HOMEThe Philadelphia Pediatric Society
History of the Society
This information below includes a brief history of the Society, as well as a description of the collections available from the College of Physicians of Philadelphia that pertain to the Society.
PHILADELPHIA PEDIATRIC SOCIETY
Records,
1896-1956
History
The Philadelphia Pediatric Society was founded by J. P. Crozer
Griffith in 1896. The idea for a pediatric society was formulated
at an informal meeting, held in Griffith's office, at which
Frederick A. Packard and Edwin E. Graham were present. These
three founding members prepared a Constitution and By Laws for
a proposed pediatric society; according to the constitution,
the object of the society was "the promotion of the study of
disease in children in all its branches, by the exhibition of
cases, by the reading of papers and the holding of discussions
and by the exhibition of pathological specimens and of apparatus bearing
upon pediatrics". An official meeting was planned for 22 December
1896 at the College of Physicians on Thirteenth and Locust Streets.
At this meeting, the Constitution and By Laws of the Society
were accepted, and officers were selected. Griffith was elected
to the presidency and presided over the Society's first scientific meeting
on 12 January 1897.
On 12 January 1912, the date of its incorporation, the Philadelphia
Pediatric Society contained more than two hundred members; by
1920, membership had climbed to over three hundred. In 1914,
the Annual Frederick A. Packard Lecture was established in honor
of the Society's second president. The Society also established
a Biennial Prize Competition; the competition, which was open
to physicians in practice for less than six years, was designed
to stimulate interest in pediatrics among younger practitioners.
Over the years, the Philadelphia Pediatric Society remained actively
involved in important issues affecting pediatrics and public
health. The Society is perhaps best known for its Milk Commission,
which was established in January 1899 to address rising concerns
about the sale of contaminated raw milk. The Commission, consisting
of a veterinarian, a chemist, and a bacteriologist who were
appointed annually by the president of the Society, sought to
establish and maintain high standards for milk production and distribution.
The Commission also tried to educate the community and the
medical profession about the health benefits derived from the
consumption of "Certified Milk". In addition to its influential
Milk Commission, the Philadelphia Pediatric Society also actively
opposed antivivisection legislation and helped to create a
Division of Child Hygiene in the State of Pennsylvania.
Scope and contents
These records of the Philadelphia Pediatric Society, spanning
1896 to 1956, provide a detailed account of the activities of
the Society during its first sixty years. Included in the collection
is the original constitution and by laws of the Society, as
well as subsequent amendments; minutes from regular meetings,
board meetings, and annual business meetings; numerous abstracts
and essays, most unpublished, which were delivered at Society
meetings; the presidential addresses of ten former presidents
of the Society; and records of various committees of the Society, including
its Milk Commission. Also present are detailed records of the
Society's finances and membership, as well as significant correspondence
covering a variety of topics.
Series 1 contains the 1896 constitution and by laws of the Society;
included in this volume are the signatures of the founding members.
Also present are records documenting changes made to the by laws,
including the significant amendments drafted in 1940 and 1950.
Present in Series 2 are detailed records of the meetings held
by the Philadelphia Pediatric Society. Best documented are
regular stated meetings; included are minutes, programs, and
over one hundred abstracts and papers which were presented before
the Society between 1917 and 1943. Many of these papers appear
to be unpublished, and a few contain photographs (see 1917 October,
1922 June, and 1924 January). The abstracts and papers in Series
2.1 are arranged in three groups according to the way they were divided
and indexed in the collection. Present in Series 2.2 are minutes
of meetings of the Board of Directors, and Series 2.3 contains
the minutes of the Society's annual business meetings.
Included in Series 3 are the presidential addresses of ten former
presidents of the Philadelphia Pediatric Society. These addresses
were read before the Society at the end of a president's term
and served as a summary of the organization's progress during
the previous year.
The records of the Milk Commission of the Philadelphia Pediatric
Society are contained in Series 4.2. Included is correspondence
from committee chairs Paul B. Cassidy, Sherman Little, and Irving
J. Wolman, and letters from the Director of the Philadelphia
Department of Public Health, Hubley R. Owen. Also contained
in Series 4.2 are examples of the Milk Commission's work, including
tables of bacteriological counts and fat percentages derived
from samples of milk, and correspondence and notes pertaining
to the certification of the Wagner Goat Farm in Boyertown, Pennsylvania.
