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Manuscript Collections - Rosalie Slaughter Morton Papers
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ROSALIE SLAUGHTER MORTON PAPERS, 1895-1955 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE Blanche Rosalie Slaughter Morton was born in Lynchburg, Virginia on October 28, 1876, to John and Mary Slaughter. She attended private schools in Virginia and Maryland. In 1897 Morton graduated from The Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania. She did postgraduate work in Europe and finished her studies with a tour of India studying the bubonic plague. In 1902, Morton began her medical practice in Washington, D.C moving it to New York after marrying George Morton in 1905. George died in 1912, and Rosalie became a world traveler, often serving as a good will ambassador for various organizations on these trips. In 1916 Morton served in a French Army hospital on the Salonica front as a special commissioner of the American Red Cross to the Serbian Army. There she studied the organization of hospitals and contributions of women to the war effort. She was later appointed chairman of the War Service Committee of the Medical Women's National Association. From 1917 to 1918 she organized and directed the American Women's Hospitals and represented women physicians through her appointment to the Council of National Defense. After the war, Morton organized and directed the Virginia Hospital Fund which provided equipment for two Yugoslavian hospitals and a tuberculosis camp for children operated by the Serbian Red Cross. She founded the International Serbian Education Committee which brought 61 Serbian students to the United States for post-secondary education. Morton was the first woman faculty member of Columbia University Medical School. She was an attending surgeon at the Vanderbilt clinic of the College of Physicians and Surgeons and a lecturer on clinical and minor surgery from 1916 to 1919. Her career included: the first chair of the Public Health Education Committee of the American Medical Association from 1909 to 1910, staff member of the New York Polyclinic Hospital and postgraduate medical school from 1912 to 1918, and work at hospitals in Washington, New York, and Florida. In 1930 Hamilton Holt, president of Rollins College persuaded Morton to set up practice in Winter Park, Florida. She continued her world travels and published two books, A Woman Surgeon and A Doctor’s Holiday in Iran. SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE The collection includes correspondence, diaries, book drafts, biographical materials, articles, scrapbooks, photograph albums, travel literature, clippings, notes, photographs, and postcards. The papers were transferred in 1972 to the Hoover Presidential Library from Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida. The College obtained them from Helen Duke, Morton’s niece. Some materials of unknown content were lost to insects and dampness while stored in a garage. SERIES DESCRIPTIONS SUBJECT FILES contain correspondence, biographical information, diaries LECTURES AND WRITINGS contain book drafts, articles, notes, and research files for Morton and Aline Shane Devin. Included are drafts and source material for Morton's books, A Woman Surgeon and A Doctor’s Holiday in Iran. Arranged alphabetically. TRAVEL FILES: Correspondence, notes and clippings, printed material, and writing from world travels. VISUAL MATERIAL AND MEMORABILIA: Prints, photographs, postcards, and scrapbooks. RELATED MATERIALS Morton’s autobiography A Woman Surgeon and A Doctor's Holiday in Iran are in the library collection. FOLDER LIST SUBJECT FILES Box American Women's Hospitals, 1917-1940 (3 folders) Biographical Information Biographical Clippings, 1912-1954 (scattered, pictures) 2 Diaries on Medical Education in Europe, 1898-1899, 1901-1902 (3 folders) Nomination for Distinguished Service Medal by Veterans of Foreign Wars, 1928 3 International Serbian Education Committee General Correspondence, 1919-1927, 1939-1955 (11 folders) Lynchburg Monument, 1943 Correspondence Regarding Medical Effects of Fresh Air, 1911 4 Memberships Colonial Dames and the Daughters of the American Revolution, 1912-1923 Missionary Literature, 1936-1942 5 Aline Shane Devin Fiction, 1911-1929 Rosalie Slaughter Morton Constitutional States in Relation to Gynecological Conditions, 1914 (article) Africa, 1927-1928 6 Miscellaneous, 1920-1939 (3 folders) A Doctor's Holiday in Iran Correspondence, 1935-1939 (2 folders) 7 Chapters 18-20 (3 folders) 8 Life In New York, 1925-1928 (article fragment) Correspondence, 1936-1941 TRAVEL FILES Box Contents Africa Correspondence, 1924-1933 (5 folders) 10 Missions – South Africa, 1905-1928 Tanganyika Territory Report of Education Department, 1926-1931 Trip Arrangements, 1926-1928 Australia, 1923-1928 Correspondence, 1900-1902 England, 1931‑1934 Correspondence, 1923‑1924 Greece, 1925-1933 11 Iran Correspondence, 1932-1945 (2 folders) Iraq – Notes and Drafts, 1937-1941 General, 1919-1955 (2 folders) 12 Book donations, 1922-1928 Serbia Topical Atrocities in Serbia, 1919 South America Articles and Writings, 1914-1933 Spain, 1924-1928 American University, 1934-1936 13 Photographs Florida, 1930-1955 14 Postcards Albania Florida (2 folders) 15 Yugoslavia Bosnia and Herzegovina Zanzibar 16 Awards, Certificates, and Licenses Association of Military Surgeons, 1941 Lantern slides – Serbian people, circa 1920 Scrapbook – Report on the Work of the International Serbian Educational Committee, Inc., 1919-1926 17 Photo Album – Haiti by H. G. Witte, Aug 9, 1929 BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION 1876 Born in Lynchburg, Virginia 1897 Graduated from Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania 1898 Resident Physician, Alumni Hospital and Dispensary, Philadelphia 1899‑1902 Post graduate study in Europe and Asia 1903‑1905 Gynecologist, Women's Clinic, Washington, DC 1905-1915 Practice in New York City 1916 Volunteer service in French Military Field Hospital on the Salonica front 1919 Provided hospital equipment for 2 Yugoslav hospitals and tuberculosis camp for children under Serbian Red Cross. 1919‑1923 Visiting surgeon and consultant, Volunteer Hospital 1919‑1928 Founder and chairman International Serbian Educational Committee under which 60 Yugoslav students were educated in American Colleges. 1921‑1926 Commissioner on International education to England, France, Germany and Italy. 1923 Delegate Pan Pacific Scientific Congress, Australia 1924 Delegate to Congress of Societies to Promote League of Nations, France 1926 Commissioner from League of American Pen Women and Women's Medical Society of New York to South Africa. 1926 Tree in Honor Grove, Central Park, New York, planted in her honor "for distinguished patriotic service" 1927 Awarded Palm of Officer French Academy 1928‑1929 Ambassador of goodwill from various organizations to Mexico, Haiti and Porto Rico 1929 Honorary Doctor of Humanities, Rollins College 1930 Practiced medicine at Winter Haven, Florida, specializing in arthritis 1930 Member visiting staff, Orange General Hospital 1934 Presented with loving cup by a group of members of American Medical Association 1935 Commissioned by League of American Pen Women and Women's Medical Society of New York State to Iraq and Persia Honorary President and Ambassador of goodwill to medical women in Near East and Middle East Business and professional commission of national and international associations to Greece, Turkey and Syria 1939 Doctor of Science, Rutgers University 1968 May 5 Died in Winter Park, Florida
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