Overview
Correspondence, writings, etc., of physician Mary Putnam Jacobi.
Dates
- Creation: 1851-1974
Language of Materials
Materials in English.
Access Restrictions:
Access. Collection is open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
Copyright. Copyright in the papers created by Mary Putnam Jacobi is held by the President and Fellows of Harvard College for the Schlesinger Library. 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
.63 linear feet (1+1/2 file boxes)The collection consists mainly of correspondence and writings, each arranged in a chronological sequence. Jacobi's personal, family and professional correspondence includes letters from Alexander Agassiz and Charles William Eliot on the admission of women to Harvard Medical School, and correspondence with Oliver Wendell Holmes, William James and Carl and Agatha Schurz. Her writings include an autobiographical fragment, essays written at school, ephemeral pieces written after 1873, and newspaper articles and addresses. A biographical sketch by Jacobi's sister, Ruth Putnam, photographs, various clippings and articles about Jacobi are also included.
BIOGRAPHY
Mary (Putnam) Jacobi, physician, was born in England of American parents in 1842; the family returned to New York in 1848, where she was educated privately and in public school. She attended the New York College of Pharmacy, graduating in 1863, and received her M.D. from the Female (later Women's) Medical College of Pennsylvania. In 1868, Jacobi became the first woman to gain admission to the Ecole de Medecine, Paris; she was graduated in 1871 with honors, receiving a bronze medal. As a physician in New York, she combined private clinical practice with research and teaching. She was affiliated with the New York Infirmary and the Mount Sinai Hospital. Her marriage in 1873 to Abraham Jacobi, physician, was followed by the birth of three children, of whom only her daughter Marjorie survived. Jacobi died in 1906 of a brain tumor.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Accession number: 46-14, 78-M92, 84-M86
The papers of Mary Putnam Jacobi were given to the Schlesinger Library by her daughter, Marjorie (Jacobi) McAneny, in June 1945, and by her granddaughter, Ruth (McAneny) Loud, in June 1978, and May 1984.
Container List
Container List
- Box 1: Folders 2-27
- Box 2: Folders 28-36
Processing Information
Reprocessed: January 1981
By: Jane S. Knowles
Subject
- Agassiz, Alexander (1835-1910) (Person)
- Eliot, Charles William, 1834-1926 (Person)
- Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894 (Person)
- James, William, 1842-1910 (Person)
- Title
- Jacobi, Mary Putnam, 1842-1906. Papers of Mary Putnam Jacobi, 1851-1974: A Finding Aid
- Author
- Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America
- Language of description
- eng
- EAD ID
- sch00063
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.