New England Hospital for Women and Children records
Scope and Contents
The records of the New England Hospital contain manuscripts, photographs, annual reports, minutes, a scrapbook, printed material, legal and financial records, correspondence and memorabilia. They are divided into two parts. The first (SERIES I-V) is a group of miscellaneous papers dealing with the early history of the hospital. It includes material related to fund drives and anniversary celebrations (1896-1962); manuscript and published Annual Reports, 1863-1955; correspondence (1847-1922); business and financial papers (1859-1920); circulars and rules ; memoranda and minutes of physicians' meetings (1876-1917) (including one bound volume of minutes); photographs, a scrapbook; and miscellaneous subjects including a controversy over abortion (1915), the use of chloroform as an anesthetic (1888), and African-American women interns. There is also application material from women medical students seeking internships, including letters, forms, recommendations, and transcripts (1891-1926). The second part (SERIES VI) contains several hundred letters collected for their autograph value for sale at nineteenth century fund-raising fairs. These letters are largely from the correspondence of Ednah Dow Cheney and Eva Channing. While they do not relate in content to the Hospital, they are authored by major literary, political, and religious figures of the latter half of the nineteenth century. They form a valuable collection of source material in the social and intellectual history of the period. Topics include woman suffrage, social services, abolition, freedmen's education, literature, and Civil War relief. The correspondents cover a wide range of notables, including: Louisa May Alcott (1882-88), Alice Stone Blackwell (1886-1903); Elizabeth Blackwell (1848-87); George Washington Cable (1877-1904), Lydia Maria Child (1860-69), Thomas Wentworth Higginson (1857-1902); Julia Ward Howe (1862-1900); Henry Wadsworth Longfelllow (1864-78), Elizabeth Palmer Peabody (1881-87), Lucy Stone (1879-93), Harriet Beecher Stowe (1860-70), and John Greenleaf Whittier (1862-90). For additional noted correspondents see Search Terms.
These records provide a unique insight into medical education and health care for women in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the sometimes difficult and contentious internal challenges within the Hospital, and its struggle to maintain its independence in a rapidly changing social and cultural environment.
The bulk of the hospital records are dated between 1862 and 1956. They are divided into six series: I. History, II. Personal, III. Financial, IV. Correspondence, V. Subjects, VI. Autograph Collection
Dates of Materials
- Creation: 1792 - 1994
Creator
- New England Hospital for Women and Children (Organization)
Language of Materials
English.
Conditions Governing Access
This collection is open for research use without restriction beyond the standard terms and conditions of Smith College Special Collections.
Conditions Governing Use
The copyright owner of this collection is unknown. It is the responsibility of the researcher to identify and satisfy the holders of all copyrights. For reproductions of materials that are governed by fair use as defined under U. S. Copyright Law, no permission to cite or publish is required. Researchers do not need anything further from Smith College Special Collections to move forward with their use.
Biographical / Historical
The New England Hospital for Women and Children (NEH), founded by Dr. Marie Zakrzewska and Ednah Dow Cheney, opened in Boston on July 1, 1862. It was, for more than a century, a teaching hospital where women doctors and nurses could study and practice medicine and women could receive treatment from female doctors. It was the first hospital in Boston to offer obstetrics, gynecology, and pediatrics all in one facility. The concept grew out of Zakrzewska's close friendships with influential women in Boston. These early supporters included reformers such as Abby May, Caroline Severance and philanthropist, Lucy Goddard. Goddard served as president for the first twenty-fuve years until 1887. Cheney served as secretary, becoming president in 1887. She resigned in 1902. During its first ten years the NEH served primarily the immigrant population of the area. Despite the hard financial times during the Civil War, Dr. Zakrzewska and her supporters raised enough money to sustain the hospital in its early years. Throughout the nineteenth century the NEH grew steadily from ten beds and approximately $150 in assets in 1862 to a budget of $146,000 in 1872. Among the doctors who served the NEH were Dr. Susan Dimock and Dr. Lucy Sewall. The country's first trained nurse, Linda Richards, studied at NEH in 1873; and the first African-American nurse, Mary Eliza Mahoney, graduated in 1875. Born and nourished by separatism, the nineteenth century solution to sexual discrimination, the hospital, by the time of its centennial in 1962, was facing conflict over integration and the challenge of justifying its existence as an all-woman's hospital. This was due in part to a growing tendency among women doctors to achieve professional equality with men, manifested by the integration of the medical profession, specialization, membership in male-dominated medical societies, and affiliation at male dominated hospitals. There were continual financial troubles as well and in the 1950s, the United Community Services of Greater Boston recommended that the hospital be open to male physicians. In response to this pressure, the board of directors adopted one of its recommendations and changed the institution's official name from the New England Hospital for Women and Children to the New England Hospital, thus indicating their willingness to accept men as patients. The controversy continued through the 1950s and 1960s. Following a long battle led by Blanche Ames Ames, Chair of the hospital's board of directors, the NEH closed in 1969 and reopened as an outpatient clinic. The clinic was named the Dimock Community Health Center.
