Records of the Committee on the Nathan Lewis Hatfield Prize and Lectureship

The Nathan Lewis Hatfield Prize was established by the College of Physicians of Philadelphia in 1898. Nathan Lewis Hatfield (1804-1887), a Philadelphia physician, was a graduate of Jefferson Medical School and a Fellow of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia from 1855 until his death in 1887. At a meeting of the College on 1 December 1897, president J. M. Da Costa announced that Walter and Henry Reed Hatfield wished to establish a prize in memory of their fat her. During a Council meeting on 28 December 1897, it was decided that the object of this award would be to further original medical research.

As indicated in the deed of trust of the Nathan Lewis Hatfield Prize, drafted in January 1898, a committee of three trustees were responsible for administering the Hatfield Prize Fund. In addition, a Committee on the Nathan Lewis Hatfield Prize, consisting of three Fellows appointed by the President, was established to select the recipient of this triennial award. The deed also stated that the prize would take the form of an essay contest and was open to all members of the scientific and medical professions in the United States.

The first Nathan Lewis Hatfield Prize was awarded in 1901 to Professor H. F. Harris of Atlanta, Georgia. Due to inadequate submissions, the next prize was not awarded until 1909. In 1913, t..he rules governing the prize were amended, and the award has converted to a lectureship. The Hatfield Lectures were discontinued in 1972, but reinstated in 1984 by R1·ooke Roberts, president of the College, who selected new lrust..ees for the fund. At this time, the trustees elected to combine the Hatfield Lecture Fund with the College's Common Discretionary Fund, thereby eliminating the trusteeship. As of 1991, the Hatfield Lectureship is administered through the College's Committee on Program.