Florence Rena Sabin Papers
1916-1973
(13.5 linear feet)

B Sa12

© American Philosophical Society
105 South Fifth Street * Philadelphia, PA 19106-3386
 American Philosophical Society 105 South Fifth Street Philadelphia, PA 19106-3386
Table of contents Abstract
Correspondence, reports, etc., relating principally to medical research (tuberculosis, cancer, lymphatic system, pernicious anemia), writings and publications. There is material of note on the following organizations: American Assoc. of Anatomists, American Assoc. of University Women, American Woman's Assoc., Henry Strong Denison Medical Foundation, John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (re. fellowships), Hall of Fame for Great Americans, Institute for Advanced Study, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Medical Aid to China, Medical Aid to Spain, Naples Table Association (this existed to promote laboratory research by women: there are folders of correspondence, 1919-1931; applications; General Committee minutes, 1915-1932), National Academy of Sciences, National Tuberculosis Assoc., Peking Union Medical College, Rockefeller Institute, Ellen Richards Prize (awarded by the Assoc. to Aid Scientific Research by Women), Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine, University in Exile (i.e. New School for Social Research), White House Conference on Child Health and Protection, and the World Center for Women's Archives. There are abstracts and notes of unpublished scientific papers, and also materials for her biography of Franklin Paine Mall, 1934.
Background note
Born in the mining town of Central City, Colorado, as the daughter of an engineer, Florence Rena Sabin was raised in New England and carved out a career of firsts in developmental biology and anatomy.

Receiving a bachelor's degree from Smith College in 1893, Sabin entered the three year old medical school at Johns Hopkins University in 1896, becoming the first woman graduate from the school with the class of 1900. At Hopkins, Sabin became the protégé of Franklin P. Mall, who encouraged her research interests in anatomy. By any reckoning, her talent for medical investigation was enormous, earning her an internship at Hopkins Hospital, followed by a special fellowship in the Department of Anatomy from the Baltimore Association for the Advancement of University Education of Women. By 1917, Sabin was made a member of the faculty in the Department of Histology, the first woman at the University to be promoted to the status of full professor.

Her early research centered on the embryological origins of the lymphatic system, and she later worked on the origins of blood, blood cells, and blood vessels, on the histology of the brain, and on the pathology and immunology of tuberculosis.

In September, 1925, Sabin accepted the invitation to head the Department of Cellular Studies at the Rockefeller Institute, becoming the first woman faculty member there, and continuing her work on tuberculosis. She retired to Colorado in 1938, but emerged six years later at the request of the governor to chair a subcommittee on public health and help reform and modernize the state's public health system. She retired a second time in 1951 and died October 3, 1953.

Honors accrued to Sabin throughout her career, including a number of firsts. In addition to being the first female graduate of Hopkins medical school, the first full professor there, and the first at Rockefeller, she was the first president of the American Association of Anatomists (1924) and the first woman member of the National Academy of Sciences (1925). She was selected as one of two representatives for the state of Colorado in the National Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol.


Scope and content
The Papers of Florence Rena Sabin, a pioneer in women's role in medical research, consist of 13.5 linear feet of correspondence, notes, and publications pertaining to her research in anatomy and embryology. The collection is rich in detail on her work on tuberculosis, cancer, the origins of the lymphatic system, and pernicious anemia, as well as her involvement with a number of professional organizations.

Administrative information
Restrictions
None.

Provenance
Gift of the Rockefeller Institute, 1964.

Preferred citation
Cite as: Florence Rena Sabin Papers, American Philosophical Society.

Additional information
Related material
Additional Sabin material is located in the Alan Mason Chesney Papers at Johns Hopkins University, at Smith College, and the archives of the Rockefeller Institute in Tarrytown, N.Y.

