mshm192 Virginia Apgar papers, 1880-1975 (bulk 1925-1974) Finding Aid Encoding funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Mount Holyoke College Archives and Special Collections
South Hadley, MA
© 2003

Mount Holyoke College. All rights reserved.

 Finding aid generated in MARC format from database, then encoded using Perl scripts and XSL stylesheet. 2003-05-20 Finding aid written in English. 2005-09-23 mshm192 converted from EAD 1.0 to 2002 by v1to02-5c.xsl (sy2003-10-15). Mount Holyoke College Archives and Special Collections Virginia Apgar papers, 1880-1975 (bulk 1925-1974) Finding Aid MS 0504 Encoding funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

© 2003 Mount Holyoke College. All rights reserved.

 Collection Overview Apgar, Virginia, 1909-1974. Virginia Apgar papers 1880-1975 1925-1974 MS 0504 LD 7082.18 Apgar 35 boxes (17 linear ft.) Mount Holyoke College Archives and Special Collections
South Hadley, MA
Apgar, Virginia, 1909-1974; physician and anesthesiologist. Mount Holyoke College graduate, 1929. Papers chiefly consist of diaries, correspondence, course and training records, writings, Apgar Score material, financial records, biographical information and photographs; focusing principally on her education and training at Mount Holyoke College, Columbia University, Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center, the University of Wisconsin, and Johns Hopkins University; her work as an anesthesiologist, administrator, and professor at Columbia-Presbyterian and Johns Hopkins; and her work for the National Foundation (later the March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation). Also includes a letter and an article written by her father Charles E. Apgar. English. Biographical Note

Virginia Apgar was born in Westfield, New Jersey on June 7, 1909 to Charles E. Apgar, a businessman and insurance executive, and Helen May Clarke Apgar. After graduating from high school in Westfield she entered Mount Holyoke College in 1925. She majored in zoology, wrote articles for the student newspaper, participated in campus athletics and dramatics, and played violin in the College orchestra. After receiving a B.A. in 1929 she became one of the first women to study at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. She received her M.D. in 1933 and began an internship in surgery at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center. After two years of work Apgar became convinced that a woman could not support herself as a surgeon and decided to enter the newly-emerging field of anesthesiology. She trained at the University of Wisconsin and Bellvue Hospital and became a board-certified anesthesiologist in 1937; she began teaching anesthesiology at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center before she had completed her training. She was appointed Director of the Center's Division of Anesthesiology in 1938. When she became a full professor in 1949 she relinquished her other duties and devoted herself to studying the use of anesthesia during childbirth. In 1952 she presented her system for evaluating the health of infants immediately after birth which became known as the Apgar Score. In 1959 Apgar received a master's degree in public health from Johns Hopkins University and joined the staff of the National Foundation (later the March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation). She devoted much of the rest of her life to increasing public support for research about the causes, prevention, and treatment of birth defects. In 1972 she wrote "Is My Baby All Right?" with Joan Beck, a book aimed at helping parents understand birth defects. While continuing to work for the National Foundation she also was a lecturer in the Department of Genetics at Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health and lecturer and clinical professor of pediatrics at Cornell University Medical College in New York City. From 1966-1971 Apgar was an alumna trustee of Mount Holyoke College. She received many honorary degrees and awards during her lifetime, for example, becoming the first woman to receive the Gold Medal for Distinguished Achievement in Medicine from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1973. She died in New York City on August 7, 1974 at the age of sixty-five. Posthumous honors for Apgar include a commemorative postage stamp issued in 1994 and induction into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1995.

 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.

 Organization of the Collection

This collection is organized into eighteen series:

Diaries (1937-1941, 1949-1974) Correspondence (1925-1974) Course Records/Training Information (1926-1973) Aqualumni Records (1938-1948) Director of Anesthesiology Records (1939-1946, 1948) Writings (1941-1975) Apgar Score Material (1959-1974) Speaking Engagements/Meetings Attended (1959-1974) Radio/Television Appearances (1963-1974) Scrapbook (1925-1929) Financial Records (1925-1942) Notebooks (1949, 1957, 1958, circa 1969) Index to Scientific Publications from Warren Library (circa 1960) Memorabilia (circa 1918-1974) Charles E. Apgar Material (1880, 1906) Sound Records (circa 1960) Biographical Information (1938-1975) Photographs (circa 1912-1974) Information on Use Terms of Access and Use

Unrestricted except for reports on operations at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center (May-October 1935) in Series 3. These documents may be used by researchers who complete a Restricted Records Statistical and Quantitative Research Contract, Mount Holyoke College Archives and Special Collections.

 Preferred Citation

Please use the following format when citing materials from this collection:

Virginia Apgar Papers, Mount Holyoke College, Archives and Special Collections, South Hadley, Massachusetts

 Additional Formats

Selected images from this collection are available in this online exhibition Profiles in Science. National Library of Medicine. The Virginia Apgar Papers.

