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Georgetown University School of Dentistry

defunct dental school in Washington, D.C.

Layered newspapers, civic records and oral-history reels arranged as chronological evidence
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 9, 2026
Entity authorityQ21188220 ↗
Source-derived summary

The Georgetown University School of Dentistry was the dental school of Georgetown University, located in Washington, D.C. The school was established in 1901 as a department of the School of Medicine and became a standalone school within the university in 1956. In 1987, the school stopped accepting new students and it graduated its last class in 1990.

History

Origins

The dental program was formed in 1901, during the presidency of Jerome Daugherty, with the acquisition by Georgetown of the Washington Dental College and the Hospital of Oral Surgery on Massachusetts Avenue. The Washington Dental College was incorporated into the School of Medicine as the dental department. There were initially five faculty chairs of: techniques and orthodontia; dental histology and pathology; operative dentistry; oral surgery; and prosthetic dentistry. Dr. William N. Cogan was elected as the school's first dean. In 1920, the first X-ray machine was installed in the dental department.

The dental department was first housed at 920 H Street, Northwest, in an annex to the medical school's building. Two-thirds of the cost of this $5,000 addition was absorbed by the dental faculty while the remaining third was paid by the medical faculty.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Georgetown University School of Dentistry” as defunct dental school in Washington, D.C. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Georgetown, University and School.

Editorial reviewA strong contextual entry point for chronology, institutions and public events when official records are distinguished from later interpretation. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1901, 1956, 1987, 1990—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1901. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Georgetown, University and School providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Georgetown University School of Dentistry”, the useful work is to connect “defunct dental school in Washington, D.C” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Chronology, provenance and viewpoint should be read together before a broad social or political interpretation is accepted. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q21188220. Authority coordinates are 38.912, -77.077. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1901, 1956, 1987 and 1990.

Critical limits

Institutional narratives can privilege the records that survived while minimizing voices that were never formally collected. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Compare institutional narratives with records created by participants and affected communities. Dates and formal titles are useful anchors, but not substitutes for context.

Best used for
  • Event chronology
  • Institutional context
  • Locating named record creators
Verify next

Contemporary correspondence, government or organizational records, oral histories and cited historical scholarship.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Georgetown University School of Dentistry”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Georgetown University School of Dentistry primary sources, Georgetown University School of Dentistry archive and Georgetown research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Georgetown University School of Dentistry”?
  2. Who created the surviving record, and for what administrative purpose?
  3. What chronology connects this entry to wider political or social change?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Georgetown University School of Dentistry” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.