Conrad Earl Albrecht was born in Bruederheim, Alberta, Canada, in 1905. He received degrees from the Moravian College and Seminary (Bethlehem, Pennsylvania) in 1926 (B.A.) and 1928 (B. D.), and completed medical school at Jefferson College in Philadelphia in 1932. Albrecht then served as an intern and chief resident physician (1932-1935) at Abington Memorial Hospital.

Albrecht came to Anchorage, Alaska, in June 1935 to serve as assistant superintendent at the Alaska Railroad hospital under Dr. John H. Romig. Albrecht went to Palmer, first to assist in a medical emergency, and then to serve as physician for the Alaska Rural Rehabilitation Corporation's Matanuska Colonization Project and medical director of the Matanuska Valley Hospital (1935-1941).

He was called into active military service in December 1941, and served four years at Fort Richardson, attaining the position of post surgeon and commanding officer of the 183rd Station Hospital. Governor Ernest Gruening appointed him commissioner of health (1945-1956). Later, he was assistant director of the Ohio Department of Mental Hygiene and Correction (1956-1958); deputy secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Health (1958-1963); professor of preventive medicine at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia (1963-1970); and served in private practice in Anchorage (1970-1975), after which he retired and served as a medical consultant.

Dr. Albrecht was also a member of the University of Alaska Board of Regents (1949-1957), a member of the board and president (1966-1967) of the Arctic Institute of North America, founder and participant in the International Symposium for Circumpolar Health (1967-1997), and a president and board member of the American Society for Circumpolar Health (1980-1997). The Albrecht/Milan Foundation at the University of Alaska Anchorage was dedicated in his honor in 1991. C. Earl Albrecht died in Bradenton, Florida, in 1997.

TEXT INFO:

University of Alaska Anchorage Archives

The collection consists of papers and publications documenting Dr. Albrecht's career in medicine and public health administration, primarily in Alaska.

The collection was presented to the archives by C. Earl and Margery Albrecht in 1994 and 1995. A deed of gift was signed in 1995.

Photo Credit/Source: Photo by Jean Cunningham of the Winston-Salem Journal and Sentinel. It is photo no. 21 in Series Ic of the C. Earl Albrecht Col.