Pennsylvania features prominently in the history of medicine in the United States. Pennsylvania Hospital (the Nation's first general hospital) was founded in 1751 by Benjamin Franklin and physician Thomas Bond. Subsequent hospitals and care arose in Philadelphia and the surrounding area, providing both specialized and general care for the growing and diverse population. Pennsylvania also was home to many prominent early physicians including Benjamin Rush, Phillip Syng Physick, and William Shippen Jr., among many others.
The city also quickly established itself as a major center for medical education. Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, medical schools at the University of Pennsylvania, Jefferson Medical College, and the Women's medical college were formed as well as organizations such as the College of Physicians which promoted the exchange of medical information through its library and lectures.
The medical related collections at HSP are large and extensive. From lecture and treatment notes to homeopathic remedies and Native American medicine, researchers can find a wide variety of topics. While not all encompassing, this subject guide highlights the types of materials that can be found at HSP. Researchers are encouraged to search for specific topics and/or individuals in both our online catalogue, Discover, as well as our manuscript card catalogue.
Anderson Family Papers. (Collection #1745): The Anderson family lived in Lower Merion Township, Montgomery County. James Anderson was a physician, civic leader, and 1816-1817 member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. His son, Joseph W. Anderson,was also a physician. The papers of the Anderson family are chiefly those of James Anderson. His correspondence, 1805-1858, letter and memorandum book, 1817-1828, and letter books, 1831-1852, 1855-1858, relate to personal, business, and political matters. Material on Anderson's medical career include: ledgers, 1808-1858; casebook, 1804-1806, of patients treated at a Philadelphia almshouse; and notes on Benjamin Rush lectures, 1797-1798.
Barringer, Brandon. Papers (Collection #1998): Brandon Barringer, treasurer of Curtis Publishing Company in Philadelphia, was active as a member of Hospital Council of Philadelphia, "a non-profit organization devoted to the improvement and coordination of hospital services.” These papers relate to his activities with the Hospital Council of Philadelphia. Types of papers include: incoming and outgoing correspondence, memoranda, minute, reports, and other materials.
Barton, Benjamin Smith. Lecture Notes (Collection #1623): Benjamin Smith Barton was a Philadelphia physician and a naturalist. He taught at the University of Pennsylvania. Lecture notes used in the "practice of medicine" course at the University of Pennsylvania.
Bartram Family Papers. Pharmacopeia (Collection #36): The majority of the materials in the collection relate to John and William Bartram. The collection contains “Travels through the Carolinas, Georgia and East and West Florida, 1773-1777,” his Pharmacopoeia on plant and medicinal remedies, and a copy of his answers to Benjamin Smith Barton’s question concerning Native Americans. Other material in the collection includes original engravings (and Photostats) of various flora and fauna, William Bartram’s commonplace book, the Bartram family bible, miscellaneous family letters, checks and receipts.
Birkey, William Jukes Alcock. Daybook (Am. 9765): Birkey was a Philadelphia dentist.
Clymer Family Papers. (Collection #1676): Maria O'Brien Clymer was the wife of George Clymer, Jr., daughter-in-law of George Clymer, the signer of the Declaration of Independence. Her son Meredith Clymer studied medicine in Europe, practiced in Philadelphia and New York, specializing in nervous disorders, became president of Pridedale Iron Company, New York City, returned to medicine as assistant surgeon general during the CivilWar, and thereafter continued his practice in New York and Albany with some apparent difficulty.
Coolidge, Richard H. Letterbook (Am. 6998): Richard Hoffman Coolidge was born to Catherine Ann Hoffman and Daniel Coolidge in Poughkeepsie, New York. He married Angelina Harris in 1844. Coolidge served as an Assistant United States Army Surgeon from 1841 until 1860, when he was appointed as a Surgeon. He served as Medical Inspector from 1862 to 1865. Coolidge also served as a physician for Zachary Taylor. Richard Hoffman Coolidge died in 1866. Coolidge's letterbook contains incoming and outgoing correspondence, arranged in chronological order, which describes the conditions of hospitals and the wounded, as well as the army's attempts to provide them with needed supplies. The majority of the correspondence between Coolidge and his superiors relates to the desperate need for supplies in the hospitals and camps he visits. Also included are reports and recommendations based on Coolidge's inspections of the camps; these reports detail the conditions of hospitals and other buildings, water conditions, and assessment of supplies.
Dixon, Samuel Gibson. Papers (Collection #1941): Samuel G. Dixon was a leader in the United States in the discovery of the cause of tuberculosis and methods to contain and treat it. This collection encompasses the work of Dr. Dixon including dozens of publications and speeches related to tuberculosis and other infectious diseases (including smallpox and typhoid). He was also at the forefront of the newest concepts regarding sanitation and nutrition. Any researcher interested in the history of medicine will find this collection invaluable. One can trace the reality of the scourge of a terrible disease, tuberculosis, and the attempts to eradicate it. The collection gives the history of the first sanatoria in the Philadelphia area.