 Search Terms Apgar, Virginia, 1909-1974. Waters, Ralph M. (Ralph Milton), 1883-1979. Warren, K. B. Library Catalogs. Aqualumni (Organization). National Foundation. Mount Holyoke College - Students. Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons - Students. University of Wisconsin - Students. Johns Hopkins University - Students. Johns Hopkins University - Faculty. Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center - Employees. Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center - Faculty. Centenary Collegiate Institute (Hackettstown, N.J.) - Students. Apgar family - Homes and haunts. Apgar, Charles E. (Charles Emory), 1865-1950. Hospitals - New York - Medical staff - New York (State) College students - Massachusetts. College students - New Jersey. Women college students - Massachusetts. Interns (Medicine) - New York (State) - New York. Apgar score. Anesthesiologists - United States. Women anesthesiologists - United States. Physicians - United States. Women physicians - United States. Infants (Newborn) - Medical care. Abnormalities, Human. Prenatal care. Women - United States - Economic conditions. Suburban homes - New Jersey - Westfield. Student activities - Massachusetts - South Hadley. Student activities - New Jersey - Hackettstown. Mount Holyoke College - Student life - 1925-1929. Diaries. Letters. Notebooks. Photographs. Scrapbooks. Additional Information Related Material

Additional papers and photographs of Virginia Apgar are part of the L. Stanley James Papers, circa 1920-1994, n.d.