Added entries
Subjects
  • American Association of Anatomists
  • American Association of University Women
  • American Woman's Association
  • Anatomy
  • Cancer--Research
  • Ellen Richards Prize
  • Embryology
  • John Hopkins University. School of Medicine--Faculty
  • John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
  • Lymphatics
  • Mall, Franklin P. (Franklin Paine), 1862-1917
  • Naples Table Association
  • National Academy of Sciences
  • National Tuberculosis Association
  • New School for Social Research
  • Peking Union Medical College
  • Physiology
  • Rockefeller Institute
  • Society for Experimental Biology
  • Tuberculosis--Research
  • University in Exile (see New School for Social Research)
  • White House Conference on Child Health and Protection
  • Women anatomists
  • Women physicians
  • Women physiologists
  • World Center for Women's Archives

    • Contributors
  • Sabin, Florence Rena, 1871-1953

    		•
    Contact information
    American Philosophical Society
    105 South Fifth Street
    Philadelphia, PA 19106-3386
    [http://www.amphilsoc.org/]

    ©9/2000

      Sponsor:Encoding made possible by a grant by the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation to the Philadelphia Consortium of Special Collections Libraries
    Detailed inventory
    Notes
    The following is a list of papers of Florence Rena Sabin, presented to the American Philosophical Society by the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research.

    As far as possible, these are arranged under the headings which Dr. Sabin used. 1964 43ms.


    		 Series I. Correspondence



    		A 1930 - 38


    		Aagard, Otto 1922 - 23


    		Abbott, Maude E. 1917 - 28


    		Abel, John Jacob 1932 - 39


    		Abels, Jules C. 1939 - 41


    		Abstracts - Unpublished Papers n.d.


    		Academy of Political Science 1937


    		Adams, Emma M. 1931


    		Adams, Frances 1934 - 35


    		Adams, Roger 1931


    		Addis, T. 1930, 1939


    		Addresses: Invitations to Speak n.d.


    		Adelhelm, C. Edgar 1938


    		Adler, Eleanor L. 1932


    		Alber, Mrs. Karl 1936


    		Albert-Weil, Jean 1932


    		Allen, Esther C. 1926


    		Alpha Springs Company 1936


    		Altschul, F. J. 1932


    		Amberson, James Burns, Jr. 1925 - 42


    		American Association for the Advancement of Science 1927 - 44


    		American Association for the Advancement of Science - Elections 1907 - 09


    		American Association of Anatomists 1923 - 38


    		American Association of University Women 1923 - 39


    		American Chemical Society 1934 - 37


    		American Eugenics Society 1926 - 36


    		American Friends of Spanish Democracy 1937


    		American Geographical Society 1933 - 37


    		American Journal of Physiology 1936


    		American Library in Honor of Pasteur 1931 - 32


    		American Men of Science 1931 - 32


    		American Museum of Natural History 1927 - 26


    		American Scholar 1934


    		American Society for the Control of Cancer 1938 - 45


    		American Society of Medical Technologists 1937


    		American University Club 1931 - 32


    		American Woman's Association 1926 - 39


    		American - Soviet Friendship, Inc. 1944


    		Ames, J. S. 1933


    		Amoss, Harold L. 1927, 1938


    		Anatomy and Physiology - Demonstrations n.d.


    		Anderson, D. H. 1928


    		Anderson, James H. 1931


    		Anderson, L. E. 1936


    		Anderson, Rudolph J. 1927-42


    		Andrus, William DeWitt 1940


    		Anselmo, Charles 1935


    		Anslow, Gladys A. 1936


    		Antibody Paper 1939


    		Apparatus 1928-30, n.d.


    		Armour, Alexander W. 1934


    		Arneill, James R. 1931


    		Arvanian, V. 1933


    		Ascoli, Alberto 1937-38


    		Associated Hospital Service of New York 1936-40


    		Association of Hospital and Medical Employees of Greater New York 1937


    		Association of Hospital and Medical Professionals 1937


    		Atlantic Monthly 1932


    		Atlas of the Medulla and Midbrain (Letters Pertaining to) 1900-45


    		Atwood, Wallace W. 1934


    		Austrian, Charles R. 1923-28


    		Avery, Oswald T. 1944, n.d.


