Female Medical College of Pennsylvania Faculty Meeting Minutes, February-March 1860

Version: 4 (current) | Updated: 12/4/2025, 4:29:34 PM

Added description

Description

Faculty Meeting Minutes, February–March 1860 – Female Medical College of Pennsylvania

Overview

This collection comprises scanned pages from the faculty meeting minutes of the Female Medical College of Pennsylvania, covering the meetings held on 23 February and 1 March 1860. The material is presented in both JPEG and TIFF formats and is accompanied by a metadata file (JSON) that documents the provenance and content of the pages. The collection is housed in the Drexel Legacy Collections and is available in English.

Background

The Female Medical College of Pennsylvania, founded in 1850 in Philadelphia, was the world’s first institution regularly organized to train women for the medical profession. The minutes were recorded by Dean Edwin Furrell and other faculty members, including Dr. Emeline H. Cleveland and Prof. Ann Preston. The documents reflect the college’s early governance, faculty appointments, student admissions, and policy deliberations. The collection is part of the college’s minute book series that was later incorporated into Drexel University’s archival holdings.

February 23 1860 Meeting – The pages record the appointment of Dr. Coates to the board of corporators, the creation of an essay committee (members: Dr. Throssell Cleveland and Temple), and a presentation on digestion law by Ms. E.J. Zimmerman, which was referred to Prof. Preston for examination.
March 1 1860 Meeting – Minutes include the admission of Miss Zimmerman to examination for an M.D., Prof. Birdsell’s report on ocean accounts, discussion of a proposed title for lady graduates of medicine, and the unanimous decision to forego a public commencement that year.
Supplementary Materials – JPEG and TIFF images of the pages, a metadata JSON file (pinax.json), and references to the original minute book (a092001129 and a092001130).

Scope

The collection documents faculty deliberations from 23 February to 1 March 1860 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It covers topics such as faculty appointments, committee formation, student admissions, and institutional policy. The material is limited to these two meetings and does not include later years or other faculty gatherings. The collection is available for research on early women’s medical education, institutional governance, and the history of the Female Medical College of Pennsylvania. Reproduction of the materials requires written permission from the copyright holders.

Entities

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Entity Relationships

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Raw Cheimarros Data

@philadelphia:place {city: "Philadelphia", state: "Pennsylvania", country: @united_states}

@boston:place {city: "Boston", state: "Massachusetts", country: @united_states}

@female_medical_college_of_pennsylvania:organization {type: "medical college", founded: @date_1850_06_25, location: @philadelphia}

@edwin_furrell:person {full_name: "Edwin Furrell", title: "Dean"}

@preston:person {full_name: "Ann Preston", title: "Prof."}

@cleveland:person {full_name: "Emeline H. Cleveland", title: "Dr."}

@coates:person {full_name: "Dr. Coates", title: "Dr."}

@throssell_cleveland:person {full_name: "Dr. Throssell Cleveland", title: "Dr."}

@temple:person {full_name: "Temple"}

@zimmerman:person {full_name: "E.J. Zimmerman", title: "Ms."}

@president:person {title: "President"}

@birdsell:person {full_name: "Prof. Birdsell", title: "Prof."}

@prof_boston:person {full_name: "Prof. Boston", title: "Prof."}

@miss_zimmerman:person {full_name: "Miss Zimmerman", title: "Miss"}

@faculty_meeting_feb_1860:event {when: @date_1860_02_23, where: @philadelphia, description: "Faculty meeting of the Female Medical College of Pennsylvania"}

@faculty_meeting_mar_1860:event {when: @date_1860_03_01, where: @philadelphia, description: "Faculty meeting of the Female Medical College of Pennsylvania"}

@faculty_meeting_mar_7:event {when: @date_1860_03_07, where: @philadelphia, description: "Adjourned session of faculty meeting"}

@essay_committee:organization {purpose: "prepare essay for 11th annual announcement"}

