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Small collections of the Office of the President
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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.
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The Office of the President of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia is first described in the 1787 constitution. The constitution states that the President "shall have power to call extraordinary Meetings whenever important, or unexpected Business shall require, of which he shall be the Judge;" the constitution also states that the president was authorized to call a special session when requested by at least six Fellows. According to the 1834 by-laws, the president was responsible for presiding at College meetings and signing orders from the treasurer, but he could not discuss any questions while in the chair except when necessary to come to a decision. This latter regulation was dropped from the 1863 by-laws, and new responsibilities were added in 1882, when the president was given "general supervision of the affairs of the College" and was required to present an annual address.
In 1886, due to the influence of president S, Weir Mitchell, the by-laws were again amended. Mitchell secured the right to be informed of all committee meetings and to attend them if he wished, Another of Mitchell's requests, for a five year presidential term, was never approved. The responsibilities of the president remained much the same until 1914. In the by-laws of this year, the president's duty of "sign[ing] all warrants on the Treasurer" was omitted. 1925 marked a major change in the Office of the President; in this year, he was granted ex-officio membership in all standing committees and had the power to elect most committee members. The first regulation concerning the president's term was instituted in the 1935 by-laws, which state that no president may serve more than three years in a row. Additional changes in the Office of the President did not occur until 1972. The by-laws of this year state that the president must publish his annual address, submit a yearly summary of the activities of the College, and "appoint all standing committees and designate the Chairmen." with the exception of the Nominating committee, The president's term was again restricted in the 1984 bylaws, which state that the president is limited to one two-year term. As of 2018, this is still an active office.
- Publisher
- Historical Medical Library of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia
- Finding Aid Author
- Chrissie Perella
- Finding Aid Date
- November 2018
Collection Inventory
James Tyson was born in Philadelphia on 26 October 1841, the son of Henry Tyson, M.D., and Gertrude (Haviland) Caswell Tyson. He graduated from Haverford College in 1860, and five years later, also received the degree of Master of Arts from Haverford.
Following his graduation from Haverford, James enrolled in the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania. In January 1862, in the midst of his second-year medical studies, he volunteered his services as an acting medical cadet assigned to the U.S. Army General Hospital located at Broad and Cherry Streets in Philadelphia. There he worked under surgeon-in-charge, Dr. John Neill, while completing his course of study at Penn. Tyson graduated with the degree of Doctor of Medicine in March 1863, and the next month became an acting assistant surgeon at the General Hospital. During the Gettysburg Campaign, the Army ordered James to Harrisburg and assigned him to the Mulberry Street Hospital and also to the West Walnut Hospital until mid-July. On 10 July Tyson learned that the Board of Managers of the Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia had elected him Resident Physician of the Hospital. Pennsylvania Hospital was Philadelphia's leading medical institution and election to a residency there was an exceptional supplement to the regular medical education. Tyson immediately resigned his position with the Army, and reported to the medical staff at the Pennsylvania Hospital. In May 1864, after completing his residency, he was reappointed an acting assistant surgeon with the U.S. Army and re-assigned to the Broad and Cherry streets hospital. He served at that hospital – and also, for six weeks in the fall of 1864, at a hospital in Winchester, Virginia – until the end of the Civil War in the spring of 1865.
In May 1864, Tyson also established a private practice at his home. He was elected to the position of "microscopist" in 1866 by the Board of Philadelphia Hospital. In November 1871, the directors promoted Tyson to the joint positions of pathologist to the Hospital and curator of the pathological museum, followed by his election to visiting physician in March 1872. He served as a visiting physician at the Hospital for seventeen years, 1872 to 1889, and as president of the medical board from 1885 through 1889.
In June 1888, the Trustees elected Tyson to the twin administrative positions of Dean and Secretary of the Faculty of Medicine, a position he held for four years; as well as to the position of Professor of Medicine, which he held for twelve years before his retirement in the summer of 1910.
