The Reuben Leon Kahn collection consists of the personal and professional papers of the developer of the Kahn precipitation test for syphilis. Kahn taught bacteriology and serology at the University of Michigan from 1928 until his retirement in 1956.
Albert Wheeler completed his Ph.D. in public health at the University of Michigan in 1944 and was hired by Dr. Reuben L. Kahn as a research associate in the Serology Laboratory. In 1952, Dr. Arthur Curtis appointed Wheeler to a newly created position in microbiology and he thus became the first African-American ever named to a tenure track position at the University of Michigan. He held joint appointments as assistant professor - with subsequent promotions to associate and full professor - in the departments of microbiology and dermatology. His specialty within his department was venereal disease, more exactly, syphilis. When Wheeler retired in 1981 he was named Professor Emeritus of Microbiology and Immunology.