See also Hospital With A Heart: Women Doctors and the Paradox of Separatism in the New England Hospital, 1862-1969, by Virginia G. Drachman (Ithaca, New York, Cornell University Press, 1984).
Extent
10.565 linear feet (31 containers)
Abstract
Women's hospital. This hospital was, for more than a century, a teaching hospital for women doctors and a place where women could receive treatment from them. It was the first hospital in Boston to offer obstetrics, gynecology, and pediatrics all in one facility. Material includes memoranda, written histories, photographs and scrapbooks. Also documented are such topics as a 1915 controversy over abortion, using chloroform as an anesthetic, and African American interns. The collection includes several hundred letters collected for their autograph value for fund-raising fairs. The letters do not relate to the Hospital; content includes woman suffrage, abolition, freedmen's education, literature, and Civil War relief. Notable correspondents include: Louisa May Alcott, Susan B. Anthony, Alice Stone Blackwell, Elizabeth Blackwell, Lydia Maria Child, Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Julia Ward Howe, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Elizabeth Palmer Peabody, Lucy Stone, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and John Greenleaf Whittier.
Arrangement
This collection is organized into six series:
- I. History
- II. Personal
- III. Financial
- IV. Correspondence
- V. Subjects
- VI. Autograph Collection
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The Records of the New England Hospital for Women and Children were given to the Sophia Smith Collection between 1962 and 1964 by the Board of Directors through the efforts of Mary Byers Smith (Smith '08), member of the board.
Copies of photographs of Bessie H. Simpson were donated in 2009 by Janet McIiver. A floor plan was donated by NEH in 2010. A nursing yearbook was donated by Kathleen J. Fitzpatrick in 2011.
Additional Formats
Records of the meetings of physicians are available on microfilm, as part of the"History of Women"series, in the Sophia Smith Collection and through interlibrary loan.
Appendix: List of Interns
- 1891
- Margaret Moore
- 1892
- Mary Augusta Camp
- Jannat Ernestine Hills
- Maria Ingram
- Henrietta P. Johnson
- Harriet McCalmont
- Mary Howell Miller
- Fanne A. Merriam
- Martha E. Pike
- Miriam T. Runyon
- Rose Slobodinsky
- H. Adeline Thompson
- 1893
- Clarissa Bigelow
- Mary Jones Brewster
- Virginia Buttermore
- Mary E. Caminade
- Eva Carroll
- Mary A. Charteris
- Eleanor Chestnut
- Florence DeHart
- Sarah E. Evans
- Louise H. Greene
- Alice Hamilton
- Louise H. Hart
- Katherine S. Munhall
- Mary A. Platter
- Delia M. Rice
- Mary Sanderson
- Eleanor Tomes
- Frances J. Trout
- Della Mary Walker
- Emma P. Weeks
- Georgiana Whiting
- 1894
- Mary E. Bassett
- Elizabeth Bulkley
- Mary E. Christy
- Jenny G. Dreuman