Tyson was elected a Fellow of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia in 1886. One year later he was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society. He was President of the Philadelphia County Medical Society in 1897 and of the College of Physicians from 1907 to 1910. At his retirement, he was without peer in the Philadelphia community.
On December 5, 1865, Tyson married Frances (Fanny) Bosdevex; they had at least two children. His wife died on May 8, 1900; Tyson died on February 19, 1919.
Adapted from the James Tyson Family Papers (UPT 50 T994), 1854-1982, finding aid from the University of Pennsylvania's University Archives: http://www.archives.upenn.edu/faids/upt/upt50/tyson_j_family.html
This small collection consists of a typescript of James Tyson's address, "The Homes of the College of Physicians," which Tyson read at the cornerstone-laying ceremony on April 29, 1908.
Alfred Stengel was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on November 3, 1868. He received his M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Medical School in 1889. After his graduation, Stengel worked in several capacities for a number of institutions. He interned for 18 months at Philadelphia General Hospital. In 1891, at the close of his residency, Stengel first served as quiz master in pathology at the Penn Medical School; the following year he was elected a pathologist at the German Hospital (now Lankenau). In 1893 he became laboratory assistant to William Pepper, professor of medicine and provost of the University of Pennsylvania; in this position he also served as a lecturer in clinical medicine at Penn. From 1896 to 1898 Stengel also held the position of clinical professor of medicine with Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania.
In 1898, he succeeded Pepper as director of Penn's William Pepper Laboratory; the following year, he was named a professor of clinical medicine at Penn. In 1911 Stengel became a full professor, accepting the chair of clinical medicine. Stengel was named the University's vice president in charge of medical affairs in 1931. He held this position for the rest of his life.
Outside of the University of Pennsylvania, Stengel was affiliated with other medical schools and various medical and scientific organizations. From 1896 to 1898 Stengel held the position of clinical professor of medicine with Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania. Later in his career he was a consulting physician to Philadelphia General Hospital, Children's Hospital, Jewish Hospital (later merged into Einstein), Abington Memorial Hospital, and Norristown State Hospital. He was named as president of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia in 1934. Stengel also served as president of the Wistar Institute of Anatomy and Biology and was a member of the American Philosophical Society, the Association of American Physicians, the Philadelphia Pathological Society, and the National Advisory Health Council.
During World War I he served as a major in the U.S. Army Reserve Corps in charge of the U.S. Public Health Services. His most important national post was as president of the American College of Physicians from 1925 to 1927. He also served as a major in the Medical Reserve Corps, with service during World War I with the Public Health Service in Pennsylvania.
He was elected a Fellow to The College of Physicians of Philadelphia in 1895, and serves as its President from 1934 until 1937.
Stengel married Martha Otis Pepper, a niece of Provost William Pepper, in February 1909; they raised two sons and a daughter. Stengel died at his Philadelphia home on April 10, 1939.
Adapted from "Alfred Stengel (1868-1939)," from the University of Pennsylvania's Penn Biographies: http://www.archives.upenn.edu/people/1800s/stengel_alfred.html
This small collection of Alfred Stengel's presidential papers consists of one letter, recommending three Fellows for the By-Laws Committee, dated February 1, 1936; and a typescript copy of Stengel's presidential address, delivered on January 6, 1936.
George P. Muller was born in Philadelphia on June 25, 1877. He earned his M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Medical School in 1899. His internship was at Lankenau Hospital under the mentoring of Dr. John P. Deaver. In 1902 he returned to Penn where he began his surgical training as a junior assistant to Dr. Charles H. Frazier, the chairman of the department. At the same time, he was named an instructor in the department of anatomy.
During World War I, he was active in establishing policies for the management of thoracic injuries and the treatment of empyema. He was one of the first to describe the removal of foreign bodies from the lung as reported in a case of bullet removal in 1918.
After serving with distinction in the armed forces in World War I, he was made a clinical professor of surgery and, in 1918, was named chair of surgery at the Graduate School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania. He held that position until 1931, at which time he returned to Lankenau Hospital as a senior surgeon. In 1932 he became the 16th president of The American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS).
