Guide to the Charles Value Chapin Papers, 1900-1939

John Hay Library, University Archives and Manuscripts
Box A
Brown University
Providence, RI 02912
Telephone: Manuscripts: 401-863-3723; University Archives: 401-863-2148
Email: Manuscripts: hay@brown.edu; University Archives: archives@brown.edu

Published in 2016

Collection Overview

Title:	Charles Value Chapin Correspondence
Date range:	1900-1939
Creator:	Chapin, Charles V. (Charles Value), 1856-1941
Extent:	3.75 Linear feet
Abstract:	Correspondence chiefly with workers in public health in America, Europe, and Australia about Dr.Chapin's work in communicable diseases.
Language of materials:	English
Repository:	John Hay Library, University Archives and Manuscripts
Collection number:	Ms.Chapin

Scope & content

The collection consists of correspondence related to Charles V. Chapin's role as Superintendant of Health, which position he filled from his appointment in 1884 until his retirement in 1932. The bulk of the material consists of incoming correspondence from professional colleagues, including officials on various state boards of health. The correspondence as a whole documents both Chapin's work within the City of Providence Health Department, as well as a developing national discourse on the topic of public health and Chapin's role within a community of doctors, interested professionals, and state agencies.

Chapin's participation in debates around the nature and spread of infectious diseases is evident throughout the collection. His direct intervention is evident in correspondence with the State of Rhode Island Commissioner of Public Schools from 1901 which includes various drafts of a report on school children and communicable disease and a Health Department circular "Suggestions for the Teaching of Cleanliness and Decency Among School Children." Broader research interests are documented in the epistolary circulation of papers and ideas on diptheria, scarlet fever, tuberculosis, and the two types of smallpox.

Limited carbon copies of Chapin's outgoing correspondence are interfiled. The outgoing correspondence tends toward information requests sent to multiple parties, such as a 1903 mailing on birth rates of college graduates sent on behalf of G. Stanley Hall.

Access Points

Subject Organizations

• Brown University. Class of 1876.

Subject Topics

• Communicable diseases
• Health and Medicine
• Health promotion
• Public health

Occupations

• Health services administrators

Document Types

• Circular letters
• Circulars (Fliers)
• Correspondence

Subject Topics

• Health and Medicine

Arrangement

The collection consists of one series of correspondence arranged chronologically.

Biographical note

Charles Value Chapin (1856-1941), professor of physiology, was born in Providence on January 17, 1856. After graduation from Brown in 1876, he prepared for the study of medicine with Dr. G. D. Wilcox, a homeopathic physician in Providence. In 1877 he went to New York to study at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, and then at Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York University, where he received his M.D. degree in 1879. He was house physician at Bellevue in 1879-80. In 1884 he was appointed superintendent of health in Providence, a post he held for forty-eight years. Meanwhile he was instructor in physiology at Brown from 1882 to 1886 and professor from 1886 to 1895, city registrar of Providence from 1889 to 1932, lecturer at Harvard Medical School in 1909, at Harvard-M.I.T. School for health officers from 1913 to 1922, and at Harvard School of Hygiene from 1923 to 1931.

He began his teaching of the course in physiology at Brown in 1882 with a class of juniors. In 1885 the course was shortened to two hours per week and offered to sophomores, whose lack of preparation made his teaching difficult. He taught by the time-honored tradition of dictation without the use of a text book, conducted demonstrations with the human skeleton, and offered practical hygiene rules for the students. In 1889 the course was restored to the junior year, and after Edmund B. Delabarre began to teach psychology in 1892, Chapin was able to drop the teaching of the nervous system. His title in 1892 was “Professor of Physiology and Director of Physical Culture” and he reported on gymnastics and sports. He was ill in 1892-93, and after his return, the physical culture title was dropped. As superintendent of health he established the Providence City Hospital. During his administration the death rate in Providence dropped thirty per cent and infant mortality was reduced by fifty per cent. He made important contributions in the areas of child health, immunization, water purification, prevention of contagious diseases and treatment of tuberculosis. He received many honors. He was named the first honorary member of Delta Omega Society, the honorary hygiene association, in 1927. He was awarded the Marcellus Hartley Gold Medal by the National Academy of Sciences in 1928, at the time one of eight men in the world to receive this medal. In 1930 he was the first recipient of the Sedgwick Memorial Medal, awarded by the American Public Health Association for distinguished service in public health work. He received the Susan Colver Rosenberger Medal in 1935. In connection with his resignation as superintendent of health, the Rhode Island Medical Association adopted a resolution, which said, in part, “In the city, his two greatest achievements lie. First, in lifting Providence from a condition of well nigh medieval squalor in 1884 – to the hygienic and sanitary perfection of today – and second, in the founding of our City Hospital and its later organization, in which he played so important part.” In 1931 the Providence City Hospital was renamed Charles V. Chapin Hospital. Dr. Chapin died in Providence on January 31, 1941.

Biographical note is drawn from Martha Mitchell's Encyclopedia Brunonia.

Access & Use

Access to the collection:	There are no restrictions on access, except that the collection can only be seen by prior appointment. Some materials may be stored off-site and cannot be produced on the same day on which they are requested.
Use of the materials:	Although Brown University has physical ownership of the collection and the materials contained therein, it does not claim literary rights. Researchers should note that compliance with copyright law is their responsibility. Researchers must determine the owners of the literary rights and obtain any necessary permissions from them.
Preferred citation:	Charles Value Chapin Papers, Ms. Chapin, Brown University Library.
Contact information:	John Hay Library, University Archives and Manuscripts Box A Brown University Providence, RI 02912 Telephone: Manuscripts: 401-863-3723; University Archives: 401-863-2148 Email: Manuscripts: hay@brown.edu; University Archives: archives@brown.edu

Administrative Information

ABOUT THE COLLECTION
ABOUT THE FINDING AID
Author:	Finding aid prepared by Joanne Tandy.
Encoding:	This finding aid was produced using the Archivists' Toolkit 2016-01-13
Descriptive rules:	Finding aid based on Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS)

Additional Information

Related material:

Related materials can be found in the Brown University Archives collection Lecture Notes (Faculty), MS.1M.1.

Inventory

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