Lecture card from the Female Medical College of Pennsylvania issued to Mrs. Rebecca L. Fussell for the session 1855-1856. The card is signed by Mark G. Ken (or Kew), M.D.

The Female Medical College of Pennsylvania was founded in 1850 in Philadelphia. The founders were primarily progressive male Quakers who believed strongly in the rights of women and their education. According to ExplorePAhistory “The campaign to establish a medical school for women was led by the Fussell family of Chester County and the Longshores of Bucks County, who joined with businessman William J. Mullen to the open the college.” This was the first school in the world established specifically to train women for the degree of doctor of medicine or in Latin, Medicinae Doctor (MD).

The Woman's Hospital of Philadelphia was established and associated with the college in 1861 due to the opposition and difficulty in attracting patients for female medical students. A Quaker woman physician, Dr. Ann Preston, and other Quaker women were primarily responsible for the creation of the hospital. Dr. Preston had been in the first graduating class of the college and in 1866 was appointed the first woman dean of the Female Medical College of Pennsylvania.

In 1867 the name was changed to Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania, then in 1970, over a century later, to Medical College of Pennsylvania after it was decided to admit male students. In 1993 the Medical College of Pennsylvania merged with Hahnemann Medical College and in 2003, the two medical colleges were absorbed as a part of Drexel University College of Medicine.

A similar card is pictured at Memorial# 75892887 for Dr. Bartholomew Fussell.

More can be learned about the college at:

http://explorepahistory.com/hmarker.php?markerId=1-A-380

Card is in the Ben Z. Swanson Archive.