Call Number:

Ms. Coll. 1228

Repository:

University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts

Extent:

0.1 linear feet (1 volume)

Language Note:

Captions of photographs are in German.

Preferred Citation:

Edward C. Kirk photograph album, circa 1909-1914, Ms. Coll. 1228, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania

Date:

circa 1909-1914 (inclusive)

Creator:

Kirk, Edward C. (Edward Cameron), 1856-1933

Form:

Photograph albums and Photographs

Abstract:

Edward C. Kirk (1856-1933) was a prominent dentist in Philadelphia during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This photograph album, containing seventeen photographs of European medical professionals, may have been assembled following Kirk's trip to Berlin for the International Dental Congress which was held there in 1909.

Edward C. Kirk was a prominent dentist in Philadelphia during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Kirk was born on December 9, 1856, in Sterling, Illinois, to Edward N. and Eliza Marcella (Cameron) Kirk. He graduated from the Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery in 1878 and quickly became a teacher. At the University of Pennsylvania, he served as a demonstrator of prosthetic dentistry from 1878 to 1879; as lecturer on operative dentistry from 1892 to 1896; as professor of clinical dentistry from 1896 to 1914; as professor of materia medica from 1910 to 1914; and professor of dental pathology and therapeutics from 1914 to 1917. He served as Dean of the School of Dental Medicine from 1896 to 1917. While dean, he was instrumental in combining the Dental Department with the Thomas W. Evans Museum and Institute Society; he published the American Text-Book on Operative Dentistry (1900); and he worked to enhance the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine's international reputation. He served as Secretary-General for the Federation Dentaire Internationale (FDI); as chairman of the American National Committee for the International Dental Congress which was held in Berlin in August, 1909; and as editor of the Dental Cosmos from 1891 to 1930. In 1917, he left teaching to become vice president of the S.S. White Dental Manufacturing Company, a position which he held until 1930. He was awarded the gold medal from the Societé d'Odontologie de Paris for original research in dental research in 1904 or 1905.

He married Helen Theodora (Clements) Kirk (1871-1954) on October 6, 1892, and they were the parents of six daughters: Edith, Carrie, Dorothy, Helen, Marcella, and Barbara. Kirk died on July 20, 1933 at the age of 76.

This photograph album, probably assembled by Dr. Edward C. Kirk, contains seventeen photographs of medical professionals from modern Germany, Poland, Austria, and Ukraine. Each photograph is captioned with the name of the doctor and city of practice or origin. The seventeen men assembled are Geh. Med. Rat Prof. Dr. med. Partsch, Hofrat Prof. W. Pfaff, Privatdozent Dr. von Wunschheim, Dr. med Konrad Cohn, O. Weidemann, Dr. med. Barra, Dr. med. Neuschmidt, R. Schönwald, Dr. med. Reif, Hauptmeyer, Nauenburg, Kähne, M. Stern, Hilfer, R. Fleischer, and Dr. Allerhand. The information provided in the caption has been reproduced exactly in the contents list.

This photograph album may have been assembled following Kirk's trip to Berlin for the International Dental Congress which was held there in 1909. The vast majority of the photographs are undated, but those that do contain a date are from 1912 and 1914. A few of the photographs are signed, but their relation to Kirk and each other is unclear.