Minute Book of the Faculty of the Female Medical College of Pennsylvania

A primary source collection documenting the early governance, faculty deliberations, and institutional development of the first medical school for women in the United States.

---

Overview

The Minute Book of the Faculty of the Female Medical College of Pennsylvania is a bound volume of faculty meeting minutes spanning the first five years of the college’s existence (1850‑1855). The book is preserved as a digitized collection of scanned pages (TIFF and JPEG) and accompanied by a JSON metadata record. It offers a detailed view of the college’s internal decision‑making processes, including faculty appointments, investigations, by‑law drafting, resignations, building plans, and interactions with the board of trustees.

---

Historical Context

| Item | Detail | |------|--------| | Institution | Female Medical College of Pennsylvania (FMCP) | | Founded | 1850, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | | Significance | First medical school in the United States to admit women; a pioneering institution in women’s higher education and medical training | | Faculty | Seven founding professors (see below) | | Governance | Faculty meetings held at the Philadelphia College of Medicine and the FMCP’s own premises; oversight by a board of trustees | | Key Events | 1850: establishment; 1850‑1855: formative years; 1855: building expansion and administrative restructuring |

---

Collection Description

Metadata (File 1)

```json { "id": "01K9QQC3NTXYM6B4TH0EYTG1TT", "title": "Minute Book of the Faculty of the Female Medical College of Pennsylvania", "type": "Text", "creator": [ "N. R. Mosely, M.D.", "Goadby, M.D.", "J. S. Longshore, M.D.", "C. W. Gleason, M.D.", "M. W. Dickson, M.D.", "A. D. Challoner, M.D.", "Sas. F. X. McCloskey, M.D., A.M., L.L.D." ], "institution": "test", "created": "1850-1855", "language": "en", "subjects": [ "Medical education", "Faculty meetings", "Medical profession", "By-laws", "Resignations", "College administration" ], "description": "This minute book contains records of faculty meetings of the Female Medical College of Pennsylvania, including discussions on faculty appointments, investigations, by‑laws, and resignations.", "access_url": "PLACEHOLDER", "source": "PINAX", "rights": "", "place": "Philadelphia, Pennsylvania" } ```

• Creator: The seven founding professors who served on the faculty.
• Institution: The collection is held by the test repository (placeholder for the actual institutional repository).
• Access URL: Not yet provided; the placeholder indicates that a public link will be added once the digital asset is fully published.
• Rights: No explicit rights statement; the collection is presumed to be in the public domain given its age.

Physical and Digital Assets

| File | Filename | Type | Size (bytes) | OCR Excerpt | |------|----------|------|--------------|-------------| | 2 | `a092001003.tif` | TIFF | 49,137,236 | — | | 3 | `a092001003.jpg` | JPEG | 401,406 | Philadelphia June 25th, 1850… | | 4 | `a092001001.tif` | TIFF | 49,135,372 | — | | 5 | `a092001001.jpg` | JPEG | 318,066 | Minute Book of the Faculty of the “Female Medical College of Pennsylvania” | | 6 | `a092001004.tif` | TIFF | 49,137,272 | — | | 7 | `a092001004.jpg` | JPEG | 395,233 | board of Trustees. On motion it was resolved… |

• TIFF files: High‑resolution scans of the original pages; no OCR data provided in the metadata.
• JPEG files: Lower‑resolution images with extracted OCR text, giving a readable transcription of the page content.

---

Contents & Notable Events

1850 – Founding and Early Governance

| Date | Location | Key Motions | Committees | Outcomes | |------|----------|-------------|------------|----------| | June 25, 1850 | Philadelphia | 1. Adopt minutes of previous meeting. 2. Resolve to investigate Dr. R. Burr’s character. 3. Resolve to draft by‑laws. | Investigation Committee: Drs. McCloskey, Mosely, Challoner.
By‑laws Committee: Drs. Mosely, Challoner, Longshore. | Minutes adopted. Committees appointed. | | July 2, 1850 | Philadelphia College of Medicine | 1. Adopt minutes of previous meeting. 2. Accept reports from both committees. 3. Dr. R. Burr tendered resignation. | – | Committees discharged. Resignation forwarded to trustees. |

• Dr. R. Burr: A faculty member whose conduct was under scrutiny; he resigned following the investigation.

1855 – Expansion and Administrative Changes

| Date | Location | Key Motions | Committees | Outcomes | |------|----------|-------------|------------|----------| | August 27, 1855 | Exchange, Philadelphia | 1. Appoint Prof. Longshore as chairman. 2. Appoint committee to confer with trustees on building alterations. 3. Refer building plan to Prof. Gleason & Mosely. 4. Refer support room construction to Prof. Dickinson, Chaloner, Longshore. 5. Elect Prof. Dickinson to chair Materia Medica. | Building Committee: Prof. McHoskey (chair), Prof. Gleason & Mosely (plan review). | Building plan approved. Support room construction authorized. Prof. Dickinson elected to chair Materia Medica. | | Additional Motions | – | 1. Publish college announcement (5,000 copies). 2. Request trustees to fill vacancy left by Dr. R. Burr. | – | Announcement scheduled for publication. Trustees tasked with filling vacancy. |

• Board of Trustees: Acted on faculty motions, including filling faculty vacancies and approving building plans.
• William S. Butler: President of the college, responsible for securing rent and overseeing operations.

---

Faculty and Key Personnel

| Name | Title | Notes | |------|-------|-------| | N. R. Mosely, M.D. |