Records of the Committee on Contributions to the Building Fund

Collection

Identifier: CPP 10/017-01

Scope and Contents

The collection contains the minute book of the committee on Contributions to the Building Fund, 1859-1862, documenting its decisions and debate over solicitation of non-Fellows; several subscriptions books, one containing the original subscriptions to the Building Fund begun in 1850, with occasional accounts to 1862; a copy of the committee's final report; and a report from William Ker, hired by the committee to approach physicians and pharmacists who were not Fellows, describing the reactions of individuals to the fund raising. Most of these records were produced or preserved by Thoams Hewson Bache, as secretary of the coamittee.

Dates

1850 - 1862

Creator

College of Physicians of Philadelphia. Committee on Contributions to the Building Fund (Organization)

Biographical / Historical

Following the formation of a body of trustees to invest funds for the purchase of a lot and erection of a building,a committee to solicit contributions to the Building Fund of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia was first appointed on 15 January 1850. On 2 March 1859, after a suitable building site had been found, the College appointed a special committee of seven Fellows - Thomas Hewson Bache, Edward Hartshorne, James J. Levick, S. Weir Mitchell, William Byrd Page, Robert P. Thomas, and Francis West, chairman - to pursue unfilled pledges and solicit additional contributions from both the Fellows as well as other physicians and local figures.

This committee, sometimes referred to as the "Committee of Seven", first approached the Fellows, raising some $3000, then turned to members of the Philadelphia County Medical Society and local apothecaries, and finally, to other individuals. The committee made its final report on 5 December 1860 and was released.