Present in Series 4.4 are records of the Committee on Summer Play
Schools, containing correspondence and reports written by committee
members Howard Childs Carpenter and Myer SolisCohen. The records
of the Committee for the Fellowship Award (Series 4.6) include
scientific reports from award recipients Alice D. Chenoweth
and Elizabeth P. Maris. Also included is a letter of recommendation
written by E. B. Krumbhaar.
Series 5 contains financial records of the Society, including
account books, treasurer's reports, correspondence concerning
investments, four bank books, and a checkbook. The Society's
membership records are present in Series 6. Box 12 (Series
6.1) contains a membership file listing the names, addresses,
and dates of initiation of active, associate, honorary, and
former members. Also present in this series are membership
lists, correspondence, and volumes in which dues were recorded.
Series 7.1 contains the alphabetically arranged correspondence
of John P. Scott. The letters in this series date from Scott's
term as secretary of the Society. Included are letters from
Society members Emily P. Bacon, Howard Childs Carpenter, John
D. Donnelly, Samuel McClintock Hamill, E. B. Krumbhaar, A. Graeme
Mitchell, J. C. Gittings, and H. Harris Perlman. Also present
is correspondence pertaining to membership issues and the Milk Commission.
Folder "P" contains programs and the petition for the charter
of the Philadelphia Pediatric Society. Folder "T" contains
Treasurer's Reports and information on Tri City Pediatric Meetings.
The letters in Series 7.2 are arranged according to subject.
Included is correspondence concerning the Packard Lecture,
quarantine and communicable diseases, Tri City Pediatric Meetings,
the Society's 25th Anniversary Dinner, the Society's Biennial
prize, and the 1933 dinner in honor of four famous pediatricians
(Samuel McClintock Hamill, Howard Childs Carpenter, Philip Van
Ingen, and Kenneth D. Blackfan).
Of special interest in Series 7.2 are letters pertaining to advertisements
for baby foods of questionable quality appearing in Hygeia,
a publication of the American Medical Association. Also present
is correspondence concerning the controversy over free immunization
for children. The Philadelphia Pediatric Society, fearing the
establishment of socialized medicine, issued a resolution opposing
free immunization; the press harshly criticized the Society
for this action.
Correspondence concerning the Society's campaign to secure pediatric
representation on the board to revise the U. S. Pharmacopeia
is present in Series 7.2. Also in this series are letters written
in response to the Pediatric Society's resolution opposing the
treatment of physicians in Germany, who were being discriminated
against according to race and ethnicity. Replies to this resolution,
dating from 1933, were sent by notable figures such as Henry
T. Rainey from the U. S. House of Representatives, and Pierrepont
Moffat, Chief of the State Department's Division of Western
European Affairs. Other correspondents represented in Series
7.2 include J. P. Crozier Griffith, Samuel McClintock Hamill, Pennsylvania
Commissioner of Health Edward Martin, and the Governor of Pennsylvania,
Gifford Pinchot.
Series 7.3 contains miscellaneous correspondence. Present are
original incoming letters and copies of outgoing letters, primarily
from Society secretaries Howard Childs Carpenter, John D. Donnelly,
John P. Scott, James E. Bowman, Aims C. McGuinness, Sherman
Little, and F. H. Harvie. Other correspondents in Series 7.3
include Society presidents Samuel McClintock Hamill, Ralph M.
Tyson, H. Harris Perlman, A. Graeme Mitchell, J. P. Crozier
Griffith, Paul B. Cassidy, and Samuel Goldberg.
Miscellaneous material is contained in Series 8. Series 9 includes
the first, second, and third prize essays of the Society's Resident
Prize Award of 1956.
Provenance
The records of the Philadelphia Pediatric Society were deposited with
the Historical Collections of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia
by the Society on 12 February 1957; the Resident Prize Essays
were deposited by the Society on 22 May 1957. Each volume and
box in the collection was assigned its own accession number;
these accession numbers are listed on the finding aid.
The collection was processed and catalogued in 1992.