    		Avian Tuberculosis 1923-29


    		Aycock, W. Lloyd 1936


    		Aydelotte, Frank 1933-43


    		B 1919-40


    		Babcock, Heath 1938


    		Bachrach, Inc. 1936


    		Baggett, Iva L. 1935


    		Baird, L. S. Hillegas 1935


    		Baker, Newton D. 1929


    		Baker, S. Josephine 1936


    		Baldwin, Edward R. 1929-31


    		Baldwin, James H. 1933


    		Bales, John, Sons & Danielsson, Ltd. 1932


    		Baley, James 1931


    		Ball, Eric G. 1934


    		Bang, Bernard 1927


    		Banting, F. G. 1936


    		Bardeen, C. R. 1930-34


    		Barker, Grace 1940


    		Barker, Lewellys F. 1901, 1934


    		Barnard, W. G. 1929


    		Barondes, R De R 1936


    		Bartelmez, George W. 1917-22


    		Bartlett, Frederic H. 1935


    		Bartlett, Katherine C. 1934


    		Barlett, Robert W. 1933


    		Bass, Elizabeth 1939-40


    		Bauer, Walter 1930


    		Baumann, Frieda 1932


    		Baxter, Josephine A. 1938


    		Baylis, Adelaide B. 1927


    		Bayne-Jones, S. 1932


    		Beall, K. H. 1923


    		Beals, Rose F. 1926-35


    		Beard, Mary R. 1935-44


    		Beck, Regina C. 1937-38


    		Bedson, S. Phillips 1923-24


    		Bell, W. B. 1944


    		Bellamy, Freddie 1935, n.d.


    		Benedict, Ralph C. 1937-38


    		Bensley, Robert Russell 1932-42


    		Benton, Mary L. 1922


    		Berle, Adolf A., Jr. 1935-38


    		Bernhard, W. G. 1934


    		Bernheim, Alice R. 1938


    		Berry, Martha 1935


    		Berst, Myrabell K. 1937


    		Bibb, Eugene Sharp 1940


    		Bibliography of Florence Rena Sabin n.d.


    		Biblioteca Femina n.d.


    		Bickford, James V 1930-35


    		Biely, Jacob 1933


    		Bigelow, George H. 1930


    		Biographical Data n.d.


    		Biographical Material of Florence Rena Sabin n.d.


    		Birch, Carroll L. 1929


    		Birkhaus, Konrad E. 1931


    		Birth Control Movement 1934-35


    		Black, Davidson 1921-22


    		Blackfan, Kenneth D. 1928-33


    		Blake, Francis G. 1933-35


    		Blake, James K. 1937-38


    		Blood, Correspondence Concerning 1927-35


    		Bloom, William 1936-39


    		Boas, Franz 1933-38


    		Bohoel, Emil 1931-38


    		Boissevain, C. H. 1931,1937


    		Bolton, Thaddeus L. 1938


    		Book Plate - Sketch 1941


    		Boos, Margaret 1935-36


    		Boretz, Mary E. 1942


    		Boty, James M. 1930


    		Bousios, Basil Nicholas Hellenagoras 1934


    		Bowcock, Harold M. 1929-30


    		Bowman, J. 1929


    		Boy Conservation Bureau 1937


    		Boyce, Addisone 1932, 1943


    		Boycott, A. E. 1936


    		Boyle, Emma H. 1937


    		Brainerd, Heloise 1934


    		Brandt, Joseph A. 1942-43


    		Branscomb, Louise 1930


    		Brayton, Nancy L. 1938


    		Bremer, J. L. 1931


    		Brigham, Carl C. 1934


    		Broady, Mrs. J. H. 1933


    		Brõdel, Max 1934


    		Brown, Adelaide 1932-34


    		Brown, David H. 1941


    		Brown, Lawrason 1933


    		Brown, Louise 1930


    		Brown, Madeline R. 1936-37


    		Brown, Virginia S. 1934


    		Brown, Warren Wilmer 1936-37


    		Browning, Charles C. 1932


    		Browning, William 1900


    		Bruetsch, Walter W. 1932-33


    		Bryn Mawr College 1917,1946


    		Buck, Albert W. 1933-34


    		Buck, Lemuel F. 1937


    		Budget 1933-36


    		Buell, George 1939-40


    		Bunker, John W. M. 1938


    		Bunin, Simon S. 1930


    		Bunting, Charles H. 1919-1926


    		Burrows, M. T. 1926,1938


    		Bush, William M. 1939-40


    		Business and Professional Women's Clubs 1937


    		C 1920-41


    		Calendar Reform 1936


    		Callander, C. Latimer 1922


    		Calliess, Charlotte 1930


    		Campbell, Edith 1927


    		Campbell, Editha C. 1931-33


    		Campbell, Nell K. 1936


    		Campbell, W. W. 1932


    		Campen, Laura E. 1927


    		Cancer Committee 1946


    		Cancer Research Committee 1928-29


    		Candidates 1928-31


    		Cann, Jessie Y. 1938


    		Cannon, Walter Bradford 1945


    		Carrel, Alexis 1929-36


    		Cary, W. P. 1937


    		Case School of Applied Science 1934-36


    		Casey, Albert E. 1934-37


    		Cash, James R. 1928-35


    		Castle, W. B. 1930-37


    		Catt, Carrie Chapman 1940


    		Cattell, James McKeen 1925-37


    		Cavins, A. W. 1931


    		Chalfant, Ruth Jean n.d.


