Archives Project Documents Women’s Achievements in Medicine

Graham Ramsay Joseph Ladapo

Grete Bibring, the first woman to be appointed a full professor at HMS, had an exceptional career in psychiatric medicine and research and was an internationally recognized name in the field of psychoanalysis. The Archives for Women in Medicine, a pioneering initiative at the Medical School, documents her academic and personal contributions, preserving them for future generations—along with the contributions of many other women leaders who have helped shape the history of HMS.

Inspired by the theories of Sigmund Freud, Bibring studied medicine at the University of Vienna from 1918 to 1924 and then fled to London to escape Nazi occupation in 1938. After moving to the United States three years later, she and her husband eventually settled in Boston, where Bibring continued to build on an already-influential career in psychiatry. Among many other achievements, she served as president or vice president of multiple psychoanalytic professional societies, made significant intellectual contributions to the existing body of psychiatric knowledge and, in 1946, was the first woman to be appointed head of the Department of Psychiatry at Beth Israel Hospital. She was named a full professor of psychiatry in 1961.

Making History
Nearly 50 years later, the Archives for Women in Medicine is revisiting her work and collecting the writings that helped her make an indelible mark on her colleagues, HMS, and the field of psychiatry. A combined initiative of the Joint Committee on the Status of Women and Countway Library, the archives aims to collect, preserve, and share the professional and personal works of women leaders—particularly this cohort’s early members who served at HMS as physicians, researchers, and administrators.

Giordana Mecagni, project archivist, has led many of the initiative’s efforts. In describing the importance of their undertaking, she quoted Jill Lepore, professor of history at Harvard College, saying, “‘Those who hold the evidence make the history.’” Mecagni also noted, “We want to ensure that there is evidence of these women’s entry into the medical profession and their work at Harvard Medical School. Some of our earliest pioneers have already passed away, taking the evidence of their lives and unique stories with them. Others are now beginning to retire. Without the Archives for Women in Medicine, the evidence of their struggles and ultimate successes—irreplaceable components of their legacies—will be lost forever.”

Already, the archives has opened collections of the works of Anne Pappenheimer Forbes, a researcher whose investigations led to the discovery of Forbes–Albright syndrome; Lydia Gibson Dawes, the first child psychiatrist at Children’s Hospital Boston and an acquaintance of Anna Freud, Sigmund Freud’s daughter; Ethel Collins Dunham, a pediatrician who wrote national guidelines for the care of newborns; and other women leaders. It has also recorded an oral history from Raquel Eidelman Cohen (HMS ’53), a member of the first HMS class that included both men and women. Other collections highlight leaders who have influenced HMS’s more recent history. In the spring of 2006, the archives hosted the National Library of Medicine’s “Changing the Face of Medicine,” a traveling exhibit on the life stories and accomplishments of women who have paved the way for future generations of women in medicine.

The Future and Funding
Eleanor Shore (HMS ’55), senior consultant to the Office of Academic and Clinical Programs and former dean for faculty affairs, is a member of the archives steering committee. Having significantly shaped opportunities for women in medicine herself, she said, “Although late on the scene of Harvard Medical School’s long history, the women’s contributions have been extraordinary and will lend courage to future generations of potential women leaders in the fields of medicine and biomedical sciences.”

The project only has enough funding to operate for an additional year, so Mecagni and others are working to acquire the financial support necessary to establish and preserve other collections for the archives. Former HMS dean Joseph Martin is sponsoring the Grete Bibring collection, but other benefactors will be needed to ensure that these women’s legacies do not go undocumented.

“We hope to extend the project for as long as it takes to collect these women’s papers,” Mecagni said, “and make them available to the public.”

—Joseph Ladapo is a Harvard medical student and a PhD
student in health policy.

For more information about the Archives for Women in Medicine, please visit http://www.countway.harvard.edu/rarebooks/AWM.shtml.

The opinions expressed in this column are not necessarily those of Harvard Medical School, its affiliated institutions, or Harvard University.

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