Call Number:

07

Repository:

Delaware County Historical Society

Extent:

8.25 linear feet

Language:

English

Date:

1900-1922 (bulk) and 1841-1922 (inclusive)

Creator:

Broomall, Anna Elizabeth, 1847-1931

Abstract:

Anna Elizabeth Broomall (1847-1931), from Delaware County, Pennsylvania, was a prominent physician who established one of the first clinics for out-practice maternity care in the United States. She was chief resident physician and instructor of obstetrics at the Woman's Hospital of the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania. Having an active interest in history, Broomall served as librarian and curator of the Delaware County Historical Society after she retired from medicine. The Dr. Anna E. Broomall scrapbooks, 1841-1922 (bulk 1900-1922) primarily consist of volumes of clippings that focus on historically-significant people, organizations, buildings, and events in Delaware County and Philadelphia. The collection also includes some glass-plate and film negatives as well as items, such as letters and ephemera, of historical and personal interest to Dr. Broomall.

Anna Elizabeth Broomall (1847-1931), from Upper Chichester Township in Delaware County, Pennsylvania was a prominent physician who established one of the first clinics for out-practice maternity care in the United States. She was chief resident physician at the Woman's Hospital of the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania from 1875 to 1883 and instructor of obstetrics from 1875 to 1879. She became chair of obstetrics in 1879, and served as a professor in the department from 1880 to 1903.

The daughter of Congressman John M. Broomall (1816-1894) and Elizabeth Booth (1823-1848), sister of William B. Broomall (1843-1927; judge for the Delaware County Court of Common Pleas), and aunt of John Martin Broomall (judge for the Delaware County Court), Broomall was born into a Quaker family who supported equality and higher education for women. After attending private schools in Pennsylvania, Broomall entered the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania, graduating with a doctor of medicine degree in 1871. As a student, Broomall was part of the first group of women allowed to attend clinical lectures alongside male students and physicians at Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia.

After returning from a three-year trip to Europe in 1875 where she studied obstetrics under several prominent physicians in Vienna and Paris, Broomall "returned to Philadelphia and accepted a position as chief resident physician at the Woman's Hospital in Philadelphia, determined to raise standards of instruction and care to the levels she observed in Europe. Dr. Broomall spent the next eight years as chief resident there, working hard to improve the training of nurses and care of patients. At the same time she taught at the Woman's Medical College. In 1879 she took over as chair of obstetrics after the death of Emeline Horton Cleveland, M.D. To improve the obstetrical training of her students and provide much-needed patient care she established one of the first clinics for out-practice maternity care in the county. Her clinic [Woman's Medical College Maternity] was located in South Philadelphia -- a community whose poor residents were particularly at risk of fatal complications during pregnancy and delivery.

"Dr. Broomall paid particular attention to the use of antiseptics and state-of-the-art procedures, such as Caesarean section and other methods to ease the delivery of the fetus. By the end of her tenure, the college could point to its low mortality rate (less than twenty per two thousand) compared to that of other institutions, as evidence that women physicians could practice medicine successfully, applying the very highest standards.

"Dr. Broomall was professor of obstetrics for the next twenty years, also acting as a gynecologist for the Quaker-run Friend's Asylum for the Insane in Philadelphia. She published several case studies based on her work and undertook an extensive inspection and public lecture tour which took her as far as India and Asia to visit former students on missionary duty there."

Broomall also had an active interest in history, and in 1903 when she retired from medicine, she served as librarian and curator of the Delaware County Historical Society (est. 1895).

Bibliography:

Quoted text from: National Library of Medicine. Changing the Face of Medicine (exhibition). "Dr. Anna Elizabeth Broomall." Accessed July 12, 2013. http://www.nlm.nih.gov/changingthefaceofmedicine/physicians/biography_45.html

"Dr. Anna Broomall is Dead in Chester." Public Ledger. April 5, 1931. Clipping found in collection.

The collection is organized into two series: I. Delaware County scrapbooks (substantially Chester) and II. Philadelphia scrapbooks (substantially Germantown and Center City). The volumes primarily consist of clippings with a few photographs and typed or handwritten notes that focus on historically-significant people, organizations, buildings, and events. They are largely organized by location, including neighborhoods and streets. Besides Delaware County and Philadelphia, Chester County (Pa.), New Jersey, and some other locations are represented. Most volumes are indexed.

The collection also includes some glass-plate and film negatives as well as a box of items, such as letters and ephemera, of historical and personal interest to Dr. Broomall.

An inventory of the collection is available on-site.