Thomson, Elizabeth H, 16 June 1955-10 December 1971

File — Box: 13

Scope and Contents

From the Collection: Extensive collection of correspondence, subject files, and photographs of Samuel X Radbill documenting professional associations with Philadelphia County Medical Society and College of Physicians of Philadelphia and his interest in medical history and medical bookplates. Collection contains notes made by Radbill on topics of interest and rough drafts of articles, papers for presentation, and informal speeches. Series 1 is divided into two subseries: A. Personal Correspondence and B. Subject and Organization Correspondence. Primary subjects addressed in the correspondence in Subseries A are professional and personal concerns and the exchange of information about medical history, medical and historical texts, and artifacts. Of particular interest is Radbill’s correspondence, 1936-1985, with Robert Rosenthal. Other major correspondents are: Erich Aber, Harold J. Abrahams, M. E. Alberts, G. T. Banner, William Bennett Bean, Whitfield J. Bell, Marco Birnholz, Harry Block, Chester D. Bradley, William N. Bradley, Howard Childs Carpenter, Carlo Castellani, Jaroslav Cervény, Ronald A. Cohen, George Washington Corner, David L. Cowen, Jeannette Dean-Throckmorton, Elizabeth Watson Diamond, John Morris Dorsey, Mary Alice Ercolini, Robert D. Gauchat, Donald C. Geist, Philip Goodman, Wayland Debs Hand, Ray E. Helfer, K. Garth Huston, Saul Jarcho, Juraj Korbler, E. B. Krumbhaar, W. Kenneth Lane, Dorothy I. Lansing, S. Lasalle, W. G. Leaman, Richard A. Leonardo, Elizabeth Lomax, W. B. McDaniel II, E. B. Montgomery, Ernest L. Noone, Francis R. Packard, Jonathan E. Rhoads, Fred B. Rogers, Dorothy M. Schullian, Henry Schuman, Norman Shaftel, Richard Harrison Shryock, Henry Ernest Sigerist, Robert Sonnenschein, Katharine R. Sturgis, H. P. Tait, Owsei Temkin, William F. von Valtier, Joseph I. Waring, Irving J. Wolman, Francis C. Wood, and T. Kenneth Wood. Correspondence on bookplates concerns production and bookplates as symbols and art. Subseries B contains correspondence on specific subjects, usually related to either research Radbill was conducting or an article which he was writing. Many subjects are physicians, including Robley Dunglison and Sir William Osler. Series also contains correspondence, minutes, mailings, meeting notices, personal and professional data on members, and publications of societies or institutions, including College of Physicians of Philadelphia, Philadelphia County Medical Society, American Osler Society, Philadelphia Pediatric Society, and Philadelphia General Hospital. Subseries also includes clinical material, primarily from 1930s and 1940s, including birth and death certificates and correspondence between Radbill and other physicians concerning referrals and cases. Subject files in Series 2 contain historical information on pediatric topics, such as child abuse and measles; biographical information on physicians; and material relating to Philadelphia General Hospital, including correspondence of William N. Bradley and Ernest L. Noone, staff evaluations, lectures, and actions of municipal committees. Pictorial materials in Series 3 include photographs of friends and colleagues; slides and negatives of trips taken by Radbill; lantern slides on pediatric subjects; plaques; and photographs of 19th century British and German physicians. Also includes sets of staff photographs from Philadelphia General Hospital, [ca. 1915], and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, [ca. 1925].