- Emma H. Hodge
- Mary Salona Holmes
- Louise A. Husted
- Harriet L. Knox
- Susan Hunt Lawrence
- Mary A. Leonard
- Abby Noyes Little
- Mary Williamina Lougee
- Elizabeth McLuaghry
- Henrietta Mood
- Lois Neville
- Marietta Newcombe
- Phoebe R. Norris
- Helen Nuzume
- Maybelle M. Park
- Eleanor Parry
- Julia Riddle
- Mary D. Rushmore
- Emma Scott
- Sidonia Weiss
- Grace E. White
- 1895
- Sarah Campbell Allan
- Edith V. Anderson
- Elizabeth Beharrell
- Marie Chard
- Jane Downes Kelly
- Alice Littell
- 1899
- Martha E. Lowell
- 1900
- Henrietta M. Farquharson
- Julia Grice
- Mabel L. Haninton
- Mary W. Marvell
- Hannah G. Myrick
- Harriet D.W. Showers
- Mary Frances Sweet
- Maud Emily Taft
- 1901
- Jean Isabel Best
- Helen N. Binford
- Sarah Allen Castle
- Annie L. Conner
- Susan Rogers Corson
- Eliza Dadmun
- Florence West Duckering
- Caroline S. Finley
- Gertrude Felker
- Lenore Hamilton Gageby
- Maude Glasgow
- Ella A. Hackett
- Helen Robertson Howe
- Louise H. Keator
- Isabella Cloe Little
- Bella Lysaught
- Elizabeth Moore
- Ellen O'Flaherty
- Susanna Otis
- Margaret Parks
- Eleanor Preston
- Alice H. Purvis
- Belle A. Schisler
- Martha Smith
- Jane Beck Smith
- Charlotte Steckel
- Carolotta M. Swett
- Stella M. Turner
- 1902
- Rose Mary Blakelidge
- Blanche M. Dennes
- Adele Russell Emerson
- Rebecca M. Evans
- Phoebe Ferris
- Mary E. Gill
- Florence Gilman
- Minerva Goodman
- Cora E. Harriman
- Eleanor J. Hill
- Ruth Peabody Hume
- Marion H. Hunsicker
- Elizabeth Jaeger
- Mabel V. Kennard
- Elizabeth McMaster
- Martha Marlatt
- Velma E. Powell
- M. Catherine Schroeder
- Cynthia Steers
- Alice Weld Tallant
- Susan B. Tallman
- Isabelle M. Thomson
- Jeannette C. Welch
- Jessie Wheeler
- Anna Bowden White
- Isabelle Smith Wood
- 1903
- Mary Brooks Baird
- Annie R. Baker
- Blanche C. Boyle
- Marjorie Burnham
- Mary S. Crosswell
- Genevieve Gustin
- Sophie G. Laws
- Josephine A. Line
- Eleanor F. Lucas
- Esther Mitchell
- Mary E. Morse
- Margaret L. Noyes
- Sarah Gardner
- Genevieve Pierson
- Olive W. Rae
- Catherine H. Travis
- Stella L. Wilkinson
- Julia R. Youngman
- 1904
- Helen P. Beattie
- Maria Washburn Bliss
- Helen Elizabeth Brooks
- Rebecca Clark
- Sarah E. Finch
- Julia Hardin
- Gertrude M. Hastings
- Sue L. Koons
- Katherine H. Law
- Elsie P. Miller
- Stella L. Mullin
- Elsie Seelye Pratt
- Victoria Reid
- Mary L. Rosenteil
- F. Matina Tanquary
- Edna M. Thomas
- Louisa C. Zimmerman
- 1905
- Elizabeth Bagshaw
- Nellie Baker
- Alice May Ballou
- Alice H. Bigelow
- May B. Calloghan
- Zella M. Clark
- Marguerite S. Crockett
- Rose Cohen
- 1905
- Edith M. Conser
- Harriet Davies
- M. Ellen Douglas
- Mary Robins Findlater
- Agavine Gilbakian
- Sarah Mabel Grier
- Miriam E. Griffin
- Edith Hale
- Jessie Hattendarf
- Harriet A. Hook
- Edith C. Kline
- Li Bi Cu
- L. Mae Lichtenwalner
- Edith Loeber
- Agnes Mikkelsen
- Abbie M. O'Keefe
- Katherine P. Raymond
- Hanna E. Reid
