D. Heber Plank papers

Collection

Identifier: MSS 2/277-01

Scope and Contents

The collection contains ten volumes of financial papers documenting the Morgantown, Pa., medical practice of D. Heber Plank, 1868-1908; there are two ledgers and two combined ledger and cash books, six daybooks, and associated financial papers.

The ledgers and cash books, 1868-1908, are organized by account name and list the service performed, date, and fee charged; there are occasional notes on cases, patients, and settlement of accounts. Each volume includes an index to account names. Notes by Plank's wife, the executrix of his estate, indicate several accounts were settled some years after his death. Each ledger includes a supplementary folder of letters, bills, receipts, newsclippings, and notes.

The six daybooks, 1892-1905, list, by week, Heber's special charges and credits; regular charges; daily expense accounts; and cash received. Each daybook also includes names and addresses of patients, lists of deaths with age and cause, and lists of obstetrical engagements with date and result. The daybooks contain occasional documentation of Heber's personal financial and property affairs, particularly information concerning an 1899 land dispute. Five of the daybooks include supplementary folders of letters, bills, receipts, newsclippings, legal documents, and business cards.

Dates

1868 - 1908

Creator

Plank, D. Heber (David Heber) (Person)

Biographical / Historical

David Heber Plank, Berks County, Pa., physician, was born in Caernarvon township, Pa., on 12 November 1842. He married Ida Eugenia Bertolet in 1877; they had six sons. D. Heber Plank died on 4 January 1906.

Plank attended the Millersville State Normal School and Pennsylvania State College. In 1863, he began to study medicine in the office of Birdsboro physician B. F. Bunn, then attended the University of Pennsylvania and received an M.D. in 1867. He opened a medical practice in Morgantown, Pa., and was a member of the Pathological Society of Berks County.

Extent

10 Volumes

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Custodial History

The D. Heber Plank financial papers were purchased by the Historical Collections of the Library of the College of Physicians through a gift of the Samuel Lewis Circle from Carmen D. Valentino on 13 July 1992.

The collection was processed and catalogued in 1992.