In 1936, at the age of 59, Muller was named the co-chairman of the Surgery Department at Jefferson Medical College, along with Dr. Thomas A. Shallow. In 1939 Muller was named the first Grace Revere Osler Professor of Surgery at Jefferson. During the late 1930s, there were an increasing number of resections for pulmonary neoplasms, and Muller was one of the first in Philadelphia to perform a pneumonectomy for this disease. He was instrumental in the introduction of the use of intravenous administration in the management of proper fluid balance and the newly discovered sulfonamides.
He was elected a Fellow to The College of Physicians of Philadelphia in 1905 and served as its President from 1937 to 1940.
Muller retired in 1946 and died in 1947.
Source: Edie, Richard N. "Historical perspectives of The American Association for Thoracic Surgery: George P. Muller, MD, ScD (1877-1947)." The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery 129 (1): 207-208.
This small collection of George Muller's presidential papers consists of correspondence, a report, and newsclippings regarding the College's discussion of the New York Academy of Medicine's tax exempt status and the difficulties surrounding that status, all dating from 1938-1939, during Muller's presidency.
John Heysham Gibbon, Jr., son of physician John H. Gibbon, was born in Philadelphia on 29 September 1903. He married Mary ("Maly") Hopkinson in 1931; they had four children. Gibbon died on 5 February 1973.
Gibbon received an A.B. from Princeton University in 1923, then an M.D. from Jefferson Medical College in 1927. After an internship at Pennsylvania Hospital, he became a Fellow in Surgery at Harvard Medical School, 1930-1934, then a Fellow in Surgical Research at the University of Pennsylvania, 1936-1942. After service in World War II, Gibbon joined the faculty at Jefferson Medical College as professor of surgery and director of surgical research. He developed and perfected an extracorporeal heart lung machine for use during vascular surgery; it was first used successfully with a human patient at Jefferson in May 1953.
Gibbon was a member of many professional organizations, including the American Surgical Association, American Association of Thoracic Surgery, the Society for Clinical Surgery, and the Society for Vascular Surgery. He was elected to fellowship in the College of Physicians of Philadelphia in 1934 and served as its President from 1964 to 1966.
This small collection of John Gibbon's correspondence dates to 1964 and includes correspondence to and from Gibbon about the possibility of funding from the Philadelphia Foundation.
George Blumstein was born in Philadelphia on 26 November 1904, the third child of immigrant parents who arrived from Latvia in their childhood, Aaron Harry Blumstein and Sarah Deborah Lazer. He completed his pre-medical education at Temple University, and then went on to Temple University Medical School, graduating in 1929. After serving an internship at Mt. Sinai Hospital (later to be a part of Albert Einstein Medical Center), Blumstein joined the medical staff of both Mt. Sinai and Temple University Hospital and opened a private office for the practice of medicine. In 1935, he married Molly Goldman, a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania; they had one son.
He became an instructor in medicine in 1932, and rose to be a clinical professor of medicine and immunology in 1964. At that time, he also became the chief of the Clinic of Allergy and Immunology at Temple, where he continued to work until 1975, when he became Clinical Professor Emeritus. In 1983 he received Temple's Distinguished Service Faculty Award which reflected the opinions of both faculty and students. Blumstein also attained the rank of attending in medicine and chief of allergy at Albert Einstein Medical Center, where he served as chairman of the Committee on Postgraduate Education.
In 1944 he was elected president of the Philadelphia Allergy Society, and in 1961 president of the American Academy of Allergy and Immunology. Because of his dedicated involvement in all of the educational and structural activities of the Academy, he was given its Distinguished Service Award in 1970, and in March 1990 he posthumously received a Distinguished Clinician Award from the same organization.
Blumstein became a Fellow of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia in 1949. He was the chairman of the S. Weir Mitchell Associates Committee, which raised the endowment supporting the library's medical periodical collection; more than two hundred journals were endowed by 1967. At that time, he was elected vice-president of the College, and served as its president from 1970-1972. The next fund raising activity in which Dr. Blumstein had a leading role was the Third Century Fund Campaign, which brought together enough money to renovate the Mutter Museum and establish the Francis Clark Wood Institute for the History of Medicine.
