Subseries 3.5 Committee on the Mutter Museum annual reports, 1907-1928

This collection of correspondence with related reports and committee minutes of the curators and custodians of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia's Mutter Museum and College Collections, 1828-1981, documents the acquisition of specimens, instruments, portraits, and medals, as well as the use and development of the collections.

Series 1 contains records of the museum curators, including a disbound letterbook, 1849-1894, and letters, 1828-1939, concerning the acquisition, disposition, and purchase of specimens. In addition to letters of Thomas Hewson Bache, the series includes correspondence files concerning museum business from curators Clarence Hoffman, 1912-1923, Henry Morris, 1923-1926, and Harry P. Schenck, 1925-1935; monthly reports of the curators, 1923-1929; acknowledgements of gifts by Ella N. Wade, 1940-1959; and correspondence files of Ella N. Wade and Elizabeth Moyer concerning specific inqu1r1es about the collections, 1924-1972, and visits to the museum, 1923-1963. Notable correspondents in the series include: Joseph Hyrtl, William W. Keen, Joseph Leidy, Sir William Osler, Ralph Pemberton, and Hermine (Mrs. H. D.} Schmidt. Information on insurance of the collections and the construction and purchase of museum cases and jars is also included.

Correspondence files of the custodians of the College Collections are in Series 2. In addition to Ella N. Wade's acknowledgements of gifts, 1935-1966, there are files concerning the acquisition, conservation, and loan of badges, busts, medals, and portraits. The series also includes correspondence files, 1922-1935, of Acting Custodian Alfred James Ostheimer with information on the College medal collections and an inventory of its portraits, engravings, and photographs.

The files of the chairmen of the Committee on the Mutter Museum in Series 3 contain records of the Thomas Dent Mutter Lectureship in Surgical Pathology, including correspondence with lecturers, 1907-1931, receipts for honoraria, 1879- 1914, and lists of lectures, 1909-1938; general correspondence files of chairmen George A, McClellan, 1907- 1912, Henry Morris, 1912-1921, George Fetterolf, 1923-1926, and George P. Muller, 1926-1934; records, 1938-1939, of the chairmanship of J. Parsons Schaeffer; correspondence of the committee's secretary, Herbert Fox, 1923-1933; annual reports, 1907-1928 and 1952-1970; financial reports, 1909- 1930; reports to College Council, 1952-1978; and duplicate committee minutes, 1952-1981.

Series 4 contains Herbert Fox's correspondence files, minutes, and reports, 1935-1940, from his chairmanship of the Committee on College Collections and duplicate committee minutes, 1952-1971. (Duplicate minutes of this committee after 1973 are interfiled with the minutes of the Committee on the Mutter Museum.)