Call Number:

291

Repository:

Drexel University: College of Medicine Legacy Center

Extent:

2.0 boxes (0.75 linear feet)

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Rachel L. Bodley papers, Drexel University College of Medicine Archives.

Date:

1856-1891 (inclusive)

Creator:

Bodley, Rachel L., 1831-1888

Abstract:

This collection documents some of Dr. Bodley's endeavors as Dean of the Faculty of the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania.

Rachel Littler Bodley, A.M., M.D. was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, December, 1831. The daughter of Rebecca W. Talbot and Anthony R. Bodley, Rachel Bodley was raised in an environment which enthusiastically supported women’s education. Cincinnati, with its antebellum epithet "the Athens of the West," listed 10 female seminaries in 1839, among them Catherine Beecher's Western Female Institute. Bodley's mother, of Quaker descent, opened a private school which Rachel attended until she entered the Wesleyan Female Seminary in 1844. In 1849, upon graduating from Wesley at the age of 18, she was appointed assistant teacher.

In 1860, Bodley left the Wesleyan Seminary, where she had become preceptor in the collegiate studies department. She went to Philadelphia and enrolled as a special student in Chemistry and Physics at the Polytechnic College. During this period she became acquainted with Emeline Horton Cleveland of the Woman's Hospital and Isaac Barton, member of the Board of Corporators of the Woman's Medical College of Pa. It is possible that she studied practical anatomy and physiology at the WMCP during this time. 1862-1865: Served as Professor of Natural Sciences in the Cincinnati Female Seminary. Became nationally distinguished as natural scientist. 1865: Elected to Chair of Chemistry and Toxicology at the Woman's Medical College of Pa. Although she was not the first woman to teach chemistry in a medical college, she was the first to hold the title of Professor of Chemistry.

1871: Member of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. Awarded the first honorary M.A. ever awarded by the Wesleyan Female College in Cincinnati.

1873: Member of the Cincinnati Society of Natural History.

1873-74: Vice-president of the Joseph Priestley Centennial Commemoration.

1874: Appointed Dean of the Faculty of the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania upon resignation of Professor Emeline Cleveland.

1876: Member of the New York Academy of Sciences. Founding and first woman member of the American Chemical Society of New York City. 1879: Awarded honorary M.D. by Woman's Medical College of Pa.

1880: Member of the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia

1882: Member of the Educational Society of Philadelphia;

1884: Elected to the Board of Public Education in 1884 (Jan. 1) for a term of 3 yrs. Bodley and Mary P. ("E."?) Mumford, were the first women directors on the Philadelphia school board.

1884-87: Served as director of the twenty-ninth school district.

1885: Helped to form the Christian Association at Woman's Medical College Pa, and to secure for it a permanent home in "Brinton Hall."

1887: Re-elected as director of the twenty-ninth school district.

1888: Deceased June 15, 1888.

The bulk of this collection consits of correspondence between Dr. Bodley and various WMCP faculty, students and alumnae. The collection also contains academic and administraive documents. Examples of the administrative materials includes Faculty of WMC by-laws, Examination Committee reports, and financial records. Academic material such as published speeches and lectures provide a robust insight into the institution's mission, goals and methods during the last quarter of the nineteenth century. This collection also includes material that elucidates Dr. Bodley's interest in medical missionary work.