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Records of Fife-Hamill Memorial Health Center for Southeast 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:
MSS 6/003
Repository:
Historical Medical Library of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia
Extent:
1.6 linear feet (5 boxes)
Language:
English
Date:
1948-1960 (inclusive)
Creator:
Fife-Hamill Memorial Health Center for Southeast Philadelphia
Form:
Film reels, Correspondence, and Minutes
Abstract:

The Fife Hamill Memorial Health Center for Southeast Philadelphia, a private community health center to promote public health and preventive medicine, was formed in 1948 by a merger of the funds and resources of the Babies' Hospital of Philadelphia and the Philadelphia Child Health Society. Fife Hamill was located at 7th and Delancey Streets, in the building formerly occupied by the Babies' Hospital. The Center was administered by a board of managers composed of representatives of Babies' Hospital, the Philadelphia Child Health Society, and Jefferson Medical College. A representative from the Southern Dispensary joined the board of managers in 1952. The Center was formed to foster preventive medicine on the neighborhood level by providing such services as immunization and physical examinations of children; a nursery school; a nursing service for families; and a health maintenance clinic, emphasizing education, nutrition, and discussion of social and psychological problems, for the general public. This clinic served also as a teaching facility for medical students at Jefferson and Hahnemann Medical College. Fife Hamill was responsible for the urban population from Market Street to Snyder Avenue and Tenth Street east to the Delaware River.

From its formation, Fife Hamill worked closely with the Philadelphia Department of Public Health. In 1950, it became a designated City health center, run jointly by the Fife Hamill board and the Department of Public Health. The Center's director was appointed by the Department of Public Health. By 1953, Fife Hamill was responsible for all public health activities in Philadelphia between the Schuylkill and Delaware River, from Vine to Wharton Street.

The Fife Hamill Memorial Health Center served as a model for a decentralized public health program in Philadelphia. Due to shifting population, municipal support for Fife Hamill was transferred to a new City health center at Broad and Lombard Streets. Fife Hamill was closed in 1960. Its Women's Committee became associated with the Children's Aid Society of Philadelphia, and the Corporation of Babies' Hospital of Philadelphia was merged with St. Christopher's Hospital for Children.

The collection contains the official records and proceedings of the Board of Managers of Fife Hamill Memorial Health Center for Southeast Philadelphia, 1947-1960. Minutes and reports of Fife Hamill's Women's Committee, 1948-1960, and a 16mm motion picture, circa 1956, showing the services available at the Center, are also included.

Series 1 contains the minute books and related records of the Board of Managers. In addition to the minutes, the series also contains a few items of secretarial correspondence, minutes of the Executive, Finance, Medical, and Nursing Committee, and monthly financial reports and statistical reports on the use of the Center. Records before 1951 are organized by type; from 1951 to 1960, the records are divided by session with relevant reports and committee minutes attached to each meeting of the Board of Managers. Notable items in Series 1 include a 1951 edition of the Center's by laws; a request for municipal support, 1951, and a functional analysis, 1953, both containing background information on the Center; and the "Social Audit", a 1957 evaluation of the progress and problems of Fife Hamill. Since Fife Hamill conducted all operations of Babies' Hospital from 1948 to 1960, minutes of each annual meeting of the Board of Managers and the Corporation of Babies' Hospital of Philadelphia and a copy of the joint plan of merger with St. Christopher's Hospital for Children are also part of this series.

The minute books of the Women's Committee, 1948-1960, along with occasional correspondence and reports, are in Series 2.

The records of Fife Hamill Memorial Health Center for Southeast Philadelphia were donated to the Historical Collections of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia in conjunction with a donation of material concerning Babies' Hospital of Philadelphia by Deborah Vaughan in 1991.

The collection was processed and catalogued in 1991.

