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May Edward Chinn collection

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Collection Data

Description
This collection consists of certificates and honorary degrees, a few letters, papers related to the deaths of Chinn's parents, a resume, an autobiography, and membership cards. Additionally, there is correspondence concerning Chinn's memorial service and her estate; letters of condolence to Franklin Williams, her family friend; and letters, an oral history proposal, and contract regarding George Davis's proposed biography of Chinn.
Names
Chinn, May Edward, 1896-1980 (Author)
Dates / Origin
Date Created: 1926 - 1980
Library locations
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division
Shelf locator: Sc MG 93
Topics
African American women
African American women musicians
African American women physicians
African Americans in medicine
Chinn, May Edward, 1896-1980
Genres
Documents
Notes
Biographical/historical: May Chinn was the first African American female graduate of Bellevue Hospital Medical College, and the first African American female doctor in Harlem. May Chinn was born on April 15, 1896, in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. Her family moved to New York City when she was three years old. Her mother worked for jeweler Charles Tiffany and May was raised on the estate in Tarrytown, N.Y. as one of the Tiffany children. When she and her mother returned to New York, May gave piano lessons to kindergarteners. While in college, she performed or accompanied musicians on the piano, including performing for the USO. Chinn earned her BS from Columbia University (1921); graduated from Bellevue Hospital Medical College (1926); earned an MS degree in Public Health from Columbia University (1933); and studied cytological methods at Memorial Hospital (1928-1933). She worked at the Strang Clinic affiliated with New York Infirmary for Women and Children Hospital (1944-1973); and she was a medical adviser in New York State Department of Health (1960-1977). She was elected to the Society of Surgical Oncology (1958) and the American Society of Cytology (1972). She received a Teachers' College Distinguished Alumnus Award from Columbia University (1980). She died in December 1980 in New York, New York.
Content: Audiotapes transferred to Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division
Content: Paintings and plaques transferred to the Art and Artifacts Division.
Content: Audiotapes transferred to Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division.
Acquisition: 02/18/81 Chinn, May Edward Bequest
Physical Description
Extent: 0.46 linear feet (2 boxes)
Type of Resource
Text
Identifiers
Other local Identifier: Sc MG 93
NYPL catalog ID (B-number): b11447982
MSS Unit ID: 20557
Universal Unique Identifier (UUID): bb14d5c0-3ebd-013c-9c79-0242ac110002
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