14 January-01 June 1987

File — Box: 3

Scope and Contents

From the Collection: The minutes of the Committee on the Mutter Museum of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, spanning 1865 to 1990, provide detailed information about the objectives, development, and administration of this renowned medical museum. Interfiled with the minutes of the Committee on the Mutter Museum are minutes, 1973-1990, of the Committee on College Collections. Also present in the collection are annual reports from both committees, curator's reports, and reports to Council.

Included in the minutes of the Committee on the Mutter Museum are lists of accessions and donors; records of expenses for repairs, maintenance, and purchases; financial statements concerning Mutter Trust investments; and reports concerning the selection of the Mutter lecturer. The annual reports of the committee, which are interfiled with the minutes, contain lists of accessions, financial statements, statistics on the number of museum visitors, and information on museum staff and volunteers.

Volume 3 contains material concerning the policies and objectives of the Mutter Museum; also documented in this volume is the formation of the Committee on College Collections in 1935. Beginning in February 1973, minutes of the Committee on College Collections are interfiled with the minutes of the Committee on the Mutter Museum.

The later minutes of the Committee on the Mutter Museum include extensive curator's reports and the reports of various ad hoc subcommittees. Issues addressed in the minutes from the 1970s and 1980s include fundraising, publicity, special projects, exhibits, development plans, and future goals. Present in the minutes from the late 1980s are drafts of an agreement describing the conditions of the proposed transfer of anatomical and pathological specimens from the Wistar Institute of Anatomy and Biology to the Mutter Museum.

The minutes dating from 1923 to 1990 were originally housed in binders. The binders were disbound, but the volume divisions have been preserved in the finding aid.