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Minutes of annual meetings, executive council, and miscellaneous committees; financial reports; correspondence; necrologies; constitution and by-laws; and ephemera of the Association of the Alumni of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University.
History and Biography
Founded on March 11, 1859 and formally incorporated on May 12, 1873, the Association of the Alumni of the College of Physicians and Surgeons (P&S) is the oldest medical school alumni association in the United States.
Besides holding annual dinners, the Alumni Association from an early date raised considerable funds for the use of P&S. Most significantly, it established a pathology laboratory for the College in 1878 and paid for its maintenance until 1888 when P&S took over its general expenses; the director’s salary, however, was paid by the Alumni Association for several more years.
The Alumni Prize was founded in 1864 and the Cartwright Prize and Lecture began in 1881 with a bequest from Benjamin Cartwright, a patient of an Alumni Association officer. In the 20th century, the Association members raised the money for Alumni Auditorium on the medical center’s campus (dedicated 1965) and continue to fund numerous scholarships.
Organization
This is not a complete listing of the items in volumes 5-14. These were apparently originally loose documents that were bound in the volumes in 1979. However, the list notes the most prominent and/or important types of records included in each volume.
Vol. 1: Minutes of Annual Meetings and Executive Council, 1859-1875
Vol. 2: Minutes of Annual Meetings and Executive Council, 1875-1894
Vol. 3: Minutes of Board of Trustees, 1873-1891
Vol. 4: Minutes of Executive Committee, 1873-1879
Vol. 5 [spine title: “Minutes and Financial Statements, 1895-1912”]:
- Minutes of the Council, Executive Council, and Annual Meetings, 1894-1912; also includes financial statements, necrologies, and occasional ephemera.
Vol. 6 [spine title: “Minutes and Financial Statements, 1911-1920”]:
- Minutes of the Executive Council & Annual Meetings, 1913-1920; also includes presidents’ and treasurers’ reports, necrologies, correspondence, committee reports, programs and other ephemera.
Vol. 7 [spine title: “Minutes and Financial Statement, Annual Reports, 1920-1928”]:
- Minutes of the Executive Council & Annual Meetings, 1920-1927; also includes presidents’ and treasurers’ reports, correspondence, committee reports, necrologies (up through 1925), and programs.
Vol. 8 [spine title: “Minutes and Financial Statements, Constitution, Membership Lists, 1928-1935”]:
- Minutes of the Executive Council & Annual Meetings, 1928-1935;
- “Review of the Financial History & Funds of the Association of the Alumni of the College of Physicians and Surgeons in the City of New York,” c. 1936 (40 p.);
- Membership lists, c.1930s.
Vol. 9 [spine title: “Minutes and Financial Statements and Letters, Constitution, 1872-1894”]:
- Minutes, correspondence, and financial records relating to the establishment and maintenance of the Alumni Association Pathological Laboratory, the Cartwright Lecture and various Alumni Prizes, 1873-1894
- Commencement programs and tickets, annual dinner menus, and other ephemera, 1870s-1880s
- Financial reports, 1872-1873
- Treasurers’ report, 1892/93-1893/94
- Constitutions and By-laws, 1898
- Annual reports of the Alumni Association Pathological Laboratory, 1883/84 – 1888/89, 1890/91
- Necrologies, 1888/89, 1890/91-1893/94
- Agreement to form University Alumni Council of Columbia College, 1895
- Executive Committee minutes, 1893
Vol. 10 [spine title: “Minutes and Financial Statements and Letters, 1895-1946”]:
- Necrologies, 1894/95-1899/1900, 1903/04
- Treasurer’s Reports, 1894/95-1898/99, 1903/04
- Executive Committee: annual reports, 1895/96-1896/97
- P&S Centennial (1907): program, menu, seating chart, etc.
- Reports of the Alumni Association Fellows in Anatomy, 1900-1905
- Alumni Council of Columbia University: minutes and reports, 1895-1899
- List of books donated to the Pathology Dept. library by Dr. G.C. Freeborn
Vol. 11 [spine title: “Minutes and Financial Statements, 1900-1910”]:
- Prize Fund Committee minutes, 1869-1880
- Dedicated Funds Financial Statements, 1900/01 – 1911
Vols. 12-14 [spine title: “Archives”]:
A miscellany of material relating to P&S. Included are photos of selected pages of John Jones’s Plain Concise Practical Remarks on the Treatment of Wounds and Fractures (1775); 20th century articles on colonial medical education and on founding faculty member Samuel Clossy; a copy of Arthur Purdy Stout’s history of P&S; admission and matriculation tickets, commencement programs, and other ephemera; illustrations of former P&S buildings.
Box 1
Minutes of Annual Meetings and Executive Council, 1935-1939, 1954-1962 (3 folders)
Subject Headings and Related Records
Administrative Information
Ten volumes of documents were received from the Alumni Association in 1979. These contained materials that originally had been loose but were bound into volumes in 1978-79. The four volumes of early minutes (now volumes 1-4) and the loose 20th century records were received at an unknown date.