Kathel Bedortha Kerr (1908-1990) grew up in Chicago, Illinois and received his B. A. (1929) from Oberlin College, M.A. (1931) from Washington University in St. Louis, and Sc.D (1936) from Johns Hopkins University.

After completing his education, Kerr took a position at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. In 1938, he left to join the United States Public Health Service where he worked as a parasitologist in New York and California until 1943 when the Public Health Service stationed him in Victoria, Brazil to work on controlling malaria and hookworm. He worked in the Rio Doce valley of Brazil from 1943-1945. This project was part of the World War II American war effort, and the Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Good Neighbor policy toward Latin America.

In 1945, Kerr joined Salsbury Laboratories in Charles City, Iowa, where he focused on remedies for the control of parasites in poultry. Later in his career, Kerr became involved in toxicology and was a charter member of the Society of Toxicology. His last position involved doing toxicology work for the Amour-Dial Corporation in Chicago.

Kerr married Ruth Story Sidebotham in 1932 and they had two children: Norman Story Kerr (1933-1995) and Kathel Austin Kerr (1938- ).

This collection (1932-2011, undated) contains biographical information, publications, Kerr's memoirs, patents, photographs, an interview, speech, and writings. The bulk of the collection consists of Dr. Kerr's published writings and photographs from his time in Brazil.