Guide to the Theresa Scanlan Papers,
1938-1977

Theresa Scanlan was born in Decatur, Illinois on August 7, 1891. She entered the premedical program at the University of California in 1915, and from 1918 to 1920 she served in the Army Nurse Corps. She earned her M.D. at Physicians and Surgeons College of Columbia University in 1924. After her internship at Memorial Hospital in Worcester, Massachusetts, she became a resident at Bellevue Hospital, 1925-1926, where she began her specialty in tuberculosis. She opened a private practice, became a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, and taught medicine at New York Hospital of Cornell University. She was a member of the Women's Medical Association of New York City, the Women's Medical Society of New York State, and the American Medical Women's Association.

Consists of correspondence, programs, pamphlets, clippings, a photograph of Dr. Scanlan and others, and constitutions and bylaws of the American Medical Women's Association, the Women's Medical Society of New York State, and the Women's Medical Association of New York City, and membership lists for the latter two organizations. Papers primarily concern her active participation in professional organizations, particularly as chairman of the Alice Stone Woolley Memorial Fund Committee and Regional Director (North Atlantic) of the American Medical Women's Association; as chairman of the Scientific Program Committee; as vice president and president of the Women's Medical Society of New York State; and as chairman of the Membership Committee of the Medical Women's International Association. They also document her concern for the equal rights of women in medical education programs and in the armed forces and her support of the Equal Rights Amendment of 1944. Correspondents include Drs. Dorothy Wells Atkinson, Emily Dunning Barringer, Mary A. Jennings, Zoe Allison Johnstone, Elise S. L'Esperance, Julia V. Lichtenstein, Marguerite P. McCarthy-Brough, Madge C.L. McGuinnes, Mary Riggs Noble, Ada Chree Reid, Adelaide Romaine, Elizabeth S. Waugh, Katherine W. Wright, and Alice Stone Woolley; also, John H. Fay, Congressman from New York, and Olive O. Van Horn, Executive Secretary of the National Council of Scientific, Professional, Art and White Collar Organizations.