@digestion_law:document {type: "presentation", subject: "digestion law"}

@file_a092_001_129_jpg:file {format: "jpg", type: "image"}

@file_a092_001_130_jpg:file {format: "jpg", type: "image"}

@file_pinax:file {type: "metadata", format: "json"}

@female_medical_college_of_pennsylvania -> held -> @faculty_meeting_feb_1860:event

@female_medical_college_of_pennsylvania -> held -> @faculty_meeting_mar_1860:event

@faculty_meeting_feb_1860:event -> attended by -> [@preston, @cleveland, @coates, @edwin_furrell]

@faculty_meeting_feb_1860:event -> appointed -> @coates {position: "board of Corporators"}

@faculty_meeting_feb_1860:event -> created committee -> @essay_committee {members: [@throssell_cleveland, @temple]}

@faculty_meeting_feb_1860:event -> presentation -> @digestion_law {presenter: @zimmerman, referred_to: @preston}

@faculty_meeting_feb_1860:event -> adjourned to -> @faculty_meeting_mar_1860:event

@faculty_meeting_feb_1860:event -> documented by -> @file_a092_001_129_jpg:file

@faculty_meeting_mar_1860:event -> attended by -> [@president, @birdsell, @cleveland, @edwin_furrell]

@faculty_meeting_mar_1860:event -> approved minutes of -> @faculty_meeting_feb_1860:event

@faculty_meeting_mar_1860:event -> admitted -> @miss_zimmerman {status: "examination for M.D."}

@faculty_meeting_mar_1860:event -> resolved -> "no public commencement this year"

@faculty_meeting_mar_1860:event -> adjourned to -> @faculty_meeting_mar_7:event

@faculty_meeting_mar_1860:event -> report -> @birdsell {topic: "Ocean accounts"}

@faculty_meeting_mar_1860:event -> documented by -> @file_a092_001_130_jpg:file

@file_pinax:file -> documents -> @faculty_meeting_feb_1860:event {collection: true}

Metadata

Title: Female Medical College of Pennsylvania Faculty Meeting Minutes, February-March 1860
Type: Collection
Creator: Female Medical College of PennsylvaniaEdwin FurrellEmeline H. ClevelandPreston
Institution: Drexel Legacy Collections
Created: 1860-02-23/1860-03-01
Language: en
Subjects: Faculty meetings, Medical education, Women in medicine, Medical colleges--Pennsylvania--Philadelphia, Women physicians, Women medical students
Rights: Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Additionally, the reproduction of some materials may be restricted by privacy and publicity rights, licensing or trademarks. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.
Place: Philadelphia (Pa.), Boston (Mass.)
Source: PINAX

Files (4)

a092_001_129.jpgJPEG

346.48 KB

OCR Text

On motion it was voted to recommend the appointment of another member of the Faculty as a member of the board of Corporators. Dr. Coates was agreed to as the proper person to be appointed to that position. Moved that Dr. Throssell Cleveland & Temple be appointed a committee to prepare an essay for the 11th annual announcement. Adjourned to meet on next Thursday week G. Furrell M.P., Dean Feb. 23rd 1860 Present: Preston, Cleveland, Coates & Furrell. Minutes read & adopted. # There, of Ms. E.J. Zimmerman on digestion law presented and referred to Prof. Preston for examination & to report upon at next meeting. Adjourned Edwin Furrell Dean

OCR Text

March 1st, 1850 President, Boston, Birdsell, Cleveland & Furrell - Minutes read & approved. Prof. Boston reported favorably upon Miss Zimmerman's thesis, and she was therefore admitted to an examination for the degree of M.D. The plan laid before the Faculty a communication from the President including letters from the best of the N. England Female Medical College in reference to the title which should designate lady graduate of Medicine - and it was unanimously resolved to be inexpedient to take action upon the subject. Voted that the session come to a close on Saturday the 10th of March. Voted that there be no public commencement this year. Adjourned to Wednesday the 7th inst at 12 o'clock. E. Furrell pres. P.S. Prof. Birdsell Auditor of the Ocean accounts reports it to be correct.

a092_001_130.tifTIFF