Elmer, Ebenezer. Commonplace book (Am .6421): The volume includes notes kept by Ebenezer Elmer while serving as surgeon of the 2d New Jersey Infantry: a parody on the British crown and government; a "cursory history" of the Revolution to 1778; poems, many on love and marriage; medical notes; and some memoranda on military action.
Elmer, Ebenezer. Daybook (Am. 0617): Elmer was a Hopewell & Bridgeton Physician.
Fithian, Enoch. Vital Statistics of Greenwich (Cumberland Co., NJ) (Am. 4614): Enoch Fithian was a doctor with a medical practice in Greenwich, Cumberland County, NJ. He received his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1815. Volumes 1-3 are birth registers and v. 4 (1817-1886) is entitled a "Bill of Mortality for the Township of Greenwich," and lists death dates, names, diseases or causes of death, and attending physicians.
Fryer, John. Papers (Collection #3465): John Fryer was a psychiatrist best known for his participation in the 1972 APA Meeting that got homosexuality declassified as a mental illness. As a psychiatrist Fryer worked largely with gay men, lesbians, people who abused drug and alcohol, and those who were coping with death. He was also a professor at Temple University School of Medicine, and organist and choirmaster at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Germantown. The John Fryer collection consists of his personal and professional papers from 1876 to 2003
Gottschall, Jacob. Medical Notebook (Am. 06869): This volume includes recipes and newspaper clippings of a medicinal nature. There are treatments for snakebite, fever, "summer sickness," and a cure for swollen hooves on cows, among others. (in German)
Hoffman, James Monroe. Medical Journals (Collection #4183): James Monroe Hoffman was a physician (likely a gynecologist) who practiced in Reading, Pennsylvania during the mid to late 1800s. He graduated from medical school in the late 1850s and died in 1882. This collection is comprised of six volumes and one folder. Spanning the six volumes is a handwritten treatise titled “Ascitic Tumors of the Ovaries.” The folder contains a few different items, three of which are notes from various autopsies, including one for an infant, performed by Hoffman around the 1870s. There is also a set of Hoffman’s notes reviewing a homicide case (Commonwealth v. Keim), as well as his written “history in brief of the case of Elizabeth [Gnum or Gnim?] – Ovarian Tumor, May 26, 1869.
Lehman, Henry. Papers (Collection #4117): Henry Leaman was physician and obstetrician who set up what became a successful private practice in Philadelphia in the 1860s. He went on to serve numerous people in the region, particularly expectant mothers, for a couple decades, into the early twentieth century. The collection relates primarily to his profession and contains significant references to his patients.
McAllister Family Papers (Collection #2139): Contain the records of Dr. Anna Mitchell McAllister (1849-1922), one of the earliest women physicians in Philadelphia. The collection includes a notebook of hers from the Women's Medical College of Philadelphia.
Parry, George F. Family Volumes (Collection #3694): George F. Parry (1838-1886) of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, was one of the first veterinarians (and probably the first from Pennsylvania) to receive professional veterinary training in the United States. He graduated from the Boston Veterinary Institute in 1859, served as a veterinary surgeon with the 7th Pennsylvania Cavalry during the Civil War, and owned a farm and conducted a private practice in Newtown, Pennsylvania, from shortly after the war until his death at age 48. This collection of volumes from the Parry family consists mostly of personal diaries written by George F. Parry dating from the 1860s to the 1880s. Additionally, there is a notebook that he kept while attending the Boston Veterinary Institute and a ledger of his business transactions during the 1870s.
Parry, Susan. Volumes (Collection #3695): Dr. Susan Parry graduated from the female medical college in 1858 and practiced medicine in Bucks County. This There are two volumes and one box in this collection. The first volume is a notebook, entitled “S. Parry’s Book of Recipes," started in 1873, in which she described diseases, prescription recipes, treatment procedures, and a few homeopathic remedies. The second volume is a scrapbook of clippings, mostly poetry and printed illustrations.
Pastorius, Francis Daniel. Papers (Collection #475): This collection contains the personal papers of Francis Daniel Pastorius, a German immigrant who founded the settlement of Germantown, which would later be incorporated into Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This collection dates from 1683-1719 and contains ten bound volumes and one folder of loose manuscripts of Pastorius’ personal papers. This includes his writings on farming and beekeeping, poetry, the beginnings of a German dictionary, a commonplace book, letters, and a book of medical ailments and remedies.
