May Edward Chinn collection

Home

Search Browse About

Items Collections Divisions

Digital Collections Using Images Using Data

Navigation About Filters

This collection is also available in Archives & Manuscripts
View In Archives »

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

No results found matching your filter for 'Public Domain'. Try another filter or search by keyword.

The New York Public Library

Digital Collections

May Edward Chinn collection

Collection Data