Alexander Rush papers

Collection

Identifier: MSS 2/243

Scope and Contents

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This small collection of Alexander Rush's papers, 1931-1984, with some earlier material, documents his personal life, professional career, and interest in his ancestor, Benjamin Rush, and includes lectures and addresses, writings, awards, certificates, diplomas, and photographs.

Series 1 contains letters, a passport, curricula vitae, bibliographies, and printed material concerning Rush's life and career, 1922-1984. Material, 1812-1981, concerning Benjamin Rush (1746-1813) is in Series 2. Included is a photocopy of Rush's will, 1812; correspondence concerning Rush and genealogical inquiries; photographs of the dedication of the Rush gravesite; and printed material.

The bulk of the collection, Series 3, is a chronological sequence of Alexander Rush's public addresses, medical lectures, and radio broadcasts, 1947-1977. Many of the lectures concern gastrointestinal diseases and were part of the curriculum of postgraduate courses sponsored by the American College of Physicians. Other subjects include the Benjamin Franklin Clinic of Pennsylvania Hospital and Benjamin Rush.

Typescripts with related material for several of Alexander Rush's published articles, 1945-1982, are in Series 4. Several of these articles concern gastrointestinal diseases. Awards, certificates, and diplomas, 1936-1984, from Rush's professional career are in Series 5. Series 6 contains four photographs, 1931-1970.

Dates

Creation: 1812 - 1984
Creation: Majority of material found within 1931 - 1984

Creator

Rush, Alexander (Person)

Conditions Governing Use

This collection of Alexander Rush's papers were donated to the Historical Collections of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia by Carol Rush on 13 December 1991.

The collection was processed and catalogued in 1992.

Biographical / Historical

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Alexander Rush, Philadelphia gastroenterologist was born on 29 October 1910. He was a great great grandson of physician Benjamin Rush. Alexander Rush married Carol Smith in 1945; they had two daughters, Mary Wheeler Rush Purdy and Alexandra H. Rush Domingues. Rush died of leukemia on 24 October 1983.

Rush received a B.A. from Princeton University, 1932, and an M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania, 1936. After an internship at Pennsylvania Hospital and a fellowship in gastroenterology at the University of Chicago, Rush, in 1941, joined the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania and held several posts in the School of Medicine and Graduate School of Medicine, becoming Assistant Professor in Medicine, Associate in Gastroenterology, and Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine. He became an Emeritus Professor in 1978.

In 1939, Rush joined the staff of Pennsylvania Hospital and was chief of its Department of Gastroenterology, 19551974. He was also president of the medical staff, 19721976, and gastroenterologist and medical director of the hospital's Benjamin Franklin Clinic.

Alexander Rush was elected to fellowship in the College of Physicians of Philadelphia in 1947. He was also a member of the American College of Physicians, American Gastroenterological Association, and Philadelphia County Medical Society.