Fredrick J. Stare Papers

Contains selected documents from the Fredrick J. Stare Papers housed at the Center for the History of Medicine in the Francis A. Countway Library at Harvard University.

Dr. Stare was an American nutritionist regarded as one of the country’s most influential teachers of nutrition. In 1942, Stare founded the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health, now the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. In 1978, Stare co-founded and served as chairman of the Board of Directors for the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH), which he served on until his death in 2002.

Within Harvard’s nutrition department, Stare advised on, developed, and participated in public information, public education, and public affairs campaigns to ensure that key opinion leaders, the public, and government agencies accepted the conventional food system. This included campaigning for sugar and sugary breakfast cereals and characterizing the public’s fears about pesticides and inorganic fertilizers as unfounded. He fundraised heavily throughout his tenure in the department, soliciting donations from many food industry corporations and interest groups.

Rights: Items in this collection may be protected by copyright and are made accessible for fair use purposes, including criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and/or research. For other uses of images, please contact the Harvard Countway Library of Medicine, Center for the History of Medicine.