Publisher
Historical Medical Library of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia

Collection Inventory

1. 1948 November 16-1948 December 16, 16 November 1948 - 16 December 1948.
Box 1
2. 1949 January 20-1949 November 17, 20 January 1949 - 17 November 1949.
Box 1
3. 1950 January 26-1950 November 30, 26 January 1950 - 30 November 1950.
Box 1
4. 1951 January 25, 25 January 1951.
Box 1
5. 1951 March 1, 01 March 1951.
Box 1
6. 1951 March 29, 29 March 1951.
Box 1
7. 1951 April 26, 26 April 1951.
Box 1
8. 1951 May 24, 24 May 1951.
Box 1
9. 1951 June 22, 22 June 1951.
Box 1
10. 1951 July August, 1951 July Aug.
Box 1
11. 1951 Sept. 27, 27 September 1951.
Box 1
12. 1951 October 25, 25 October 1951.
Box 1
13. 1951 November 29, 29 November 1951.
Box 1
14. 1951 December, 1951 Dec. 1948 - 1951.
Box 1
2. Secretarial correspondence, 1950.
Box 1
3. Executive Committee minutes, 18 November 1948 - 06 July 1950.
Box 1
4. Finance Committee minutes, 18 January 1949 - 26 May 1950.
Box 1
5. Lists of committee members, 1947 - 1949.
Box 1
6. Medical Committee minutes, 14 February 1949 - 16 February 1950.
Box 1
7. Nursing Committee minutes and reports, 19 January 1949 - 18 March 1949.
Box 1
8. Service reports [monthly], 03 April 1954.
Box 1
9. Treasurer's reports [monthly], 03 April 1954.
Box 1
10. Women's Committee minutes, 29 April 1949 - 04 October 1950.
Box 1
1. 1952 January 24, 24 January 1952.
Box 1
2. 1952 February 28, 28 February 1952.
Box 1
3. 1952 April 3, 03 April 1952.
Box 1
4. 1952 May 22, 22 May 1952.
Box 1
5. 1952 June 26, 26 June 1952.
Box 2
6. 1952 Sept. 25, 25 September 1952.
Box 2
7. 1952 November 6, 06 November 1952.
Box 2
8. 1952 December 11, 11 December 1952.
Box 2
9. 1953 January 15, 15 January 1953.
Box 2
10. 1953 February 19, 19 February 1953.
Box 2
11. 1953 March 19, 19 March 1953.
Box 2
12. 1953 May 14, 14 May 1953.
Box 2
13. 1953 June 11, 11 June 1953.
Box 2
14. 1953 October 1, 01 October 1953.
Box 2
15. 1953 November 5, 05 November 1953.
Box 2
16. 1953 December 10, 10 December 1953.
Box 2
17. 1954 January 28, 28 January 1954.
Box 2
18. 1954 March 17, 17 March 1954.
Box 2
19. 1954 May 13, 13 May 1954 1952 - 1954.
Box 2
1. 1954 Sept. 30, 30 September 1954.
Box 2
2. 1954 November 18, 18 November 1954.
Box 2
3. 1955 January 20, 20 January 1955.
Box 2
4. 1955 March 10, 10 March 1955.
Box 2
5. 1955 June 2, 02 June 1955.
Box 2
6. 1956 January 12, 12 January 1956.
Box 2
7. 1956 March 22, 22 March 1956.
Box 2
8. [1956 May 31], [1956 May 31].
Box 2
9. 1956 December 6, 06 December 1956.
Box 2
10. 1957 January 1956 March, 10 May 1962.
Box 2
11. 1957 April 4, 04 April 1957.
Box 2
12. 1957 December 12, 12 December 1957.
Box 2
13. 1958 June 5; 14. 1958 November 13, 05 June 1958 1958; 1958.
Box 3
1. 1959 May 14, 14 May 1959.
Box 3
2. 1960 April 21, 21 April 1960.
Box 3

1. Lists of committee members, 1948 - 1952.
Box 3
2. Correspondence re United Christmas Bazaar, 1948 - 1953.
Box 3
3. Women's Committee minutes, 01 December 1948 - 01 December 1954.
Box 3
4. Nursing Committee minutes and reports, 1949 - 1951.
Box 3
5. Nursery School reports [monthly], 1949 - 1950.
Box 3
6. Correspondence re: Philadelphia Charity Ball, 1948 - 1952.
Box 3
Subseries 2.2 Women's committee minute book, 1955 - 1960.
Box 3-4
Series 3 FILM OF FIFE HAMILL SERVICES, circa 1956.
Box 4

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