduate Program in Law, Ethics, and Medicine of the Law School), Vienna (Institute for Ethics and Rights in Medicine, Medical Faculty), Leuven (Philosophy Faculty and Program in Medical Ethics), Messina (Philosophy Faculty), the Australian Catholic University (Plunkett Centre for Ethics in Health Care), and the University of Pennsylvania (Philosophy Department). He has also been a Fellow of the National Humanities Center in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. Dr. Reich travels widely for speaking engagements in the U.S., Europe, Latin America, Australia, and Asia.
From 1962 to 1971 Professor Reich taught moral theology, principally at the Catholic University of America; he was also a founding professor of the Washington Theological Union.
Pursuing graduate studies in Catholic Moral Theology under the direction of Josef Fuchs, Professor Reich earned the Doctor of Sacred Theology degree (S.T.D.) at the Gregorian University in Rome and did post-doctoral studies under Alfons Auer at the University of Würzburg in Germany under scholarship from the German Academic Exchange Service.
6.4 Cubic Feet (in 8 boxes)
English
The collection contains the files of Warren Reich, dating from 1958 to 1999. It includes records of the Kennedy Institute of Ethics (particularly funding and planning documents), files on bioethics and medical humanities courses taught at Georgetown University, research files on Andre Hellegers and the history of bioethics, documents related to the Narrative Bioethics Seminar at Hiram College, and professional correspondence. It also contains Andre Hellegers documents that had been collected by Reich.
The collection is organized into seven series:
Series 1: Kennedy Institute of Ethics Records, 1971-1986, 1996-1997
Series 2: Correspondence, 1977-1978, 1983-1998
Series 3: Bioethics and Medical Humanities in the Georgetown University Medical Center Records, 1976-1997
Series 4: Hiram College - Narrative Bioethics Seminar Records, 1992-1994
Series 5: Research Files on the Kennedy Institute, Andre Hellegers, and the History of Bioethics, 1965-1999
Series 6: André E. Hellegers Papers, 1958-1978
Series 7: Association of Faculties of Humanities in Medicine Records, 1981-1982
Gift of Warren T. Reich, circa 2000. Formally accessioned in 2016.
The collection has been rehoused in archival-quality boxes. Original folders in good condition were retained, while other materials were rehoused in archival-quality folders as needed.
Part of the Bioethics Research Library Archives Repository