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The Scott Memorial Library of Thomas Jefferson University recently received funds from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission to hire an archivist to process, arrange, and describe the papers of the Solis-Cohen family. At 110 linear feet, the Solis-Cohen family papers is the largest collection of manuscript materials held by Thomas Jefferson University Archives and Special Collections Department. It is also the largest collection of Solis-Cohen family materials in the Philadelphia area. Dating from the early 1850s through 1960, the collection documents one of the most significant eras in the history of medicine through the papers of one of the most prominent Jewish families in the Philadelphia area. The materials mainly focus on the education, professional career, and personal life of, Dr. Myer Solis-Cohen and his father Dr. Jacob daSilva Solis-Cohen.
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Dr. Jacob daSilva Solis-Cohen (1838-1927) received his medical training at Jefferson Medical College (JMC) as well as the University of Pennsylvania. He held academic appointments at JMC from 1867-1888 where he was a contemporary of other noted Jefferson physicians such as Samuel D. Gross, Joseph and William Pancoast and J. Aikens Meigs. Noted as a pioneer in the field of laryngology, Dr. Solis-Cohen wrote Diseases of the Throat (1872) which for many years existed as the only comprehensive English language work on that subject. In addition, he was a founder and president of the American Laryngological Association and served as president of the Philadelphia Medical Society.
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Dr. Myer Solis-Cohen (1877-1960) received both his AB and MD degrees from the University of Pennsylvania while his teaching career centered on the University of Pennsylvania and the Women's Medical College. In addition, he served at various hospitals in the Philadelphia area, as Assistant Director of Public Health of Philadelphia, and Director of the Mastbaum Research Laboratory of the Jewish Hospital.
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Materials in the collection include Dr. Jacob Solis-Cohen's lecture notes both as a student and instructor/faculty member at JMC; his research notes, drafts, and printed copies of scientific publications; notes on patient cases and uses of prescriptions; speeches; and galley sheets for his text on laryngology. In addition the papers document his work with the Philadelphia Polyclinic and the International Medical Congress. Items relating to Dr. Myer Solis-Cohen consist of correspondence, scrapbooks, and military orders pertaining to his service as physician during World War I; drafts of speeches and writings; notes from tuberculosis vaccine investigations at the Mastbaum Laboratory of the Jewish Hospital; materials relating to his service as Director of Public Health of Philadelphia as well as account books and patient records. In addition, the collection contains family correspondence, information on Solis-Cohen family genealogy, as well as materials pertaining to Jewish organizations and societies.
When completely processed, the papers will not only provide insight into the Solis-Cohen family's contributions to medical education, practice, research, and public health service in Philadelphia over a hundred year period but their association with Jefferson Medical College as well. When combined with other Solis-Cohen collections located in the Philadelphia area, (at the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, the Center for Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, the Museum of American Jewish History, the Congregation Mikveh Israel, and the Balch Institute) these collections will provide researchers with a much clearer picture of this family's influence and contributions not only in the medical field, but socially and culturally as well. In addition, after completion of the project, the Archives will coordinate an exhibit highlighting the Solis-Cohen family and the collection at Jefferson.
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Dr. Jacob Solis-Cohen examining a patient, ca 1860s. Image produced from a tintype in the Solis-Cohen family papers.
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