Minutes: Council, 1939 December 26-1940 November26

File — Container: 5, Folder: 10

Scope and Contents note

From the Collection: The collection contains the correspondence and financial files of chairmen of the Committee of the Mütter Museum of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia from 1926 to 1970. The collection documents the acquisitions and oversight of the Museum and College Collections. The bulk of the collection derives from the tenures of George P. Muller and J. Parsons Schaeffer, but material from subsequent chairmen, Oscar V. Batson, Richard Philip Custer, A. Reynolds Crane, Nicholas Padis, Clark E. Brown, Fred B. Rogers, and William I. Gefter, is also included.

In addition to general correspondence, the chairman’s files include reports of the museum curators to the chairman and reports of the chairman to College Council; insurance information; letters of College legal counsel, Joseph Carson, concerning the establishment of the College Collections; copies of minutes of the Committee on the Mütter Museum, Committee on College Collections, and Council; correspondence concerning the annual Thomas Dent Mütter Lecture; and notices of Committee, College, and Council meetings. Information on accessions to the Mütter Museum and College Collections can be derived from correspondence with donors; reports of the curators; minutes of the Mütter Museum and College Collections committees; and minutes of Council.

Principal correspondents include Ella N. Wade, Curator of the Mütter Museum; Chevalier Jackson; and the Mütter lecturers, particularly Charles H. Frazier and Harris P. Mosher.

The collection also includes financial records of the Committee on the Mütter Museum, including account statements, bills, cancelled checks, investment account statements, receipts, and the annual and semi-annual financial reports filed by the Committee with Council.

The Records of the Chairman of the Committee on the Mütter Museum were originally housed in fourteen letter box files, each generally containing one or two years’ worth of material. Within each box, material was filed alphabetically by subject. Each chairman imposed slight variants on the subject arrangement. Financial records from each year were filed separately with each box. The chronological divisions and subject arrangement have been retained and, where necessary, reconstructed.