Unrestricted.
The collection documents a wide variety of administrative, financial, and educational affairs at P&S principally for the period 1807-1891. Included are letters of acceptance and resignation from faculty members; correspondence with the New York State Board of Regents, which had oversight of the school from 1807 to 1860; extensive financial records, especially those documenting loans from the faculty in the early years of the school; reports from numerous faculty committees; and requests from alumni for replacements of diplomas. Much of the collection appears to have originated in the office of the Secretary of the Faculty.
History and Biography
The College of Physicians and Surgeons (P&S) was established in 1807 by a charter granted by the New York State Board of Regents to the Medical Society of the County of New York. In 1811, the Regents issued a new charter which effectively ended control of P&S by the Medical Society and vested governance in a newly created Board of Trustees.
In 1814, students and faculty of the moribund Columbia College Faculty of Medicine (founded 1767) were merged into P&S. The College severed its relationship with the Regents in 1860 and forged a nominal affiliation with Columbia College. However, P&S retained its administrative and financial independence. It was not until 1891 that P&S fully merged into Columbia, becoming its “Faculty of Medicine,” although retaining its original name.
Organization
Alphabetically, usually by name, then chronologically.
The College of Physicians and Surgeons (P&S) Manuscript Collection is an artificial collection probably created in the mid-20th century. The bulk of it is made up of correspondence and other documents created or received by offices of P&S from its founding in 1807 to its merger with Columbia University in 1891. The principal office represented is the secretary of the faculty, but records of the treasurer and the registrar can also be found.
The collection documents a wide variety of administrative, financial, and educational affairs at P&S principally for the period 1807-1891. Included are letters of acceptance and resignation from faculty members; correspondence with the New York State Board of Regents, which had oversight of the school from 1807 to 1860; extensive financial records, especially those documenting loans from the faculty in the early years of the school; reports from numerous faculty committees; and requests from alumni for replacements of diplomas.
Also included in the collection are miscellaneous letters and documents, usually relating to the early history of the medical school and its faculty, that were donated to or purchased by P&S; 20th century typescripts and photostatic copies of documents relevant to the history of the school held by other institutions; and correspondence and notes of medical school reference librarians relating to inquiries about the history of the school, and its faculty and alumni.
The collection holds correspondence of many early faculty members including such prominent 19th century American physicians as John C. Dalton, Jr., John Wakefield Francis, David Hosack, William Macneven, Samuel Latham Mitchill, Valentine Mott, and John Augustine Smith.
See PDF version of finding aid.
Subject Headings and Related Records
Administrative Information
The early records of the College of Physicians and Surgeons were transferred in 1971 to the Columbia University Rare Book and Manuscript Library, where this collection appears to have been organized. In 1983 the records, now called the “P&S Manuscript Collection,” were returned to the College of Physicians and Surgeons and housed in Archives & Special Collections at the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library.
Several smaller collections acquired by purchase or donation which were added to the Collection when originally created have since been removed from these papers and reconstituted as separate collections. These are the Charles Frederick Chandler Papers; Graham Family Papers; and Edward Miller Papers.
Finding aid written by Stephen E. Novak, June 2006. The calendar of letters was created circa 1970s when the collection was first organized. It was transcribed by Thomas Leiner and revised by Stephen E. Novak in 2018.