John Shaw Billings Correspondence with Libraries of the American Philosophical Society and the College of Physicians of Philadelphia Microfilm Copies

Included among the manuscript collections of the libraries of the American Philosophical Society and the College of Physicians of Philadelphia are several collections containing correspondence to or from John Shaw Billings.

The material on the film from the American Philosophical Society Library is drawn from many collections, but the but the bulk of the material consists of correspondence with Simon Flexner and I. Minis Hays. The correspondence with Hays concerns primarily the International Medical Congress of 1887 held in Washington, D.C., and the controversies about its composition which eventually led to Billings's resignation from its organizing committee. The correspondence with Simon Flexner is primarily about the National Academy of Sciences. In addition, there is extensive correspondence between Flexner and John Sedgwick Billings, son of John Shaw Billings, concerning some of the former's studies on the poliomyelitis epidemic of 1916 in New York. The remainder of the correspondence consists of letters to Sir James Paget and J. L. LeConte.

In 1983 additional material in the American Philosophical Society Library relating to Billings was identified. This material is not found on the microfilm; it must be consulted in Philadelphia. The items include a letter acknowledging Billings's election to the Society; a letter to Henry Phillips dated 14 March 1887 thanking him for his publication; a letter to J. Grant Bey dated April 10, 1893 with information on the Pan American Congress in Chicago; and unspecified correspondence in the Stephen Bowers papers and the Franz Boas papers.

The material from the College of Physicians of Philadelphia consists primarily of correspondence with John B. Roberts and John Ashhurst on library business, and with S. Weir Mitchell on the International Medical Congress of 1887. An item listing of the material from both libraries included on the film follows.

Note: ALS="Autograph Letter Signed;" TLS="Typed Letter Signed;" TL="Typed Letter"