Summary Information
- Prepared by
- Thomas G. Potterfield, Maureen B. Spectre, and Theresa R. Snyder, assisted by Susan M. Jenkins
- Preparation date
- March 2014
- Date [inclusive]
- 1920-1975
- Extent
- 2.0 Cubic feet
PROVENANCE
Gift of the Alexander family, 1987.
ARRANGEMENT
The Virginia Margaret Alexander Papers is organized into ten series: I. Biographical and Autobiographical; II. Personal Correspondence; III. General Correspondence; IV. Financial Records; V. Education; VI. Professional Papers; VII. Writings and Publications; VIII. Certificates, Honors, and Awards; IX. Photographs; and X. Books.
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
Raymond Pace Alexander’s younger sister, Virginia Margaret Alexander (B.S. in Ed., 1920), became close friends with Sadie Mossell during their undergraduate years at the University of Pennsylvania, and it was through Virginia that Sadie and Raymond met. After college, Virginia Alexander attended the Medical College of Pennsylvania and then completed her internship at Kansas City General Hospital.
In 1923 Dr. Alexander began her practice of diagnostic medicine in North Philadelphia. In 1935 she was responsible for bringing Dr. Helen O. Dickens to Philadelphia to join her in the practice of medicine. Later, after graduate work at Yale University School of Medicine, Virginia Alexander entered the field of public health, serving as medical advisor for Howard University from 1937 to 1941 and then, during World War II, with the United States Public Health Service. When she returned to Philadelphia after the war, she specialized in obstetrics and gynecology, serving on the staffs of the Woman’s Medical College Hospital, Pennsylvania Hospital and Mercy-Douglass Hospital until her death from Lupus in 1949.
SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE
The most significant contents of the Virginia Alexander Papers are financial records, mostly estate (approx. 1 cu. ft.; 1944-63) and the Dr. Virginia M. Alexander Scholarship Foundation (1956-1975). The papers also contains a small series of photographs.
Controlled Access Headings
- Occupation(s)
- Women physicians–Pennsylvania–Philadelphia.
- Personal Name(s)
- Alexander, Sadie Tanner Mossell, 1898-1989
- Dickens, Helen Octavia.
- Subject(s)
- African American women–Pennsylvania–Philadelphia.
- African Americans–Professional education–Pennsylvania–Philadelphia.
Inventory
|
I. BIOGRAPHICAL AND AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL |
Box |
Folder |
|
|
Biographical article: “Can a Colored Woman Be a Physician?,” 1933 |
1 |
1 |
|
|
Travel: suggested itinerary for Scandinavia, 1936 |
1 |
2 |
|
|
VMA medical case history (“Lupus … and Ovarian Function …” by Rose, et al.), 1944 |
1 |
3 |
|
|
Obituaries: unclipped, 1949 |
1 |
4 |
|
|
Obituaries: clipped, 1949 |
1 |
5 |
|
|
Commemorative verse: “In Memorium” by Hannah M. Bryan-Tawber, 1949 |
1 |
6 |
|
|
Condolences on the death of VMA, 1949 |
1 |
7 |
|
|
Condolences on the death of VMA, 1949 |
1 |
8 |
|
|
Condolences on the death of VMA, 1949 |
1 |
9 |
|
|
Condolences on the death of VMA, 1949 |
1 |
10 |
|
|
Condolences on the death of VMA, 1949 |
1 |
11 |
|
|
Condolences on the death of VMA, 1949 |
1 |
12 |
|
|
Petition to City Council re VMA Recreation Center, 1957 |
1 |
13 |
|
|
II. PERSONAL CORRESPONDENCE |
Box |
Folder |
|
|
With family, 1929-1933 |
1 |
14 |
|
|
Helen O. Dickens, 1935 |
1 |
15 |
|
|
With and re Irene Jackson, 1936 |
1 |
16 |
|
|
From several persons in Alabama; to Mary Elizabeth Alexander, 1947-1949 |
1 |
17 |
|
|
III. GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE |
Box |
Folder |
|
|
STMA with and re VMA (mostly re 2104 Jefferson Street; some personal correspondence), 1942-1943 |
1 |
18 |
|
|
STMA with and re VMA (mostly re 2104 Jefferson Street; some personal correspondence), 1943-1946 |
1 |
19 |
|
|
IV. FINANCIAL RECORDS |
Box |
Folder |
|
|
