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John Hubbard presidential papers

 Series
Identifier: CPP 2/010

Scope and Contents

This collection dates from 1974 to 1978, and documents John Hubbard’s time as College President. It contains correspondence; committee and annual meeting reports, including the Long Range Planning Committee; information relating to the College’s Continuing Medical Education Program for cardiovascular medicine; correspondence of the Section on Medical History; and a scrapbook of correspondence and other documentation about the Restoration Fund (part of the Third Century fundraising campaign).

This collection is divided into five series. Series I: Correspondence, dating from 1974 to 1978 consists of correspondence, mainly in regards to general College business, committee meetings, special events such as the city-wide bicentennial celebration, and the formation of the Francis Clark Wood Institute for the History of Medicine.

Series II: Annual Meetings includes reports from and some correspondence about the annual College meetings held in 1975, 1976, 1977, and 1978.

Series III: Long Range Planning Committee documents the meetings and other activities of the Committee during the years 1975 to 1978.

Series IV: PREP-CV Program spans the years 1976 to 1978 and holds correspondence, planning documents and meeting minutes concerning the development of the College’s Continuing Medical Education Program for cardiovascular health.

Series V: Third Century Program is a single-volume scrapbook, dates from 1976 to 1977, and contains correspondence and other documentation of the Restoration Fund, which was part of the College’s Third Century Fundraising campaign.

Series VI: Section on Medical History includes consists mostly of correspondence to the administration of the Section from 1973 to 1975, including the Charles D. Meigs portrait presentation ceremony held May 3, 1975.

This collection was discovered during a survey in the summer and fall of 2015. It was processed in the fall of 2018.

Dates

  • 1974-1978

Creator

Office of the President history

The Office of the President of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia is first described in the 1787 constitution. The constitution states that the President “shall have power to call extraordinary Meetings whenever important, or unexpected Business shall require, of which he shall be the Judge;” the constitution also states that the president was authorized to call a special session when requested by at least six Fellows. According to the 1834 by-laws, the president was responsible for presiding at College meetings and signing orders from the treasurer, but he could not discuss any questions while in the chair except when necessary to come to a decision. This latter regulation was dropped from the 1863 by-laws, and new responsibilities were added in 1882, when the president was given “general supervision of the affairs of the College” and was required to present an annual address.

In 1886, due to the influence of president S, Weir Mitchell, the by-laws were again amended. Mitchell secured the right to be informed of all committee meetings and to attend them if he wished, Another of Mitchell's requests, for a five year presidential term, was never approved. The responsibilities of the president remained much the same until 1914. In the by-laws of this year, the president's duty of “sign[ing] all warrants on the Treasurer” was omitted. 1925 marked a major change in the Office of the President; in this year, he was granted ex-officio membership in all standing committees and had the power to elect most committee members. The first regulation concerning the president's term was instituted in the 1935 by-laws, which state that no president may serve more than three years in a row. Additional changes in the Office of the President did not occur until 1972. The by-laws of this year state that the president must publish his annual address, submit a yearly summary of the activities of the College, and “appoint all standing committees and designate the Chairmen.” with the exception of the Nominating committee, The president's term was again restricted in the 1984 bylaws, which state that the president is limited to one two-year term. As of 2018, this is still an active office.

John Hubbard biography

John Perry Hubbard was born in Philadelphia on October 26, 1903. He graduated from Harvard College and received his M.D. from Harvard Medical School in 1931. His early career in pediatrics was marked by his 1939 pioneering surgery with Dr. Robert E. Gross in the first successful ligation of a patent ductus arteriosus at Children's Medical Center in Boston.

Hubbard served from 1942 to 1945 in the U.S. Army Air Force, reaching the rank of colonel, and serving as Chief of the Public Health Section of the military missions to France and Denmark.

Following the war, Hubbard directed a nationwide study of child health services and pediatric education that was conducted by the Academy of Pediatrics with support by the U.S. Public Health Service and the U.S. Children's Bureau. From 1950 to 1966, he held the position of George S. Pepper Professor of Public Health and Preventive Medicine and Chair of the Department at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, and was then named Emeritus Professor. In 1950, Hubbard became the chief executive of the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME), a position he held until his retirement in 1974.

From 1952 to 1964, he served on the Board of Health of the City of Philadelphia; in 1959, he was elected President of the Heart Association of Southeastern Pennsylvania. The American Board of Medical Specialties elected him president in 1972. He was awarded the first Duncan Graham Award by The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada in 1969, and in 1977 he received an honorary degree from Uppsala University in Sweden for his major contributions worldwide to the field of evaluation in medicine.

Upon retirement from the NBME in 1974, Hubbard served as President of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia from 1974 until 1978. While he was president, a new Division for the History of Medicine was established as a center for teaching and research in the history of medical sciences in relation to current issues.

In 1931, he married Dorothy Allen; they had two children, Elizabeth and Florence.

Hubbard died November 27, 1991.

Extent

.7 Linear feet (1 document box; 1 half document box; 1 volume)

Language of Materials

English

Overview

This collection dates from 1974 to 1978, and documents John Hubbard’s time as College President. It contains correspondence; committee and annual meeting reports, including the Long Range Planning Committee; information relating to the College’s Continuing Medical Education Program for cardiovascular medicine; correspondence of the Section on Medical History; and a scrapbook of correspondence and other documentation about the Restoration Fund (part of the Third Century fundraising campaign).

John Hubbard was born in Philadelphia 1903. He received his M.D. from Harvard Medical School in 1931. In 1939, Hubbard Dr. Robert E. Gross performed the first successful ligation of a patent ductus arteriosus at Children's Medical Center in Boston. Hubbard served from 1942 to 1945 in the U.S. Army Air Force, and later directed a nationwide study of child health services and pediatric education that was conducted by the Academy of Pediatrics with support by the U.S. Public Health Service and the U.S. Children's Bureau. He was elected College President in 1974 and served two terms. Hubbard died in 1991.
Title
John Hubbard presidential papers
Author
Chrissie Perella
Date
November 2018
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
English

Repository Details

Part of the Historical Medical Library of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia Repository

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