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Digital Collections

Visit our main Digital Collections page to view many of our digital materials and to search and browse collections, or choose from the specific resources listed below.

Doctor or Doctress?

Doctor or Doctress? is a web resource designed for high school student exploration of the history of women through the eyes of women physicians.

"They'll look at me sidewise and say 'that's her' and I do hope they won't insist on calling me a 'doctress.' "

Dr. Mary McGavran, 1893

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In Her Own Right: A century of women's activism 1820-1920.

The In Her Own Right collection reflects women’s struggles for justice leading to the passage of the 19th Amendment. This collection was composed as part of the larger project aggregating content around this theme, sponsored by the Philadelphia Area Consortium for Special Collections Libraries (PACSCL). The portal provides access to content from more than 20 regional repositories, as well as interpretive essays based on the digital materials. The Drexel collections in In Her Own Right consist of women physicians' personal papers, the records of the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania, and records of groundbreaking women's medical organizations.

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Women Physicians: 1850-1970

The Women Physicians digital collection documents the history of women physicians beginning with the first degree-granting medical school for women, Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania (WMCP). Founded in 1850, WMCP trained thousands of women physicians who practiced in all parts of the world, and provided rare opportunities for women to teach, practice, perform research and manage a medical school. Collection includes correspondence, scrapbooks, clippings, college records, images, diaries, publications and ephemera.

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Yearbooks from Medical Colleges, Nursing Schools, and Allied Health programs

The Legacy Center has digitized all of the yearbooks it holds from our predecessor institutions.

Learn More: Yearbooks from Medical Colleges, Nursing Schools, and Allied Health programs


Early Homeopathy in the United States

The homeopathy collection contains digitized materials reflecting the growth and evolution of the practice and education of homeopathic physicians from the early 1800s to the mid 1900s. Highlights include the Constantine Hering papers, documenting the earliest history of homeopathic practice in this country, and the Biographies of Homeopathic Physicians, Volumes 1-36, 1868-1918, compiled by physician Thomas Bradford.

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Philadelphia World's Medical Center

A 1930 publication, the 162-page volume lists, describes and illustrates the area healthcare institutions. "Philadelphia, world's medical centre: by word and picture this book typifies the tremendous growth of Philadelphia's institutions in the field of medical science and proves conclusively its right to the title--world's medical centre."

Learn More: Philadelphia World's Medical Center


Medical College of Pennsylvania Hospital

Medical College of Pennsylvania Hospital (MCP Hospital) operated on Henry Avenue in Philadelphia as a community hospital from the early 1930s until 2005. This Flickr collection of images show the hospital just after its closure.

Learn More: Medical College of Pennsylvania Hospital