A. General |
|||
|
Miscellaneous receipts, legal papers, and statements, 1928-1940 |
1 |
20 |
|
|
Miscellaneous receipts, legal papers, and statements, 1941-1947 |
1 |
21 |
|
|
Miscellaneous receipts, legal papers, and statements, 1948-1949 |
1 |
22 |
|
|
B. Estate |
|||
|
Trust for Mary E. and Rae P. Alexander, 1944-1949 |
1 |
23 |
|
|
Will, 1949 |
1 |
24 |
|
|
Executor’s working papers, reports, and creditor’s claims, 1949 |
1 |
25 |
|
|
Will and executor’s report, 1949 |
1 |
26 |
|
|
Will and codicil (copy), correspondence, invoices, and bank statements, 1949 |
1 |
27 |
|
|
Correspondence re settlement, 1949 |
1 |
28 |
|
|
Correspondence re settlement, 1949 |
1 |
29 |
|
|
Correspondence re settlement, 1949 |
1 |
30 |
|
|
Correspondence re settlement, 1950 |
1 |
31 |
|
|
Correspondence re settlement, 1950 |
1 |
32 |
|
|
Correspondence re settlement, 1950 |
1 |
33 |
|
|
Correspondence and invoices, 1951 |
1 |
34 |
|
|
Correspondence and invoices, 1952-1953 |
1 |
35 |
|
|
Correspondence and invoices, 1954-1956 |
1 |
36 |
|
|
Correspondence and invoices, 1957-1958 |
1 |
37 |
|
|
Correspondence, 1959-1961 |
2 |
1 |
|
|
Correspondence, 1961-1962 |
2 |
2 |
|
|
C. Dr. Virginia M. Alexander Scholarship Foundation |
|||
|
Correspondence and finances, 1953-1956 |
2 |
3 |
|
|
Correspondence and finances, 1957 |
2 |
4 |
|
|
Correspondence and finances, 1958-1960 |
2 |
5 |
|
|
Correspondence and finances, 1961 |
2 |
6 |
|
|
Correspondence and finances, 1961 |
2 |
7 |
|
|
Correspondence and finances, 1962 |
2 |
8 |
|
|
Correspondence and finances, 1963 |
2 |
9 |
|
|
Correspondence and finances, 1964-1966 |
2 |
10 |
|
|
Correspondence and finances, 1967-1968 |
2 |
11 |
|
|
Correspondence and finances, 1968-1969 |
2 |
12 |
|
|
Correspondence and finances, 1969-1970 |
2 |
13 |
|
|
Correspondence and finances, 1970-1972 |
2 |
14 |
|
|
Correspondence and finances, 1973 |
2 |
15 |
|
|
Correspondence and finances, 1974-1975 |
2 |
16 |
|
|
V. EDUCATION |
Box |
Folder |
|
|
A. College |
|||
|
Women’s Undergraduate Record, University of Pennsylvania, 1920 |
2 |
17 |
|
|
Transcript (B.S.), 1920/1934 |
2 |
18 |
|
|
B. Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania |
|||
|
Alumnae Register, 1948 |
2 |
19 |
|
|
VI. PROFESSIONAL PAPERS |
Box |
Folder |
|
|
Copy of letter re W. E. B. DuBois (medical), 1933 |
2 |
20 |
|
|
Civil service exam, licenses, 1935-1940 |
2 |
21 |
|
|
Announcement of return to general practice, 1945 |
2 |
22 |
|
|
VII. WRITINGS AND PUBLICATIONS |
Box |
Folder |
|
|
“The Social, Economic, and Health Problems of North Philadelphia Negroes and Their Relationship to a Proposed Interracial Public Health Demonstration Center,” 1935 |
2 |
23 |
|
|
“The Social, Economic, and Health Problems of North Philadelphia Negroes and Their Relationship to a Proposed Interracial Public Health Demonstration Center,” 1935 |
2 |
24 |
|
|
“Negro Hospitalization,” 1937 |
2 |
25 |
|
|
“The Health Status and Needs of the Negro Adolescent,” 1940 |
2 |
26 |
|
|
“The Health Status of Negro Workers in the National Youth Administration in the District of Columbia,” 1941 |
2 |
27 |
|
|
VIII. CERTIFICATES, HONORS, AND AWARDS |
Box |
Folder |
|
|
Portrait donated to Medical College of Pennsylvania, 1986 |
2 |
28 |
|
|
IX. PHOTOGRAPHS |
Box |
Folder |
|
|
Portraits, incl. college graduation, [191-] |
2 |
29 |
|
|
Snapshots, incl. on Penn campus, [191-] |
2 |
30 |
|
|
Portrait; group portrait of “House Staff and Interns, Old City Hospital,” [192-] |
2 |
31 |
|
|
Portraits, incl. one as physician, [193-] |
2 |
32 |
|
|
Group shots, incl. award of Pennsylvania Institute of Negro Health, [194-] |
2 |
33 |
|
|
Portrait, [1948-1949] |
2 |
34 |
|
|
Portrait (painting), with 8×10 negative, ca.1949 |
2 |
35 |
|
|
Unidentified snapshots with note by RPA, 1949 |
2 |
36 |
|
|
X. BOOKS |
Box |
Folder |
|
|
Araminta’s Goat, by Eva Knox Evans (a children’s book), 1938 |
2 |
37 |
|