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ANNIE L. ALEXANDER
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PAPERS, 1881-1929
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UNCC MANUSCRIPT COLLECTION 247
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| Contents: |
Collection
Information |
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Biographical
Note |
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Scope and
Content Note |
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Container List |
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Photographs |
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Size:
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1 linear foot (ca. 1,800 items). |
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| Locales: |
Charlotte (N.C.). |
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Mecklenburg County (N.C.). |
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| Bulk Dates: |
1885-1929. |
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| Languages: |
English. |
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| Summary: |
Papers of the first woman to practice medicine in the South.
Includes letters she wrote to her father, Dr. John Brevard Alexander, while
a student and intern at the Women's Medical College in Philadelphia (1884-85);
patient records; financial accounts; essays on medical topics; and newspaper
clippings. |
| Index Terms: |
Alexander, Annie L. (Annie Lowrie), 1864-1929. |
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Alexander, John B. (John Brevard), 1834-1911. |
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Charlotte (N.C.)--History. |
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Eugenics. |
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Mecklenburg County (N.C.)--History. |
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Medical care--North Carolina--19th century. |
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Physicians--North Carolina--19th century. |
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Women--Medical care--19th century. |
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Women--Physicians--North Carolina--19th century. |
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| Sources: |
Gift of Mrs. Mary Alexander Way, 1997. |
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| Access: |
Unrestricted. |
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| Copyright: |
Not held by UNC Charlotte Library. |
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| Citation: |
Annie L. Alexander Papers, University of North Carolina at
Charlotte Library. |
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| Contact Information: |
For more information about this collection, please contact:
Special Collections Department
J. Murrey Atkins Library
University of North Carolina at Charlotte
9201 University City Blvd.
Charlotte, NC 28223-0001
E-mail: speccoll@email.uncc.edu
Telephone: (704) 687-2449
Fax: (704) 687-2232 |
| Related Collections: |
Alexander
and Ramsey Family Papers (UNCC Manuscript 162). |
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John
B. Alexander Papers (UNCC Manuscript 218). |
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| Compilers: |
Joanna Goltzman, November, 1997. |
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| Dr. Annie Lowrie Alexander was born January 10,
1864 near Cornelius in Mecklenburg County, N.C. Her parents were Dr. John
Brevard Alexander (1834-1911) and Ann Wall Lowrie Alexander (1834-1893). |
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| Alexander graduated from Woman's Medical College
in Philadelphia in 1884. After a year as an intern at the college, she became
an assistant teacher of anatomy at the Woman's Medical College of Baltimore,
Maryland. She returned to North Carolina in 1887 as the first woman to practice
medicine in the South. |
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| Although medicine was considered an improper
field for women, Alexander gained the respect of her community. In 1909
she was elected to her first of several terms as president of the Mecklenburg
County Medical Society. She also served on the staffs of St. Peter's Hospital
(now Carolinas Medical Center) and Presbyterian Hospital and on the boards
of the Charlotte YWCA, the Florence Crittendon Maternity Home, the Associated
Charities, and the Cooperative Nursing Association. During World War I,
Alexander became a first lieutenant in the army and worked in North Carolina
with the U.S. Health Service, serving as acting assisting surgeon at Camp
Greene in Charlotte. For 23 years, she served as the physician to the Presbyterian
College for Women (now Queens College). |
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| Alexander never married. She died October 15,
1929 in Charlotte from pneumonia, an illness she contracted from a patient.
She is buried in Elmwood Cemetery in Charlotte. |
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| [For more information, see William S. Powell,
ed., The Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, vol. 1 (1979).] |
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| This collection is comprised primarily of material
relating to Alexander as student and physician. Includes correspondence,
essays, financial records, and patient records. Also includes a few civic-related
and personal items. The Annie L. Alexander Papers are organized in a single
alphabetical folder title series. |
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| Box:Folder |
Contents |
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| 1:1 |
CORRESPONDENCE (1883-1929): includes family correspondence
(including fifteen letters from Alexander to her father, Dr. J. B. Alexander)
written while Alexander was in medical school in Philadelphia and while
she was an assistant teacher in Maryland (1883-1886); a letter from a suitor
(1888); and twelve letters concerning Alexander's funding of a scholarship
for the medical education of Chinese women (1920-28). |
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| 1:2 |
ESSAYS--HEALTH ISSUES (n.d.): topics include physical, mental,
and moral health; values of regular eating, drinking, and sleeping habits;
medical inspections of school children; sex education; and hospital management. |
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| 1:3 |
ESSAYS--MEDICAL (1914, 1922, 1928, and n.d.): topics include
caring for premature infants; antiseptics; "nervous prostration";
reports of medical assistance provided for various unnamed patients; indigestion;
calcium deposits; pneumonia; tuberculosis; and eugenics. |
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| 1:4 |
ESSAYS--SCHOOL LESSONS (n.d.): essay topics include the U.S.