    		Chambers, Robert 1923-33


    		Channel Bookshop 1931, n.d,


    		Chapman, Edward N 1934


    		Chapman, Ross McC 1932


    		Chase National Bank 1932-40


    		Chediak, Alejandro 1937


    		Chemical Fraction Tests - Correspondence 1929


    		Chidester, F. E. 1930


    		Child, Dorothy 1932


    		Chinese Medical Association 1933


    		Choucroun, Nina 1942


    		Churchman, John W. 1930-32


    		Citizen's Charter Campaign Committee [New York City] 1936


    		Clark, Ada R. 1933


    		Clark, Axton 1941-42, n.d.


    		Clark, Eliot 1920-37


    		Clark, George A. 1936


    		Clark, Janet Howell 1921-39


    		Clark, L. T. 1934


    		Clark University 1933-34


    		Clarke, Miriam 1930


    		Cline, May 1931


    		Co Tui, Frank W. 1935


    		Cobb, Stanley 1936, n.d.


    		Coburn, Alvin F. 1933-39


    		Cohen, Florence 1931


    		Cohn, Alfred Ezra 1920-41


    		Cohn, Earl 1940


    		Cohn, Edwin Joseph 1927-28


    		Cole, Julia 1931


    		Cole, Rufus Ivory 1931


    		Coleman, Anne 1937


    		Collins, Mary Love 1934-36


    		Colonial Dames of America n.d.


    		Colorado - Governor's Committee 1945


    		Colorado Foundation 1937-38


    		Coombs, Mrs. Marvin B. 1937


    		Condit, Virginia 1932


    		Conklin, Edwin Grant 1932, 1938


    		Cooke, Mary A. 1935


    		Cooper, H. J. (National Jewish Hospital, Denver, Colorado) 1931-34


    		Cooper, Linn F. 1929


    		Cordier, Victor 1929


    		Cordova, Frank 1937


    		Corn Exchange Bank 1931-33


    		Cornell University Medical College 1928, 1936-37


    		Corner, George Washington 1925-38


    		Corwin, Margaret T. 1936


    		Cosmopolitan Club 1932-37


    		Cotton, W. E. 1930-32


    		Courant, R. 1937


    		Cournand, André 1936-37


    		Cowdry, E. V. 1921-36


    		Craighill, Margaret D. 1941-43


    		Crawford, Rena 1916-19


    		Creviston, Maxine 1932


    		Crocker, Walter J. 1931-35


    		Crowe, S. J. 1924


    		Crowell, Mrs. Chester T. 1938


    		Cruiskshank, E. W. H. 19226


    		Cullen, Thomas S. 1924, 1933


    		Cummings, H. S. 1928


    		Cunningham, Robert S. 1920-43


    		Curie-Joliot, Mme. Marie 1921


    		Curtiss, E. Fred 1924


    		Cushing, Harvey 1925-35


    		Custer, R. P. 1930


    		Cuthbert, Margaret 1936-37


    		Cutler, Elliott C. 1926-36


    		Cutler, Max 1925


    		D 1919-39


    		Dameshek, William 1934-36


    		Danchakoff, Vera 1922-27


    		Danforth, C. H. 1926


    		Danzinger, Max 1930


    		Darracott, W. H. 1932


    		Davenport, Charles B. 1938


    		Davidson, Wilburt C. 1927


    		Davies, Betty G. 1924, 1941


    		Davies, John A. V. 1936


    		Day, Dorothy 1940


    		DeAberle, Sophie 1927


    		Dean, Mrs. Vera Michaelis 1936-37


    		Dearholt Lectures 1942


    		DeGeris, C. F. 1942-43


    		De La Porta, Rita 1934


    		Delaunay, A. 1940


    		Deming, Clinton D. 1934


    		DePrune, Franqois Jehin 1934-37


    		DeSavitsch, Eugene 1932-33, 1941


    		Detwiler, S. R. 1933


    		Development of Knowledge of the Lymphatic System n.d.


