Drawing of College facade, circa 1909

This collection of records from the Building Committee of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, spanning 1903 to 1915, consists of correspondence, minutes, reports, financial records, and miscellaneous material such as photoprints and blueprints. The collection also includes minutes, correspondence, and financial records from the Subcommittee on Furniture.

The general correspondence of the Building Committee is contained in Series 1, Included are numerous letters from Cope and Stewardson, the Philadelphia architectural firm hired to design the College building, Also present is correspondence relating to the plan, construction, and planting of the Sinkler Garden, including correspondence with Stewardson and Page, the architects who designed the garden.

Series 1 also contains letters from Horatio C. Wood concerning the furnishing of the Wood Room, which he sponsored, and correspondence between William J, Taylor and A, Haller Gross pertaining to the furnishing of the Samuel D. Gross Library. Included among this correspondence is a letter from William W. Keen to Sir William Osler, whose wife was involved in the selection of furnishings for the Gross Library.

Also present in Series 1 are letters from donors to the College Building Fund, including S, Weir Mitchell, Charles C, Harrison, W.W. Frazier, Samuel McClintock Hamill, Archibald Thomson, E, T. Stotesbury, and Andrew Carnegie, Other notable correspondents in Series 1 include Richard H. Harte, Thomas R, Neilson, Charles Perry Fisher, J, Ewing Mears, Arthur V. Meigs, John K, Mitchell, Alfred Stengel, Francis R, Packard, G. E, De Schweinitz, and Wharton Sinkler. William J, Taylor is the major correspondent in the collection.

Minutes from the monthly meetings of the Building Committee are contained in Series 2, and the Building Committee's Reports to the College are in Series 3, These minutes and reports, prepared by secretary William J, Taylor, document the committee's activities, including the selection of the architectural firm, the revision of floorplans, and the supervision of the building's construction. Series 4 contains estimates, bills, receipts, summaries of expenses, and other financial records documenting the cost of the project.

The records of the Subcommittee on Furniture, including correspondence, minutes, and financial records, are contained in Series 5. Series 6 contains miscellaneous material; present is a photostat of a certificate presented to Andrew Carnegie for being the most generous donor to the College Building Fund (ca. 1903), a postcard of the College and other photoprints (1909), a blueprint of a proposed plan for the Sinkler Garden (1912), and blueprints of the Sinkler tablet (1912).