1943 May

This collection of "Reports supplementary to Council minutes" is part of the records of the Council of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. The collection, spanning 1941 to 1959, consists of monthly and annual reports, correspondence, and minutes of committee meetings which were submitted to the Council by committee chairmen and officers of the College.

The annual and monthly reports 1n this collection provide a great deal of insight into the activities of the College during the 1940s and 1950s. The monthly Censors' reports concern the writing of memoirs of deceased Fellows. Statistics on attendance at meetings and lectures, the number of Fellows elected, and the number of Fellows in each Section are included in the Annual Report of the Secretary. The reports of the Library Committee provide information on circulation, donations, acquisitions, inventory, the number of visitors, and staff changes. Monthly reports from the Committee of the Mutter Museum and the Committee on College Collections provide detailed lists of accessions and donors.

The collection also includes reports from the Committee on Public Health, Preventive Medicine and Public Relations. Many of these reports address social and medical issues of the time (smallpox epidemics, the pollution of the Schuylkill, the need for immunization programs) and the College's response to these issues. The financial status of the College and the nature of its investments are addressed in the reports of the Treasurer and the Committee on Finance. Costs associated with College dinners are listed in the reports of the Committee on Entertainments, and the expense of publishing Transactions and Studies of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia is addressed in the reports of the Committee on Publication. The reports of the Hall Committee concern the maintenance and repair of the College building; the Hall Committee's reports from 1942 discuss the College's blackout system and the use of the basement as an air raid shelter. Also present in the collection are the Annual Reports of the different Sections of the College, most of which provide information about the lectures held at Section meetings.

In addition to reports, this collection includes minutes from committee meetings and correspondence. Many of the letters are from Fellows who wished to change their membership status, pay their dues, or present a donation to the College. Other correspondence concerns the selection of speakers for various College lectures. Of special interest is correspondence from March 1943 which pertains to a portrait of Benjamin Rush, supposedly painted by Benjamin West; apparently, there were doubts as to whether the portrait had been painted by West.