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Bingham Center Receives Papers Of Women's Health Care Advocate

The addition of Dr. Takey Crist's documents to Duke's library adds to a collection that focuses on the provision of health care to women

 

DURHAM, N.C. -- The Sallie Bingham Center for Women's History and Culture, part of the Rare Book, Manuscript and Special Collections Library at Duke University, has received the first installment of the papers of obstetrician and gynecologist Dr. Takey Crist of Jacksonville, N.C.

Crist was born in New York City in 1937. He received his medical education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of South Carolina. In 1973, he founded the Crist Clinic for Women in Jacksonville, the first outpatient surgical center and birthing center in North Carolina. He also has served on the faculties of the medical schools of UNC-Chapel Hill and East Carolina University.

He has been a longtime supporter of women's rights, especially regarding health care and reproduction, and has provided innovative medical services to women for more than 30 years. He also has been a strong proponent of progressive sex education, producing, for instance, the ground-breaking guide "Elephants and Butterflies" at UNC-Chapel Hill in the early 1970s.

In other arenas, Crist has been a prominent community leader in the Jacksonville area and has worked intently for many years toward finding a peaceful settlement to the conflicts on the island of Cyprus.

The Takey Crist Papers join other collections at the Bingham Center that reflect recent efforts to provide health care to women, especially regarding abortion, rape and domestic abuse.

The Crist collection includes materials documenting Crist's work in the legalization of abortion and provision of abortion services, family planning and the integration of sex education into school curricula. Included are legal case files, correspondence, audio tapes and anonymized transcriptions of them, photographs, slides, instructional material, printed materials on contraception, abortion and related matters and other materials.

The collection will be transferred to Duke in further installments over the next year and will be available for research with some limitations on access to certain portions.