- Katharine B. Scott
- Maude S. Slocumb
- Alice W. Smith
- Myrtle Smith
- Alice Steffian
- Maude W. Taylor
- Frances P. Waugh
- 1906
- Vivia B. Appleton
- Alice Baxter
- Inez A. Bentley
- Phoebe M. Bogart
- Anna M. Cooke
- Norma B. Elles
- Miriam Gardner
- Helen W. Ham
- Josephine D. Hunt
- Henriette Johnson
- Laura M. Johnson
- Bessie B. Little
- Melissa Manderson
- Mary T. Martin
- Louise Morrow
- Agnes G. Murdoch
- Elizabeth Y. Myres
- Maud A. Powell
- 1906
- Katherine Stull
- Editha E.Taylor
- Lily Ethel Taylor
- Anna Weld
- Hagar Wishart
- Miriam Yampolsky
- 1907
- Elizabeth B. Ball
- Elizabeth E. Bowen
- Florence A. Bullen
- Margaret C. Calder
- M. Blanche Campbell
- Gladys L. Carr
- Martha Crofut
- Susan W. Field
- H. Amanda Johnson
- Marion Eleanor Leeper
- Saidie B. Lindberg
- Florence L. McKay
- Maud L. Menten
- Ida B. Orecchia
- Grace Peele
- Mehitable C. Proctor
- Lucy A. Reed
- Clara Seippel
- Pearl J. Sproule
- Geneva Tryon
- 1908
- Letitia D. Adams
- Lily F. Boyington
- Gladys Cooper
- Desire M. Dunn
- Lulu Lee
- Angeline M. Lemon
- Marion C. Littlefield
- Frances R. Ritchie
- Ellen M. Rowe
- Sara L. Smalley
- Elizabeth Sohon
- Emily S. Stark
- Bessie L. Sweet
- Ada H. Tedford
- Anna J. Waite
- Annie Wood
- Eulalie Wood
- 1909
- Elizabeth M. Abbe
- Marion E. Blackman
- Nellie M. Cole
- Alice M. Flood
- Ellen M. Johnosn
- Florence A. King
- Cora I. Kipp
- Ida R. Lantz
- Rosamond Leacock
- Sadie A. Mulvanity
- Anna I. Murphy
- Emily M. Oberlin
- Marie Seixas
- Mary Shutan
- Jennie Smillie
- Estelle Smith
- Edith R. Spaulding
- Sara E. Swezey
- Mary M. Wheeler
- Evelyn Windsor
- 1910
- Mary E. Brogan
- Isabel Bogan
- Ethel L. Boren
- Olga Bridgman,
- Mary P. Brooke
- Caroline S. Brown
- Elizabeth Bruyn
- Mary E. Burns
- Electa W. Carrier
- Elizabeth D. Carroll
- Edna V. Dale
- Anna K. Davenport
- Grace DeWitt
- Jessie A. Dow
- Mary B. Fimpel
- Edna W. Guest
- Myrtle Jack
- Margaret A. Judge
- Ruth M. Lance
- Christina M. Leonard
- Jessie McDonald
- Helen O'S. McGarry
- Esther K. Payne
- 1910
- Bessie T. Pullan
- Jettie J. Resnick
- Mary I. Roberts
- Eleanor Slater
- Lucia Willard
- 1911
- Louise Auerbach
- Leontine E. Bacon
- Jean Christie
- M. Blanche Cooney
- Sarah E. Coppinger
- Ruth J. Crasson
- Rose Donk
- Susie L. Fotheringham
- Emilie C. Gorrell
- Audrey Goss
- Mary A. Hopkins
- Nancy B. Jenison
- Gertrude Johnson
- Marion M. Kershaw
- Bella Levinson
- Portia McKnight
- Jessie Robertson
- Susan A. Rutkus
- Frances Shostac
- Leota Spurgeon
- Elizabeth Stewart
- Goldie E. Zimmerman
- 1912
- Jane Bigelow
- Florence Chadwick
- Mary C. Couch
- Annie R. Elliot
- Kate H. Elting
- Maude L. Etheridge
- Lucie G. Forrer
- Hattie Greenblatt
- Ethel Hayes
- Irma Howard
- Anna Hubert
- Edith A. McDowell
- Cordelia I. MacNaughton
- Bernadette M. McWeeney
- Geraldine Oakley
- Olive Pippy
- Alma Read
- 1912
- Margaretta R. Rieger
- Theresa C. Snyder
