George Bacon Wood financial records

Collection

Identifier: MSS 2/039-01

Scope and Contents

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This small collection of George B. Wood's personal financial papers documents his interests and activities in Philadelphia in the mid 19th century.

There is a small folder of financial correspondence (18451847) including a letter (dated 15 May 1847) from Joseph Warrington concerning lecture tickets for private pupils and an extract from the minutes of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy (dated September 1846) concerning relinquishing loans to the College.

The bulk of the collection is comprised of bills and receipts for personal items such as groceries, books, subscriptions to medical journals, clothes, utilities, and taxes, and contributions to charitable institutions, such as the Pennsylvania Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, or professional and cultural organizations, such as the Athenaeum and the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. There are also orders of pharmaceutical supplies and receipts for rent payments on property which Wood owned in Philadelphia. One small folder of receipts (1846-1847) for construction of a house in Greenwich, New Jersey, is included. The bills and receipts are organized chronologically; the bulk of the collection is from 1846 and 1847 with a few items from 1845 and one folder from 1864 and 1865.

The remainder of the collection is comprised of three folders of cancelled checks drawn on the Western National Bank of Philadelphia in 1869, 1871 and 1872. These checks have been sorted numerically and approximate a chronological arrangement.

Dates

Creation: 1845 - 1872

Creator

Wood, George B. (George Bacon) (Person)

Biographical / Historical

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George Bacon Wood was born in Greenwich, New Jersey, on 12 March 1797; he was the son of Richard and Elizabeth Bacon Wood. George B. Wood married Caroline Hahn (d. 1867) on 2 April 1823. Wood died in Philadelphia on 30 March 1879.

In 1815, George B. Wood received his A.B. from the University of Pennsylvania. He then studied medicine under Joseph Parrish and attended courses at the University of Pennsylvania. He received his A.M. and M.D. from the University in 1818. Wood’s thesis was on dyspepsia. After his graduation, Wood lectured on Materia Medica at Joseph Parrish’s Association for Medical Instruction.

George B. Wood was one of the founders of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy in 1821. He was Professor of Chemistry at the College (1822-1831), then Professor of Materia Medica and Pharmacy (1831-1835). Wood resigned from the College in 1835, to become Professor of Materia Medica and Pharmacy at the University of Pennsylvania. In 1850, he became Professor of the Theory and Practice of Medicine at the University and held that position until his retirement in 1860. Wood was Attending Physician at Pennsylvania Hospital (1835-1859) and President of the Board of Managers (1874-1879). From 1850-1860, Wood was also Chairman of the Committee on the Revision of the United States Pharmacopoeia. In 1865, he helped to organize the Auxiliary Faculty of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

Wood wrote several books, including The Dispensatory of the United States (1833), The History of the University of Pennsylvania (1834), A Treatise on the Practice of Medicine (1847), and A Treatise on Therapeutics and Pharmacology, or, Materia Medica (1856).

George B. Wood became a Fellow of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia in 1827 and was President from 1848 to 1879. Wood was also President of the American Philosophical Society (1859-1879) and the American Medical Association (1855-1856).

Full Extent

.4 Linear feet (1 document box)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Custodial History

This collection of George B. Wood's personal financial papers was donated to the College of Physicians of Philadelphia by Richard D. Wood of Wawa, Pennsylvania, on 8 April 1986. George B. Wood was the great great uncle of Richard D. Wood. Before its donation, the collection was housed at Richard D. Wood's residence.

The collection was processed and catalogued in 1989.