    		Diamond, Louis K. 1927


    		Dickinson, C. R. 1930


    		Dickinson, Mrs. Florence 1926


    		Dickinson, Robert L. 1922


    		Dittus, C. W. 1934-37


    		Doan, Charles A. 1920-46


    		Doan, Robert A. 1922-24


    		Dochez, A. R. 1931-33


    		Dodge, Eva F. 1934


    		Dolgopol, Vera B. 1929-30


    		Donaldson, Henry H. 1932-36


    		Downey, Hal 1917-39>


    		Doyle, Ann 1927


    		Draper, George 1925


    		Drinker, Cecil Kent 1920-33


    		Drinker, Cecil K. (Review on Book) 1942


    		Du Bois, Arthur 1929


    		Du Bois, Eugene Floyd 1931-37


    		Duckworth, W. L. H. 1917


    		Dudley, Harold M. 1933


    		Duesberg, Jules 1920-24


    		Duffus, Katherine Balfour 1926-27


    		Duke, W. W. 1928


    		Dunham, Ethel C. 1926-27


    		Dunn, Marshall 1922-26, 1945


    		DuPlaix, Jeanne 1937


    		Duran-Reynals, F. 1941


    		E 1921-39


    		Eagle Chemical Co. 1936


    		Earhart, Amelia, Foundation 1938


    		Earle, Edward M. 1931-38


    		Eaton, Jeanette 1938


    		Eaton, Paul 1934


    		Eberbach & Sons Company, Incorporated 1931-32


    		Eckstein, Gustav 1935


    		Edgar, Mrs. A. K. 1930


    		Egbert, Dan S. 1934


    		Eggleston, Margery K. 1925-30


    		Ehrlick, Laura E. 1936-39


    		Eichel, Mrs. Mabel Jacques 1936


    		Einstein, Albert 1935-38


    		Eliot, Martha M. 1936


    		Ellenberg, Samuel L. 1930


    		Eller, Joseph Jordan 1935


    		Elliman, Douglas L. & Co. 1925


    		Elscott, Mrs. O. J. 1939


    		Emerson, Kendall 1930-42


    		Encyclopaedia Britannica 1925


    		Erdmann, Rhoda 1925


    		Essenberg, Christine A. 1924


    		Evans, Alice C. 1938-39


    		Evans, Herbert Mclean 1909-38


    		Evans, James Rittenhouse 1910


    		Everts, Mrs. W. E. 1931


    		F 1919-41


    		Farrington, Wallace R. 1927


    		Fay, Anna 1930


    		Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology 1934-35


    		Feldman, William H. 1926, 1939


    		Felton, Lloyd D. 1933, 1939


    		Fenimore, Edward P. 1932


    		Fenton, Ralph A. 1932


    		Ferguson, J. Howard 1934


    		Ferrell, John A. 1938


    		Fichtelberg, Sidney 1938


    		Field, Philip M. 1938


    		Field, Rudolph 1938-39


    		Fieschi, Aminta 1939


    		Finley, John H. 1933-36


    		Finney-Howell Research Foundation 1937-45


    		Firket, Jean 1924, 1934, n.d.


    		Fisk, Gladys 1936


    		Fitz, Reginald 1935


    		Flexner, Abraham 1925-44


    		Flexner, Bernard 1932-40


    		Flexner, Simon 1917-43


    		Flexner, Simon, Dinner and Medal - Correspondence 1935-36


    		Flinn, Frederick B. 1927-34


    		Flinn, John W. 1929-30


    		Flinn, Waldo R. 1930-38


    		Flint, Charles W. 1934


    		Flint, Edith Foster 1932


    		Flint, Joseph M. 1932-35


    		Flipse, M. Jay 1936


    		Florence, Laura 1926-27, 1938


    		Flynn, Lulu V. 1936


    		Foley, Edna L. 1932-36


    		Fontana, Luigi 1926


    		Foreign Policy Association 1934-38


    		Forkner, Claude E. 1925-39, n.d.


    		Foster, Mary Louise 1930


    		Fougera and Company 1932


    		Fowle, Hubert W. 1937


    		Fowler, Charlotte 1940


    		Fox, Herbert 1927-29


    		Frankfurter, Felix 1934-36


    		Franklin, Kenneth 1934


    		Frantz, Virginia Kneeland 1926, 1933


    		Frazer, M. Ethel V. 1925


    		Fredericks, G. T. 1928