Virginia Apgar papers, 1880-1975 (bulk 1925-1974): Scope & Contents of the Collection

Scope and Contents of the Collection

The Virginia Apgar Papers consist of diaries, correspondence, course records and training records, Aqualumni records, Director of Anesthesiology records, writings, Apgar Score material, material relating to speaking engagements and meetings attended and to radio and television appearances, a scrapbook, financial records, notebooks, an index to scientific publications, memorabilia, Charles E. Apgar material, biographical information, a sound recording and photographs. This material chiefly concerns Apgar's education and professional life between 1925-1974. Much of the collection relates to her work for the National Foundation (later the March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation) from 1959-1974. Material concerning her activities on behalf of that organization consists of diaries, extensive correspondence relating to speaking engagements, meetings attended, and radio and televison appearances, her writings about prenatal care and birth defects, articles about her work, and numerous photographs. Other diaries, correspondence, reports, notebooks, financial records, a scrapbook and photographs concern her education and training at Mount Holyoke College (1925-1929), Columbia University and Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center (1929-1935), the University of Wisconsin (1936-1937) and Johns Hopkins University (1959), and her work as an anesthesiologist, administrator, and professor at Columbia-Presbyterian (1938-1958) and Johns Hopkins (1972-1973). This material includes documents relating to her association with the Aqualumni, a group of anesthesiologists trained by Dr. Ralph M. Waters at the University of Wisconsin, and to the Apgar Score that she developed for evaluating the health of newborn infants. Other material in the collection consists of financial records containing information about her income and expenses between 1925-1942; several notebooks from the 1940s-circa 1969 that include lists, notes, and more details about her finances; a card index of scientific publications in the library of Dr. K. B. Warren which appears to have prepared circa 1960; diplomas, certificates, two medical bags, and other memorabilia; and a sound recording from a television appearance that she made circa 1960. Her papers also include two documents by her father Charles E. Apgar: a letter that he wrote describing his life as a student at Centenary Collegiate Institute in Hackettstown, New Jersey in 1880 and an article about his family's home in Westfield, New Jersey that was published in February 1906 issue of "The Suburbanite, A Monthly Magazine For Those Who Are and Those Who Ought To Be Interested In Suburban Homes."

Material from this collection is available in an online digital format.