By on May 15, 2025 - 3:54pm
The Medical Center Archives is excited to announce that new historical publications highlighting women’s medical education and treatment in New York City from the 19th and mid-20th centuries have been digitized and are now available online. Digitizing these resources was made possible thanks to a grant from the Metropolitan New York Library Council (METRO).
New York Infirmary for Indigent Women and Children Annual Reports (1890-1954): Originating as the New York Dispensary for Poor Women and Children, the infirmary was founded in 1853 by Drs. Elizabeth and Emily Blackwell, the first and third women to receive medical degrees in the United States. The annual reports illustrate the infirmary’s charitable mission as the first American hospital to provide medical treatment to women and children, staffed and run entirely by women. The infirmary also provided opportunities for instruction and practice by women studying medicine and nursing.
Woman’s Medical College of the New York Infirmary Announcements and Catalog (1870-1899): In 1868, the Blackwell sisters opened a medical school devoted entirely to training women, inspired by their own challenges obtaining a medical education in a male-dominated field. The Woman’s Medical College of the New York Infirmary became one of the first four-year medical colleges in the country. The announcements and catalog provide insight into the student’s curriculum (including textbooks and exam questions), admissions, clinical activities, and lists the names of faculty, students, and graduates. These publications are instrumental in documenting the women who studied at the school, sometimes serving as the only record of their attendance.
In addition, the project helped expand our existing corpus of digital materials available freely online:
Bloomingdale Asylum Annual Reports (1827-1961)
New York Hospital Annual Reports (1797-1843)
You can find all our digitized historical publications here.
Blog Category: News and Announcements
