With National Science Foundation support, Dr. Roger Siervogel will lead a project to copy seriously deteriorating radiographs from the Fels and Denver collections. The Denver series will be inventoried and a computer catalog constructed. Both collections will be made more accessible to anthropologists and human biologists. The Fels Longitudinal Growth Study began in 1929 and is the longest, continuously on-going series study of human growth and health-related outcomes of its kind in the world. The study deals with normal growth processes in normal (non-diseased) individuals. As part of the longitudinal study, serial radiographs of more than 968 participants whose current age range is from 4-weeks to over 59 years have been taken since birth. The Fels collection now numbers more than 102,000. In addition, Fels is the repository for approximately 60,000 serial radiographs that were collected in the Denver Longitudinal Growth Study. These two collections are of major scientific significance but, unfortunately, most of the films taken prior to 1965 are badly deteriorating. This project is important because it will save these scientifically valuable materials from destruction. Given increased knowledge about radiation dangers, many of these films could not be taken today and, thus, are irreplaceable. Studies based on these radiographs have greatly increased our understanding of growth and development and have the potential to contribute more information in the future.