Rush, Benjamin. Letters of the theory and practice of Physick (Am. 1351): Benjamin Rush was a Philadelphia physician. This volume contains medical lectures given 1790-1791.
Rush Family Papers. (LCP in HSP 134): The Rush Papers consist primarily of incoming correspondence and medical papers of Benjamin Rush and his son James Rush. Benjamin Rush began his lengthy career as a Philadelphia physician by studying at the College of Philadelphia, then the University of Edinburgh. He returned home in 1769 to teach and practice, and to promote his system of medicine wherein all diseases were the result of spasms of the blood vessels. Rush worked tirelessly during the Yellow Fever epidemics which swept the city in the 1790s, and he devoted much study to finding its causes. Rush was an early proponent of scientific and humane treatment for the insane.
Sargent Bell, D. Photo Collection (Collection #V01): Health care section V1-10: Interior and exterior views of hospitals. Group portraits of medical students, dental students, doctors, and nurses. Illustrates medical supplies and dental equipment. Medical demonstrations and exhibitions are depicted. Interiors include operating rooms, examinations, waiting rooms, patient wards, first aid classes, and other health care facilities.
Shippen Family Papers (Collection #595D):Dr. Edward Shippen (1826-1911) served as a surgeon in the United States Navy. Spanning 23 boxes and over two hundred and fifty years, the collection primarily documents the life and career of Dr. Shippen through correspondence, clippings, booklets, pamphlets, and photographs.
Thomson, William. Papers (Collection #2135): Dr. William Thomson served as assistant surgeon general during the Civil War and Head of Douglass Hospital. Correspondence relating to his career as assistant surgeon general and as Head of Douglass Hospital. Other papers include an account of the Potomac Campaign by Carlos Carvallo, medical notations, and invitations and appointments to various medical societies.
Waln, Sarah. Recipe Book (Am .1743): Sarah Richardson Waln was the wife of Nicholas Waln, lawyer and Quaker clergyman. Her recipe book contains recipes for health remedies and household needs.
White, John Josiah. Notes from Chapman Lectures, (Am. 1880): John Josiah White was a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Medical School (1829) and while thereattended Dr. Nathaniel Chapman's lectures.
Academy of Medicine of Philadelphia Minutes (Am .319)
Charity Hospital Medical Board Minute Book, 1857-1902 (Am. 3216): The Charity Hospital was incorporated in 1861 "for the relief of the sick poor." This collection includes records of donations received, both monetary and material.
Gold Seal Manufacturing Company Records (Collection MSS059): The Gold Seal Manufacturing Company was a wine and liquor distribution business begun by Slovak immigrant Michael Bosak at the turn of the century. Based in Scranton, Pennsylvania, the company made Bosak's Horke Vino, a wine-based elixir, and bottled and distributed other beverages. The collection contains paperwork on the process of acquiring port wine for Horke Vino, laboratory tests and correspondence with the Department of the Treasury during Prohibition regarding the status of Horke Vino, and personal papers of the last owner, Frank Chipak, including financial records.
Hospital Returns of Revolutionary War Soldiers (Am. 6055 Folio): Lists of soldiers admitted to hospitals during the Revolutionary War. Some entries list soldiers' names and ailments. Other entries simply provide the name of the regiment, the number of men admitted, and their ailments.
HSP Medical Record Book Collection (Collection #927): Records of hospitals and dispensaries in Philadelphia and papers on the history of Blockley General Hospital.
Methodist Hospital receiving ward register, no. 2 (Collection #3735): Philadelphia's Methodist Hospital (formerly Methodist Episcopal) was founded in 1877 and incorporated in 1881. In 1892, the hospital opened to the public. It's Training School for Nurses opened a couple years later. The hospital is located at 2301 South Broad Street and is today part of the Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals system.
This register contains thorough details of the people that were received in the hospital's emergency room from June 1909 to August 1911. Each page contains columns as follows: number, date, name, residence, age, occupation, employed by, nativity, diagnosis, treatment, treated by doctor, and remarks. The volume is full and most details have been filled in for each patient.
Philadelphia General Hospital papers (Collection #1178): Data on all the physicians who have been connected with Philadelphia General Hospital from its founding in 1731 as Blockley Alms House to 1939.
Philadelphia Medical Society (Am .321): The Medical Institute of Philadelphia, also called the Philadelphia Medical Society, was founded in 1817 by Dr. Nathaniel Chapman. Collection contains Philadelphia Medical Society and Institute minutes, 1817-1853.
Samuel B. Fales collection of Union Volunteer Refreshment Saloon Papers (Collection #1580): Bills, receipts, correspondence, and newspaper clippings present a comprehensive view of the activities of the Union Volunteer Refreshment Saloon, 1861-1865. This organization cared for thousands of Union soldiers as they passed through Philadelphia, and the papers and books name many of those so helped. The hospital books, 1861-1865, in particular, give the name, regiment, and home of each man treated.
