Faculty Meetings of the Female Medical College of Pennsylvania, 1850-1853

Version: 7 (current) | Updated: 11/13/2025, 10:56:43 PM

Added description

Description

Faculty Meetings of the Female Medical College of Pennsylvania, 1850‑1853

Overview

This archival item is a collection of faculty minutes and resolutions from the Female Medical College of Pennsylvania (F.M.C.) covering the years 1850 through 1853. The documents are handwritten or typed in English (US) and include formal records of meetings, motions, votes, and administrative decisions. The collection is held in the Drexel Production repository and is catalogued under the PINAX system.

Background

The F.M.C. was founded in 1850 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, by the Legislature of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as the first U.S. medical college dedicated to women’s education. Faculty members—Dr. Gleason, Dr. McCluskey, Dr. Longshore, Dr. Johnson, Dr. Moseley, Dr. Livezey, Dr. Foster, Dr. Dickeson, Dr. Gregory, Dr. Mickison, Dr. Cornell, Dr. Wolfe, Dr. Harvey, Dr. Rolfe, Dr. Pancoast, Dr. McClintonck, and Dr. Lively—met regularly to govern the institution, appoint chairs, manage finances, and set academic standards. Meetings were held in Philadelphia, Boston, and Bennington, Vermont.

Contents

The collection contains:
  • Minutes of faculty meetings dated November 9 1850 to January 26 1853, documenting motions on rent, gas fees, and faculty appointments.
  • Resolutions on topics such as the cessation of lecturing after the first bell, advance payment of room rentals, and the refusal of unauthorized fixtures.
  • Records of committee appointments (Accounts, Raising Funds, Medicines, Museum, Endowment) and their reports.
  • Documentation of faculty elections, including the appointment of Dr. Mickison as Professor of Chemistry and Dr. Rolfe and Dr. Pancoast as Chairs of Anatomy.
  • Rules for graduation, including application deadlines, required subjects, thesis submission, and voting procedures.
  • Policies on student fees, beneficence, and the establishment of an association to sustain the college.

Ancillary documents include letters from the Secretary of the College, notices of resignation, and announcements of commencements.

Scope

The collection covers the period from the founding of the F.M.C. in 1850 through the first annual commencement in 1853. Geographically, the records refer to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Boston, Massachusetts; and Bennington, Vermont. Topics span medical education, faculty governance, financial administration, student admissions, and institutional policy. Excluded are student transcripts, faculty biographies, and external correspondence not directly related to faculty meetings.

Entities

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Entity Relationships

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Raw Cheimarros Data

**1. Extraction – new entities & direct relationships from the PINAX metadata (file @file_pinax)**  

```cheimarrOS
@file_pinax -> documents -> @faculty_meetings_metadata:document {
    title: "Faculty Meetings of the Female Medical College of Pennsylvania, 1850-1853",
    creator: [
        @dr_gleason, @dr_mccluskey, @dr_longshore, @dr_langshore, @dr_johnson,
        @dr_moseley, @dr_livezey, @dr_foster, @dr_dickeson, @dr_gregory,
        @dr_mickison, @dr_cornell, @dr_wolfe, @dr_harvey, @dr_rolfe,
        @dr_pancoast, @dr_mcclintonck, @dr_lively,
        @female_medical_college_of_pennsylvania:organization
    ],
    institution: @drexel_production,
    created_range: {start: @date_1850, end: @date_1853},
    language: "en-US",
    description: "Minutes and resolutions from faculty meetings of the Female Medical College of Pennsylvania, covering topics such as faculty appointments, student fees, room rentals, and graduation requirements."
}
```

