Collection of Eliza Bowen Phelps, 1868-1881, 2013, undated
Overview
Letters and other material related to Dr. Eliza Bowen Phelps.
Dates
- Creation: 1868-1881
- Creation: 2013
- Creation: Undated
Creator
- Phelps, Eliza Bowen, 1838-1931 (Person)
Language of Materials
Materials in English.
Access Restrictions:
Access. Collection is open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
Copyright. The collection created by Eliza Bowen Phelps is in the public domain. Copyright in other papers in the collection may be held by their authors, or the authors' heirs or assigns.
Copying. Papers may be copied in accordance with the library's usual procedures.
Extent
4 folders (3 folders, 1 oversize folder)Collection includes two letters to Dr. Eliza Bowen Phelps from Dr. Emily Blackwell regarding her employment at the New York Infirmary for Women and Children, Phelps's matriculation ticket, and the Report of the Anniversary Meeting of the Alumnae Association of the Woman's Medical College of the New York Infirmary (1871); This collection also contains 55 letters from graduates of the Woman's Medical College of the New York Infirmary for Women and Children detailing their experiences and those of their classmates in the years following graduation. The letters include reports from women both in the United States and abroad (China, Switzerland, France, Germany), mentioning the kinds of cases they were treating; their financial situations; the reactions of their male counterparts and the general public; and, in some cases, balancing their work with marriage and children. Phelps's Woman's Medical College of the New York Infirmary for Women and Children diploma (1870) is also found in this collection.
BIOGRAPHY
Eliza Bowen Phelps was born on January 6, 1838, in Cincinnati, Ohio, to Benjamin Rice Phelps Sr., and Elizabeth (Cowdrey) Phelps. Eliza Bowen Phelps was one of five women in the first graduating class of the Woman's Medical College of the New York Infirmary for Women and Children in New York City. She served as assistant and house physician at the New York Infirmary for Women and Children for two years, and practiced medicine elsewhere in New York City and Iowa. Phelps served as president of the Alumnae Association of the Woman's Medical College of the New York Infirmary and as college historian. Eliza Bowen Phelps died on May 31, 1931, in New Jersey.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Accession number: 2013-M187
The collection of Eliza Bowen Phelps was acquired by the Schlesinger Library from Catherine Barnes in 2013.
Processing Information
Processed: November 2013
By: Anne Engelhart
Updated and additional description added: June 2022
By: Cat Lea Holbrook
The Schlesinger Library attempts to provide a basic level of preservation and access for all collections, and does more extensive processing of higher priority collections as time and resources permit. Finding aids may be updated periodically to account for new acquisitions to the collection and/or revisions in arrangement and description.
Creator
- Phelps, Eliza Bowen, 1838-1931 (Person)
- Author
- Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America
- Language of description
- eng
- Sponsor
- Processing of this collection was made possible by gifts from the Zetlin Sisters Fund, the Jane Rainie Opel ’50 Fund, and the Gerard Schlesinger Library Fund.
- EAD ID
- sch02150
Repository Details
Part of the Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute Repository
The preeminent research library on the history of women in the United States, the Schlesinger Library documents women's lives from the past and present for the future. In addition to its traditional strengths in the history of feminisms, women’s health, and women’s activism, the Schlesinger collections document the intersectional workings of race and ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and class in American history.