- Vernie E. Woodward
- 1913
- Emma M. Ackerman
- Hazel Bonness
- Ellen C. Cover
- Helen G. Craige
- Erminie S. Cryder
- Georgia A. Filley
- Margaret V. Grogan
- Marie B. Kast
- Marian Kenworthy
- Ray B. LaCroix
- Eveline Lyle
- Bernadette McWeen
- Mary T.V. Moore
- Beatrice Alma Reed
- Bonnell M. Souder
- Olga Stastny
- Marie C. Strom
- 1914
- Blanche L. Atwood
- Kate B. Bogle
- Myrtle M. Brill
- Irene Chandler
- Clara G. Cook
- Lora G. Dyer
- Evelyn P. Hyatt
- Ruth Ingraham
- Jennie McIntosh
- Minnie L. Maffett
- Ina L. Moore
- Katharine A. Nye
- Clara A. Sargent
- Clara Shellmanner
- Mildred C. Williams
- 1915
- Frances P. Cepelka
- Lucy McM. Elliott
- Clara Gottschalk
- Mary Hanka
- Faith F. Hardy
- Evelyn H. Hunt
- 1915
- Grace A. Joslin
- Elizabeth Kilpatrick
- Mollie King
- Hie-ding Lin
- Clara C. Leach
- Eliza A. Melkonia
- Mary F. Mernin
- Mary T. Muldoon
- Agnes Muldoon
- Kathalyn Voorhis
- Ruth A. Warner
- 1916
- Hannah J. Beatty
- Jane R. Breese
- Lona Bulyea
- Anna Q. Churchill
- Margaret W. Farwell
- Henrietta S. Frederichson
- Martha Gifford
- Ethel R. Kathleen Harrington
- Sarah R. Kelman
- Ruth M. McGuire
- Helen A. Moore
- Bessie N. Newcomb
- Elizabeth V. O'Neill
- Mildred J. Roberts
- Bertha M Schafer
- Fanny E. Shutts
- Lillian R. Smith
- Grace Spencer
- 1917
- Hildegarde C. German
- Virgil Martha Gilchrist
- Anna L. Hooper
- Alice C. Scully
- Anna P. Walsh
- 1918
- Frederica Cliff
- 1920
- Annie B. Chung
- Anna B. Grey
- Ethel A. Gwin
- Ruth V. Hemenway
- Edith Kerkhoff
- Ruth Leonard
- Ruth Patrick
- Mary G. Schroeder
- Margery M. Stauffer
- 1921
- Margaret Bell
- Lillina Bendeke-Parson
- Eleanore Glebow
- Dorothy Grey
- Mary E. Hanko
- Margaret Howard
- 1921Josephine L. Kaye
- Ruth L. King
- Ruth M. Mahon
- Adeline Muelchi
- Margaret W. Pirsch
- Florence M. Ross
- Helen W. Spencer
- Rita B. Tower
- Marjorie Woodman
- 1922
- Rena M. Bigalow
- Zilpha Galloway
- Elizabeth L. Broyles
- Tsing Liea Li
- Christine MacLeod
- Gertrude C. Nicolson
- Ethel B. Perry
- Jennie B. Rozell
- 1923
- Ruth Sin-Ging Ho
- Hanna C. Johnson
- Mary F. Knott
- Georgia Krusich
- Caroline McMath
- Sarah Margaret Peyton
- Grace M. Santoro
- Anne Tarshis
- 1924
- Mildred J. Buzza
- Louise de Schweinitz
- Ruth E. Hull
- Frances M. Johnson
- Mildred N. Johnson
- Lillian Kositza
- Margaret M. Loder
- Charlotte McCarthy
- Austis P. Manton
- Laura H. Muir
- Isabel B. Turner
- Helen M. Weistling
- 1925
- Lillian deArmit
- Jennie D. Hippolitus
- Esther Mathers
- Fatima V. Reshid
- Margaret Robertson
- Esther Somerfield
- Esther Tuttle
- Wilma Weeks
- 1926
- Miriam A. Albertson
- Felicia A. Banes
- Veronica C. Barrett
- Isabella F. Borden
- Ethel T. Calhoun
- Eleanor E. Cowan
- Susannah Friedman
- Rachel Goldberg
- Faith L. Meserve
- Rose C. Munro
- Edith E. Pasmore
- Hilla Sheriff
- Margaret A. Telfer
- Helen B. Tursky
- Anna M. Young
Processing Information
Processed by Susan Boone, 2001.
