Drexel University is a leading institution of higher education in the city of Philadelphia with a legacy of advancing technologies, industry, and the arts for the betterment of society. Its medical school’s heritage of innovation and inclusion includes the first degree-granting medical school for women in the world. An affiliation with the Academy of Natural Sciences expands the scope of Drexel research, education and civic engagement into the natural and environmental sciences.
Specialty
Natural and Environmental Sciences, History of Women in Medicine, Women's Health, Medical Education, Homeopathy, Engineering and Tech Ed
Collections
The collections of the Academy’s Library & Archives comprise rare and historic books, journals, art, artifacts, manuscripts, film, photographs, and the papers and research of Academy members and staff. They cover a broad range of subjects in the natural and environmental sciences, from the 16 th century to the present. Additionally, the Academy’s Center for Systematic Biology and Evolution houses one of the world’s top natural history collections, with over 19 million specimens of plants and animals from around the world.
The Legacy Center collections reflect the history of women physicians, women’s health, medical education, and homeopathic practice and pharmacology. Collections stem from the Drexel University College of Medicine predecessor institutions founded in the mid-1800s: Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania and Hahnemann Medical College, and include institutional, personal, and organizational records. Experiences of Black women physicians are documented in oral history collections, individual collections, and the Black Women Physicians Project. The Constantine Hering collection on Paracelsus encompasses 200 volumes dating from 1502, including original works of Paracelsus and early works on the philosopher's stone, alchemy, and botany.
University Archives serves as the institutional archives of Drexel University (excluding the College of Medicine). The core of its collection is Drexel's academic and administrative records from 1891 to the present, including reports, publications, minutes and correspondence. Manuscript collections include papers that document individuals and organizations affiliated with Drexel, such as the personal papers and correspondence of faculty and alumni, as well as papers related to the Drexel family, records of Schramm, Inc. (manufacturer of compressors and drilling rigs), late 19th century Philadelphia, and professional library associations.
Collection strengths include the history of STEM education, especially engineering; the history of home economics education, design arts education, and business education; the history of the United States’ second library school; and the history of cooperative education, which also reflects the industrial history of the greater Philadelphia region.
Collections URL
Holding Highlights
- 250,000 titles, from works published in the 1500s to the present, in both print and electronic format at the Academy of Natural Sciences.
- Over one million archival items related to individuals related to the Academy of Natural Sciences, as well as expeditions from the last 200 years. These include letters, official documents, film, and photographs.
- Approximately 5,000 linear feet of correspondence, diaries, oral histories, rare books, photographs, objects and other materials related to the Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania/Medical College of Pennsylvania and Hahnemann University.
- Over 500,000 books, journals, textbooks, and on-line resources in the library collections of Drexel University proper.
- 50 linear feet of archives of technical and industrial education, and of engineering and early technical institute records, part of approximately 2500 linear feet of Drexel University collections.
The collections of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, which include:
- 17 million plant and animal specimens, including the Lewis & Clark herbarium, Thomas Jefferson’s fossil collection (from the APS) and J. J. Audubon’s bird skins
- 250,000 manuscript items relating to the history of natural history
- 200,000 volumes on all aspects of natural history, with particular strengths in systematics, evolution, ecology, marine and freshwater biology, stratigraphy, comparative biochemistry, history of science, exploration and travel.
Approximately 5,000 linear feet of archival material documents the history of:
- Drexel University College of Medicine and its predecessor institutions, the Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania/Medical College of Pennsylvania [WMC/MCP] and Hahnemann University.
- Women in medicine, internationally, evolving from WMCP's unique position as an all-female medical school
- Homeopathy, internationally, rooted in Hahnemann's founding as the first school for homeopathic medicine in the United States.
- over 500,000 books, journals, textbooks, and on-line resources in engineering, health sciences, business, information science, and design and media arts, as well as general science, humanities and social sciences
- 50 linear feet of archives of technical and industrial education, and of engineering and early technical institute records, part of approximately 2500 linear feet of Drexel University collections.
Fellowship Name
Drexel University