Ruth Webster Lathrop

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Ruth Webster Lathrop
A white woman in an oval frame; her hair is arranged in an updo; she is wearing a dress or blouse with a high lace collar and bib.
Ruth Webster Lathrop, from a 1911 yearbook.
BornMay 23, 1862
New York
DiedJuly 31, 1940
Philadelphia
Occupation(s)Physician, medical school professor

Ruth Webster Lathrop (May 23, 1862 – July 31, 1940) was an American physician and medical school professor, who taught physiology at the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania.

Early life[edit]

Lathrop was from Le Roy, New York, the daughter of Francis Cuming Lathrop and Fannie Aurelia Comstock Lathrop.[1] She attended Ingham University in her hometown,[2] and graduated from Wellesley College in 1883. She earned a medical degree at the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1891.[3][4]

Career[edit]

Lathrop taught physiology and anatomy courses at the Woman's Medical College of Philadelphia.[5] She was one of several faculty who resigned in protest in 1923, when colleague Alice Weld Tallant's appointment was not renewed.[6] She later taught at Temple University School of Medicine.[7] She retired in 1937.[3]

Lathrop was one of the vice-presidents of the American Academy of Medicine, an affiliated society of the American Medical Association, focused on "sociological problems in the field of medicine".[8] She and her mother were charter members of the Independence Hall chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.[9] She was also active in the Philadelphia Wellesley Club,[10] and the Association of Collegiate Alumnae.[11]

Personal life[edit]

Lathrop lived in Philadelphia with a fellow physician, Annie Bartram Hall. She died at their home in 1940, aged 78 years, from heat exhaustion.[3][7] At her request, her remains were dressed in academic regalia for cremation.[12]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Daughters of the American Revolution (1905). Lineage Book. The Society. p. 194.
  2. ^ "One of the first Students of Ingham University is dead". Buffalo Morning Express and Illustrated Buffalo Express. 1908-07-03. p. 2. Retrieved 2020-09-19 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ a b c "Dr. Ruth Lathrop Dies in 79th Year". The Philadelphia Inquirer. 1940-08-01. p. 9. Retrieved 2020-09-19 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ "Was It Too Mannish?". The Philadelphia Inquirer. 1891-05-07. p. 7. Retrieved 2020-09-20 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ Konkle, Burton Alva (1897). Standard History of the Medical Profession of Philadelphia. Goodspeed Bros. p. 340.
  6. ^ Peitzman, Steven Jay (2000). A New and Untried Course: Woman's Medical College and Medical College of Pennsylvania, 1850-1998. Rutgers University Press. p. 150. ISBN 978-0-8135-2816-8.
  7. ^ a b "Woman Physician Dies". The Baltimore Sun. 1940-08-01. p. 11. Retrieved 2020-09-19 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ "Three Medical Meets On". St. Louis Globe-Democrat. 1910-06-05. p. 4. Retrieved 2020-09-19 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ "CHAPTER HISTORY". IndependenceHall DAR. Retrieved 2020-09-19.
  10. ^ "Alumnae Notes". Wellesley Magazine. 7: 339–340. March 1899.
  11. ^ "Committee on Credentials". The Journal of the Association of Collegiate Alumnae. 5: 206. March 1912.
  12. ^ "Brother and Friend Share Estate of Dr. Ruth Lathrop". The Philadelphia Inquirer. 1940-09-14. p. 9. Retrieved 2020-09-19 – via Newspapers.com.

External links[edit]

  • Ruth Webster Lathrop, "Women Physicians as Teachers" The Woman's Medical Journal 18(April 1908): 70. A paper read before the Woman's Medical Society of the State of New York, March 1908.