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Committee Reports of the Office of the Secretary of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia

Notifications

Held at: Historical Medical Library of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia [Contact Us]19 S. 22nd Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103

This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Historical Medical Library of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.

Overview and metadata sections

Call Number:
CPP 1/006-01
Repository:
Historical Medical Library of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia
Extent:
.2 linear feet (1 half document box)
Language:
English
Date:
1867-1910 (inclusive)
Creator:
College of Physicians of Philadelphia. Office of the Secretary
Form:
Reports
Abstract:

The office of the Secretary of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia was created during the organization of the College in 1787. The Secretary is the appointed officer of record. His original duties were to record the minutes and transactions of the College and preserve its documents and correspondence. In 1834, the Secretary was also empowered to keep lists of the fellows and provide them with certificates of membership. In 1863, the responsibility for notifying officers and committee members of election or appointaent devolved upon the Secretary. An annual report on the fellowship became part of the Secretary's responsibilities in 1870. At this time, a related office, the Recorder, was created to keep the minutes of all scientific sessions. The office of Recorder was abolished in 1914, and a salaried position, the Clerk, was created under the Secretary; the Secretary devoted himself to matters of fellowship while the Clerk preserved the minutes and papers of the College. The position of Clerk was abolished in 1925, and his duties were returned to the Secretary. In 1990, the Secretary was empowered to perform "all the duties appropriate to his or her post as the elected recording officer of the College and assure the duties and powers of the President in the absence or temporary incapacity of both the President and President-Elect".

The committee reports in this collection are part of the records of the Office of the Secretary of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. The reports span the tenures of six secretaries of the College of Physicians: John H. Packard (1862-1877), William G, Porter (1877-1879), Richard A, Cleemann (1879-1885), Isaac Norris, Jr. (1885-1890), Charles W, Dulles (1890-1896), and Thomas R. Neilson (1896- 1914), The reports, spanning 1867 to 1911, were produced by various ad-hoc committees appointed by the Fellows of the College of Physicians to address issues affecting the College and the medical profession during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Many of these committees existed for only one or two months, their purpose being to prepare a public statement containing recommendations about a particular issue;in many cases, the committees prepared only one report before being discharged. The topics addressed in the reports include legislation affecting the medical profession, public health issues, the invasion of communicable diseases, and the selection of suitable memorials for deceased Fellows. Three of the reports (the Report of the Sub-committee of the Committee on Tablets [1885], the Report of the Committee appointed to Collect and Distribute Funds for the Relief of the Members of the Medical Profession who sustained losses by reason of the Floods at Johnstown [1889], and the Report of the Committee to prepare a memorial of the Late Dr. Samuel Lewis [1891]) were originally contained in the same envelope.

The source of this collection of committee reports from the Office of the Secretary of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia is unknown. The collection was processed and catalogued in 1992.

Subject

Publisher
Historical Medical Library of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia

Collection Inventory

1. Committee Appointed to Present the View of the College to the Legislature of the State Urging the Passage of a Law Sanctioning the Dissecting of Dead Human Bodies report, 03 April 1867.
Box 1
2. Committee Appointed to Consult with the Committees of the Philadelphia Obstetrical Society and. Philadelphia County Medical Society report, 06 February 1878.
Box 1
3. Committee to Address Select and Common Councils of the City in Regard to the Proper Measures to be Taken to Meet the Threatened Invasion of Cholera during the Coming Year report, 07 January 1885.
Box 1
4. Sub-committee of the Committee on Tablets report, 30 December 1885.
Box 1
5. Committee Appointed to Collect and Distribute Funds for the Relief of the Members of the Medical Profession Who Sustained Losses by Reason of the Floods at Johnstown, 06 November 1889.
Box 1
6. Committee to Prepare a Memorial of the Late Dr. Samuel Lewis reports, 04 February 1891; 06 April 1892.
Box 1
7. Delegation from the College of Physicians to the Union Committee on a Permanent Water Supply and General Sanitation report, 07 June 1893.
Box 1
8. Standing Committee on Cholera report with samples of circulars, 06 December 1893.
Box 1
9. Committee to Wait upon the Mayor and Represent to him the Necessity for a Continuously Ringing Bell upon the Trolleycars report, 07 February 1894.
Box 1
10. Committee on a National Board of Public Health report, 03 December 1895.
Box 1
11. Committee to Investigate the Healthfulness of a Site Now Proposed for the New Municipal Hospital report, 15 March 1897.
Box 1
12. Committee to Draft a Memorial to Congress in Reference to the Provision for the Free Entry of Books, Instruments, Apparatus, etc., Imported for the Use of Incorporated Scientific Societies report, 12 April 1897.
Box 1
13. Committee to Which Was Referred the Communication of the Law Reform Committee of the Pennsylvania Bar Association Regarding Its Proposed Act of Assembly Relative to Expert or Opinion Testimony report, 07 February 1900.
Box 1
14. Committee to Consider the Question of the Prevention of the Communication of Contagious Diseases report, 02 March 1904.
Box 1
15. Committee to Prepare a Resolution Opposing any Change of the Law Which Exempted from Duties Books Printed in Languages Other Than English and the Exemption of Libraries from the Payment of Duties on Any Imported Books report, 05 January 1910.
Box 1
16. Committee to Consider the Request of the Commissioner of Health of This Commonwealth That the College of Physicians of Philadelphia Express its Opinion as to the Desirability of the Free Distribution of Tetanus Antitoxin Throughout the State report, 04 May 1910.
Box 1
17. Committee on Wearing of Gowns by the Officers at Meetings report, 07 December 1910.
Box 1
18. Keen, William W. Correspondence concerning Fourth of July deaths and injuries, 11; 19 January 1911.
Box 1
19. Committee on a Tablet to the Memory of Those Members Who Died During Attendance on Epidemic Diseases report, undated.
Box 1

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