Subject
- Alcott, Louisa May, 1832-1888 (Person)
- Blackwell, Alice Stone, 1857-1950 (Person)
- Blackwell, Elizabeth, 1821-1910 (Person)
- Cheney, Ednah Dow Littlehale, 1824-1904 (Person)
- Channing, Eva (Person)
- Child, Lydia Maria Francis, 1802-1880 (Person)
- Dimock, Susan J., 1847-1875 (Person)
- Hale, Edward Everett, 1822-1909 (Person)
- Higginson, Thomas Wentworth, 1923-1911 (Person)
- Howe, Julia Ward, 1819-1910 (Person)
- Jacobs, Harriet A (Harriet Ann), 1813-1897 (Person)
- Jewett, Sarah Orne, 1849-1909 (Person)
- Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth, 1807-1882 (Person)
- Mahoney, Mary Eliza (Person)
- Peabody, Elizabeth Palmer, 1804-1894 (Person)
- Richards, Linda, 1841-1930 (Person)
- Sewell, Lucy (Person)
- Stone, Lucy, 1818-1893 (Person)
- Stowe, Harriet Beecher, 1811-1896 (Person)
- Sumner, Charles, 1811-1874 (Person)
- Thomas, M. Carey (Martha Carey), 1857-1935 (Person)
- Washington, Booker T., 1856-1915 (Person)
- Zakrzewska, Marie E., (Marie Elizabeth), 1829-1902 (Person)
- Diaz, Abby Morton, 1821-1904 (Person)
- Anthony, Susan B. (Susan Brownell), 1820-1906 (Person)
- New England Hospital for Women and Children (Organization)
Source
- New England Hospital for Women and Children (Donor, Organization)
Genre / Form
- Annual reports
- Books
- Brochures
- Financial records
- Histories
- Legal documents
- Minutes
- articles
- correspondence
- memorabilia
- photographs
- scrapbooks
Topical
- Authors, American -- Correspondence
- Autographs -- Collections
- Gynecology -- United States
- Hospitals -- New England
- Hospitals, gynecological and obstetric
- Medicine -- Study and teaching -- United States
- Nursing -- Study and teaching -- United States
- Obstetrics -- United States
- Physicians -- United States
- Reproductive and sexual health
- Sex discrimination in medical education
- Social reformers -- United States
- Women in medicine
- Women in medicine -- United States
- Women physicians -- United States -- History
- Women's health services
- Title
- New England Hospital for Women and Children records
- Subtitle
- Finding Aid
- Author
- Susan Boone
- Date
- 2003
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Sponsor
- Encoding funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Revision Statements
- 07/26/2017: This resource was modified by the ArchivesSpace Preprocessor developed by the Harvard Library (https://github.com/harvard-library/archivesspace-preprocessor)
- 2005-09-23: mnsss55 converted from EAD 1.0 to 2002 by v1to02-5c.xsl (sy2003-10-15).
- 2017-07-26T17:48:22-04:00: This record was migrated from InMagic DB Textworks to ArchivesSpace.
- 2019-04-19: Made single paper FA pencil edit change.
- 2022-03-04: Integrated description of oversized materials
Repository Details
Part of the Sophia Smith Collection of Women's History Repository
