1. Correspondence, 1960-1961

File — Box: 1

Scope and Contents

From the Collection: This collection of records of the Clerk of the Section on Medical History of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia consists of correspondence, annual reports, financial records, lecture announcements, and other miscellaneous items. The collection, which spans 1953 to 1982, covers the terms of eleven former clerks of the Section on Medical History, including Nicholas Padis (1954-1955), Herbert J, Dietrich (1958-1960), Robert J, Gill (1960-1961), James F. Toole (1961-1962), Frank P, Brooks (1962-1963), Robert E, Jones (1963-1965), Roderick L, Tondreau (1965-1968), Harry G. Gianakon (1968-1971), Vaughan P. Simmons (1971-ca. 1972), Lawrence Charles Parish (1973-1975), and Steven J, Peitzman (1980-1982).

Most of the correspondence in the collection concerns the planning and organizing of lectures sponsored by the Section on Medical History, including selecting speakers and making their travel arrangements, planning the dinners usually held after each lecture, and sending out invitations and lecture announcements. Especially well documented in the correspondence are the preparations for the annual Kate Hurd Mead Lecture. Other topics addressed in the correspondence include plans for the 1964 and 1965 meetings of the American Association for the History of Medicine, the 1964 Bicentennial of the Medical School of the University of Pennsylvania, and the 1966 dinner in honor of Egill Snorrason, the secretary of the Danish Society for the History of Medicine.

The collection includes numerous letters from Samuel X Radbill, Whitfield J. Bell, and Fred B. Rogers, all of whom were especially active members in the Section on Medical History. Other notable correspondents include College librarians Elliott Morse and W. B. McDaniel; Richard Harrison Shryock, Consultant Librarian at the American Philosophical Society; Marion Fay from the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania, who helped the section plan the Kate Hurd Mead Lecture each year; and other notable correspondents, including Joseph T, Freeman, Randolph Shipley Klein, and Albert S, Lyons, Also included are letters from many of the individuals who presented lectures at the meetings of the Section on Medical History.

In processing this collection, the original order of the files of each clerk was maintained as much as possible. Herbert J. Dietrich, for example, chose to arrange his correspondence alphabetically, whereas most of the other clerks filed their letters chronologically, Certain clerks, such as Roderick L, Tondreau and Steven J. Peitzman, clearly labelled their file folders; the information written on their folders is placed in quotation marks on the finding aid. Some routine financial records, such as deposit slips, cancelled checks, bills, and receipts, were discarded from this collection if the information they contained was represented elsewhere, such as in monthly bank statements or annual financial reports.