**2. Synthesis – linking the new metadata to existing entities & building collection‑level abstractions**

```cheimarrOS
# Place entities not yet defined
@bennington_vermont:place {full_name: "Bennington, Vermont"}

# Subject concepts derived from the PINAX “subjects” list
@medical_education:concept {description: "Education and training in the medical sciences"}
@medical_degrees:concept {description: "Academic degrees awarded in medicine (e.g., M.D.)"}
@college_administration:concept {description: "Governance and administrative functions of a college"}
@medical_curriculum:concept {description: "Course of study and instructional content for medical students"}
@medical_students:concept {description: "Individuals enrolled in medical training"}
@medical_faculty:concept {description: "Teachers and professors in a medical college"}

# Collection‑level abstraction for the whole set of meetings (1850‑1853)
@faculty_meetings_collection:concept {
    description: "Aggregated minutes, resolutions, and related images of the Female Medical College of Pennsylvania faculty meetings (1850‑1853)"
}

# Direct links from the metadata document to subjects, places, and collection
@faculty_meetings_metadata -> subject -> [
    @faculty_meetings:concept,
    @medical_education:concept,
    @college_administration:concept,
    @medical_degrees:concept,
    @medical_curriculum:concept,
    @medical_students:concept,
    @medical_faculty:concept
]

@faculty_meetings_metadata -> place -> [
    @philadelphia,
    @boston,
    @bennington_vermont
]

@faculty_meetings_metadata -> part_of -> @faculty_meetings_collection:concept

# Link the image collection (already defined in subdirectory “Faculty_Meetings_Images”) to the same collection abstraction
@faculty_meetings_images:document -> part_of -> @faculty_meetings_collection:concept

# Show the relationship between the metadata document and the image collection (they describe the same set of meetings)
@faculty_meetings_metadata -> related_to -> @faculty_meetings_images:document
```

**3. Cross‑subdirectory synthesis – highlighting patterns & connections**

```cheimarrOS
# All creators listed in the PINAX metadata are already present as persons (or the college itself) in the “Faculty_Meetings_1850s” subdirectory.
# Thus the metadata document ties together the same set of individuals who appear in the minute‑by‑minute resolutions.

# Temporal span of the collection (1850‑1853) matches the range of meeting events defined in the minutes:
@faculty_meetings_collection:concept -> covers_timeframe -> {start: @date_1850, end: @date_1853}

# Geographic scope (Philadelphia, Boston, Bennington) mirrors the locations of specific meetings:
@meeting_1852_03_03:event {where: @boston}
@meeting_1850_11_09:event {where: @philadelphia}
# (Additional Boston‑area meeting captured by the metadata’s “place” list.)

# Subject concepts introduced here (e.g., @medical_education) are repeatedly referenced in the resolutions:
@resolution_dean_election:document {text: "...Dean shall elect one of their members..."} -> relates_to -> @college_administration:concept
@resolution_examination_commencement:document {text: "...Examination of candidates for graduation..."} -> relates_to -> @medical_degrees:concept
@resolution_form_association:document {text: "...Form an association..."} -> relates_to -> @college_administration:concept

# The image files listed under @faculty_meetings_images are the visual counterparts of the OCR‑derived minutes referenced throughout the 1850‑1853 meetings.
# Therefore, the collection abstraction unites textual (metadata, minutes) and visual (tif images) resources.
```

*All entities referenced above are either newly created (with `:type`) or previously defined in the supplied subdirectories. No common‑knowledge entities are re‑defined.*

Metadata

Version History (7 versions)

  • ✓ v7 (current) · 11/13/2025, 10:56:43 PM
    "Added description"
  • v6 · 11/13/2025, 10:49:10 PM · View this version
    "Added knowledge graph extraction"
  • v5 · 11/13/2025, 10:38:40 PM · View this version
    "Added PINAX metadata"
  • v4 · 11/13/2025, 10:31:57 PM · View this version
    "Reorganized into 2 groups"
  • v3 · 11/13/2025, 10:31:55 PM · View this version
    "Added child entity 01K9ZNHG5CQ322EECK7Q9VNDG8"
  • v2 · 11/13/2025, 10:31:52 PM · View this version
    "Added child entity 01K9ZNHD0J8VKCG1WM7ZVBF135"
  • v1 · 11/13/2025, 10:29:45 PM · View this version
    "Alphabetical chunk 1/3 (40 files)"

Additional Components

reorganization-description.txt
# Reorganization Summary

The files were organized into two primary groups based on content and file type. The first group, 'Faculty_Meetings_1850s,' contains JSON files with textual content from Faculty meetings in the 1850s, focusing on administrative decisions and resolutions. The second group, 'Faculty_Meetings_Images,' includes corresponding high-resolution TIFF images of these documents. This strategy ensures logical grouping by content and file type while avoiding unnecessary duplication.

## Groups Created

- **Faculty_Meetings_1850s**: Files containing minutes and resolutions from Faculty meetings held in the 1850s, primarily related to administrative decisions, motions, and resolutions.
- **Faculty_Meetings_Images**: High-resolution TIFF images of Faculty meeting documents, corresponding to the JSON files in the Faculty_Meetings_1850s group.

Parent

01K9ZMX6ECFN2WH1D61MTGDXCK

Children (2)