In 1983, he became a member of a committee called "Medicine and Society," which initiated a series of lectures for the general public. These were supported by a grant from the Meyer Goldman Foundation, of which he was the executor. Eight lectures were given annually until 1986 on subjects ranging from "Various Perspectives of Aging" to "Health Care: Theirs and Ours," which presented comparisons of our health care system with that of England, China, Scandinavia, and Canada. Many other medical and ethical issues were addressed in various forms, leading to interesting and instructive discussions.
He died in 1989, on his way to medical rounds at Temple University Hospital.
Source: Stupniker, Sonia. "Memoir of George I. Blumstein, 1904-1989." Transactions and Studies of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia 5, no. 12 (1990): 111-114.
This small collection of George Blumstein's presidential papers dates from 1970 to 1971 and includes memoranda and newsletters sent to College Fellows during Blumstein's presidency.
Francis C. Wood, Philadelphia physician and teacher, was born in South Africa in 1901. In 1926, he married Mary Louise Woods, with whom he had three children: Francis Clark, Jr. (b. 1928), Elizabeth Vance (b. 1930), and Lawrence Crane (b. 1935). Dr. Wood died on December 16, 1990.
At age 12, Wood returned with his family to Ohio, where he attended Wooster Academy. In 1918, he entered Princeton University and graduated in 1922. Wood then attended medical school at the University of Pennsylvania, graduating in 1926. After completing a two year residency at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Wood began studying cardiology with Charles C. Wolferth. It was during this period (approximately 1931 to 1941) that Wood did his important research, including the development of precordial leads for the electrocardiograph. Starting in 1931, Wood began teaching in the School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.
Wood's academic career was interrupted in 1942, when he went on active duty in the U.S. Army as a staff member of the 20th General Hospital. After training in Louisiana, the unit was sent to the China-Burma-India theater, where it manned a two-thousand-bed hospital near the base of the Burma Road in Assam, India. Wood eventually became Chief of the Medical Services of the hospital.
After the war, Wood returned to the United States and the University of Pennsylvania. In 1947, he was appointed a full Professor of Medicine and, in the same year, succeeded Dr. O. H. Perry Pepper as Chairman of the School of Medicine. Wood served in this latter capacity until 1965. He continued, however, to teach and practice in the Hospital of University of Pennsylvania until a few years before his death.
Wood's association with the College of Physicians of Philadelphia began in 1932, when he was elected a fellow. He served as vice-president in 1964 and then, from 1967 to 1969, as its president. After finishing his final term as president, Wood continued to serve the College in a number of capacities, including as a member of the Advisory Committee to the Wood Institute for the History of Medicine.
This small collection of Francis C. Wood's presidential papers dates from 1971 to 1973 and includes correspondence to and from Wood and presidential newsletters sent to College Fellows during Wood's presidency, as well as a bibliography of some of Wood's published works.
Robert S. Pressman (1911-1995) graduated from the Temple University School of Medicine in 1946 and later received a Master of Medical Science degree in Internal Medicine from the University of Pennsylvania. Pressman served as an Associate Professor of Medicine at Temple University and as head of the infectious diseases section at the Albert Einstein Medical Center. He was a president of the Philadelphia County Medical Society and of the Pennsylvania Society of Internal Medicine (1968-1969).
He also served as president of the medical staff at Albert Einstein Medical Center. Pressman was elected a fellow of the College of Physicians in 1955 and served as its president from 1984 to 1986. He also served on several College committees, including the Committees on Audit, Fellowship, Finance, Major Gifts, and Nominations, and he was also an S. Weir Mitchell Associate and an active supporter of the New Century Fund.
This small collection of Robert Pressman's correspondence dates from 1984 to 1985 and consists of acknowledgement letters sent to donors for contributions to the College, College committee assignments and meetings, and announcements of College lectures.