Constitution and classical philosophy. Lesson topics include French composition;
Ulysses; penmanship; Dante's Inferno; lists of facts about U.S. presidents,
English monarchs, and Roman emperors; reading journal entries interspersed
with personal reflection; and "A Tragedy and Comedy of Hearts." |
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| 1:5 |
ESSAYS--WOMEN'S ISSUES (MEDICAL AND NON-MEDICAL) (n.d.): topics
include pregnancy, experiences of female doctors, female anatomy, female
adolescence, and marriage. |
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| 1:16 |
EVERGREEN CEMETERY (2000): information regarding Alexander's
burial site. |
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| 1:6 |
FICTION (n.d.): includes "A Valentine Love Story,"
and a short story about a female doctor. |
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| 1:7 |
FINANCIAL RECORDS (1889-1892, 1914, 1920-1924): includes detailed
records of Alexander's earnings and expenditures (1920-1924). |
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| 1:8 |
FINANCIAL RECORDS (1924-1929): includes patient accounts and
Alexander's 1928 physician's license. |
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| 1:9 |
LOCAL HISTORY (1904-1905, n.d.): includes handwritten 1904-05
historian's report for the Halifax Chapter [?] of the Daughters of the American
Revolution (Dr. Alexander served as the chapter's historian) and a list
of city government officials. |
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| 1:10 |
MEMORABILIA/MISCELLANY (1885, n.d.): includes advertisements
for needles, medicine, and a sanitarium in Battle Creek, Michigan; detailed
diet plans; hospital nursing rules; office stationery; document from the
Women's Silk Culture Association (1885); and a pass to the North State Club
assigned to Alexander's sister, Dixie. |
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| MC3.10:1 |
MEMORABILIA/MISCELLANY--OVERSIZE MATERIAL (1884, n.d.): comprised
of Alexander's diploma from the Women's Medical College in Philadelphia
and a human anatomy wall chart. |
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| 1:11 |
MAGAZINE ARTICLES AND NEWSPAPER CLIPPINGS (1918, 1929, 1997,
n.d.): includes articles on Alexander's appointment as a first lieutenant
in the U.S. Army (1918), obituaries (1929), published biographical materials
(1997) and women's suffrage (n.d.). |
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| 1:12 |
PATIENT RECORDS--MEDICAL COLLEGE (1881-1883): includes detailed
descriptions of medical treatments for unnamed clinic patients written while
Alexander was a Woman's Medical College student in Philadelphia. |
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| 1:13 |
PATIENT RECORDS--MEDICAL PRACTICE (1888-1889): includes detailed
descriptions of Alexander's named patients written while Alexander practiced
medicine in North Carolina. |
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| 1:14 |
PATIENT RECORDS--MEDICAL PRACTICE (1914-1922): includes one
examination form and detailed descriptions of Alexander's named patients. |
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| 1:15 |
PATIENT RECORDS--MEDICAL PRACTICE (1924-1929): includes Alexander's
patient referrals to other doctors, various urinalysis and blood test results,
and detailed accounts of Alexander's named patients. |
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| P21:6 |
PHOTOGRAPHS--PRINTS |
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| Image Number |
Description |
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| P247/1-3 |
Annie L. Alexander (n.d.) [copies of originals at the Charlotte
Public Library]. |
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| SF1 |
PHOTOGRAPHS--SPECIAL FORMATS |
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| Image Number |
Description |
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| SF247/1 |
Annie L. Alexander (n.d.) [glass plate negative of Alexander]. |