Union Volunteer Refreshment Saloon and Hospital Records (Am .67040): Record and scrapbook, 27 May 1861-16 April 1864, of the Union Volunteer Refreshment Saloon and Hospital, with records of troops passing through Philadelphia, hospital admissions, September-December 1862, and hospital deaths. Scrapbook portion contains cloth swatches of flags, tickets to various fund-raising events, envelopes with letterhead newspaper clippings and other memorabilia. Also contains the minutes of weekly meetings held by the Ladies Union Volunteer Refreshment Committee, 31 October 1861-1 May 1865.
Women’s Advisory Council of Philadelphia General Hospital Records (Collection 1710): The Woman's Advisory Council of Philadelphia General Hospital was a hospital auxiliary originally organized to advise the Philadelphia Director of Health on conditions at the hospital. The Council’s goal was to spur improvement and maintenance of higher sanitation standards and eliminate overcrowding at the hospitals. Records include correspondence, minutes, hospital shop reports, journals, bills, and receipts.
Dr. Eliza Yerkes collection of Women's Dental Association of the United States records (Collection #733): Minutes, committee reports, and membership lists of the Women's Dental Association of the United States.
Women’s Way of Philadelphia Records (Collection #3434): Women’s Way of Philadelphia records house the organizational records of Women’s Way, a women’s advocacy fundraising group serving the Philadelphia region. This collection, which dates from 1966 to 1997, with bulk dates of 1977 to 1997, consists of reports, correspondence, minutes, financial records, and planning materials created as a result of the fundraising and grant-giving activities of Women’s Way. Aside from evidencing the organization’s functions, this collection provides a unique perspective of Philadelphia culture and changing perspectives on women’s issues and rights in the latter half of the 20th century
Young Men's Christian Association Casualty Cards (Collection #1139): Records of sick and wounded soldiers and hospital care and other aid rendered by the association.
Dr. James Durham, mysterious eighteenth-century black physician : man or myth?(Va .6 v.103)
Early recollections and life of Dr. James Still (UNJ R 154.S8348 A33 1877)
Every man his own doctor, or, The poor planter's physician (LCP Aa.736 P 72)
Fifty years in psychiatry, 1905 (UPA/Pam R 154.C43.C43 1905 )
Folk medicine of the Pennsylvania Germans : the non-occult cures (UPA Vg .18 v45)
An introductory lecture on the chemical relations of plants to animals : delivered in the Philadelphia College of Medicine (UPA/Pam QD 39.G37 1848 )
Introductory lecture to the course of materia medica and pharmacy in the University of Pennsylvania : delivered October 18, 1848 (UPA/Pam R 713.28.W66 1848 )
Journal of mechano neural therapy, 1905 (UPA/Pam RV 1.J68 1905)
Medical education : a comparative study (Tq.614)
The medical examiner : a monthly record of medical science (Vt .124)
The medical formulary: being a collection of prescriptions, derived from the writings and practice of many of the most eminent physicians in America and Europe. (UPA/Ph RS 125 .E47 )
Medicine of the future : the eleventh annual Charles V. Chapin oration, 1951 (Tq*.501 v.1)
Medicine ways: disease, health and survival among the Native Americans (E98.M4 M43 2001)
Mental over-work and premature disease among public and professional men, 1855 (UPA/Pam QP 421.M55 1885)
On wetting the streets (Vt.124)
The Quaker heritage in medicine (E .4802 C595)
Pennsylvania Medical Missionary Society Annual Report, 1915-16 (Vb* .831)
Philadelphia University Journal of Medicine and Surgery, 1858-1871 (Dm .346)
Price list of drugs, dyes, etc. : [October, 1879] (Tq .40 Wam243)
Proceedings of the Medical Society of the state of Pennsylvania at its annual session (Vb* .831v3)
Saunders’ Pocket medical Formulary, 1894 (RS 125 .P69 1894)
The Scalpel - University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine (Wm .18)
The state of medicine in China : read May 2, 1877 (UPA/Pam R 601.H37 1877)
Transactions of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia (Wm .641)
Valedictory address to the graduating class of the Female Medical College of Pennsylvania for the session of 1857-58 (UPA/Pam R 692.P74 1858)
Valedictory address : University of Pennsylvania (Medical Department) March 14 1879 : Printed for private distribution only (UPA/Pam R 708.A84 1879)
Yearbook of the Pennsylvania Tuberculosis Society, 1920-1926 (UPA/Pam RC 306.P46a)
Researchers interested in the subject may find additional material at other area institutions.