 Diaries 1937-1942, 1949-1974 1 1 Personal diary 1937-1942 1 2 Personal diary 1958 1 3 Personal diary 1959 1 4 Personal diary 1961-1964 1 5 Personal diary 1965 2 1 Professional diary 1959 2 2 Professional diary 1960 2 3 Professional diary 1961 2 4 Professional diary 1962 2 5 Professional diary 1963 2 6 Professional diary 1964 2 7 Professional diary 1965 2 8 Professional diary 1966 2 9 Professional diary 1967 3 1 Professional diary 1968 3 2 Professional diary 1969-1973 3 3 Travel diary June 1949 3 4 Travel diary October-November 1949 3 5 Travel diary March-July 1950 3 6 Travel diary September-October 1951 3 7 Travel diary April-May 1953 3 8 Travel diary August-September 1963 3 9 Travel diary June 1964 3 10 Travel diary July 1965 4 1 Travel diary 1966 4 2 Travel diary 1968-1973 4 3 Travel diary 1974 Correspondence 1925-1974 5 1 1925-1934 5 2 1935-1937 5 3 1938 5 4 1939-1940 5 5 1941-1942 5 6 1943-1957 5 7 1958-1962 5 8 1963-1966 5 9 1967 5 10 1968 5 11 1969 5 12 1970-1972 5 13 1973 5 14 1974 Course records/Training records 1926-1973 6 1 Examinations, Mount Holyoke College 1926, 1928-1929 6 2 Laboratory drawings, probably Mount Holyoke College circa 1926-circa 1929 6 3 Laboratory drawings, Mount Holyoke College 1927 6 4 Notebook: Operations, Columbia University 1929 6 5 Notebook: House Surgeon Floor K, Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center1935 6 6 Reports on operations, Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center May-July1935 6 7 Reports on operations, Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center 6 August 1935 6 8 Reports on operations, Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center 6 September-October 1935 6 9 Reports on operations, Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center 6 May-August 1935 (photocopies; patients names edited out 6 10 Reports on operations, Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center 6 Sept.-Oct. 1935 (photocopies; patients names edited out 6 11 Notebook I, compiled during travels October 1949 6 12 Notebook II, compiled during travels October 1949 6 13 Notebook III, compiled during travels October 1949 6 14 Notebook IV, compiled during travels October 1949 6 15 Notebook, Statistics I circa 1954-1956 6 16 Notebook, [Statistics] II circa 1954-1956 6 17 Notebook, Johns Hopkins University 1958 6 18 Notebook, Johns Hopkins University 1958 7 1 Notebook, Johns Hopkins University [1958] 7 2 Notebook, Johns Hopkins University 1958-1959 7 3 Notebook, Johns Hopkins University 1959 7 4 Notebook, Johns Hopkins University [1959] 7 5 Notebook, Johns Hopkins University 1959 7 6 Notebook, Johns Hopkins University 1959 7 7 Notebook, Johns Hopkins University 1959 8 1 Notebook, National Methodist Convocation on Medicine and 8 Technology April 1967 8 2 Notebook, Johns Hopkins University 1972 8 3 Notebook, Johns Hopkins University 1972 8 4 Notebook, Johns Hopkins University 1972 8 5 Notebook, Johns Hopkins University 1972 8 6 Notebook, Johns Hopkins University 1972 8 7 Notebook, Johns Hopkins University 1972 8 8 Notebook, Johns Hopkins University 1972-1973 8 9 Notebook, Johns Hopkins University 1972-1973 8 10 Notebook, Johns Hopkins University 1972-1973 8 11 Notebook, Johns Hopkins University 1973 9 1 Notebook, Johns Hopkins University 1973 9 2 Notebook, Johns Hopkins University 1973 9 3 Notebook, Johns Hopkins University 1973 9 4 Notebook, Johns Hopkins University 1973 Aqualumni Records 1938-1948 10 1 Constitution 1942 10 2 Correspondence 1938-1948 10 3 List of members circa 1939, 1948 10 4 Minutes of meetings 1945-1947 10 5 Programs 1946-1948 10 6 Newsletters 1947-1948 10 7 Paper by W. Allen Conroy presented at Aqualumni meeting 1948 10 Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center Division of Anesthesia Reports 1939-1946, 1948 10 8 1939-1940 10 9 1941-1943 10 10 1944-1946, 1948 Writings 1941-1975 11 1 1941-1949 11 2 1953-1959 11 3 1960 11 4 1961 11 5 1962 11 6 1963 11 7 1964 11 8 1965 11 9 1966 11 10 1967 11 11 1968 11 12 1969 11 13 1970 11 14 1970 11 15 1971-1973 11 16 1974-1975 Apgar Score Material 1959-1973 12 1 Correspondence 1960 12 2 Correspondence February-August 1961 12 3 Correspondence September-December 1961 12 4 Correspondence 1962 12 5 Correspondence 1963 12 6 Correspondence 1964 12 7 Correspondence 1965 12 8 Correspondence 1966 12 9 Correspondence 1967 12 10 Correspondence 1968 12 11 Correspondence 1969 12 12 Correspondence 1970 12 13 Correspondence 1971 12 14 Correspondence 1972 12 15 Correspondence 1973-1974 13 1 Articles 1959-1963 13 2 Articles 1964-1965 13 3 Articles 1966-1969 13 4 Dissertation: Indice de Apgar 1966 13 5 Articles 1970 13 6 Articles 1972-1973 13 Speaking Engagements/Meetings Attended 1959-1974 14 1 1959 14 2 1959-1960 14 3 1959-1960 14 4 1959-1960 14 5 1959-1960 14 6 1960 14 7 1960 14 8 1961 14 9 1961 15 1 1961 15 2 1961 15 3 1962 15 4 1962 15 5 1962 15 6 1962 15 7 1962 15 8 1963 15 9 1963 15 10 1963 16 1 1963 16 2 1963 16 3 1963 16 4 1963 16 5 1964 16 6 1964 16 7 1964 16 8 1964 16 9 1964 16 10 1964 16 11 1964 17 1 1964 17 2 1964 17 3 1964 17 4 1965 17 5 1965 17 6 1965 17 7 1965 17 8 1965 17 9 1965 17 10 1965 17 11 1965 17 12 1965 18 1 1965 18 2 1966 18 3 1966 18 4 1966 18 5 1966 18 6 1966 18 7 1966 18 8 1966 18 9 1966 18 10 1966 18 11 1966 19 1 1967 19 2 1967 19 3 1967 19 4 1967 19 5 1967 19 6 1967 19 7 1967 19 8 1967 19 9 1967 20 1 1968 20 2 1968 20 3 1968 20 4 1968 20 5 1968 20 6 1968 20 7 1968 20 8 1968 20 9 1968 20 10 1968 20 11 1968 20 12 1968 21 1 1969 21 2 1969 21 3 1969 21 4 1969 21 5 1970 21 6 1970 21 7 1970 21 8 1970 21 9 1970 21 10 1970 22 1 1970 22 2 1970 22 3 1971 22 4 1971 22 5 1971 22 6 1971 22 7 1971 22 8 1971 22 9 1972 22 10 1972 22 11 1972 22 12 1972 23 1 1973 23 2 1973 23 3 1973 23 4 1973 23 5 1973 23 6 1973 23 7 1973 23 8 1974 23 9 1974 23 10 1974 23 11 1974 23 12 1974 Radio/Television Appearances 1963-1974 24 1 1963-1965 24 2 1966 24 3 1967 24 4 1968-1969 24 5 1970-1971 24 6 1972 24 7 1973 24 8 Phil Donahue Show 1973 24 9 Phil Donahue Show 1973 24 10 Phil Donahue Show 1973 24 11 Phil Donahue Show 1973 24 12 Phil Donahue Show 1973 24 13 1974 Scrapbook 1925-1929 25 1 1925-1929 Financial Records 1925-1942 25 2 Account book 1925-1942 25 3 Receipt and checks 1936-1941 Notebooks 1949, 1957-1958, circa 1969 25 4 1949 25 5 1949 25 6 1957-1958 25 7 1969 Index to Publications circa 1960 26 1 Index to publications (by others): Author index circa 1960 26 2 Index to publications (by others): Title index circa 1960 Memorabilia circa 1918-1974 27 1 Report card; yearbook circa 1918-1919, 1925 27 2 Diplomas, certificates, citations, and awards 1925-1959 27 3 Diplomas, certificates, citations, and awards 1960-1966 27 4 Diplomas, certificates, citations, and awards 1967-1974 27 5 Camp Hanoum staff lists 1926, 1927 27 6 Medical examination results 1931 27 7 Greeting cards circa 1930s 27 8 Invitations and announcements 1953, 1956, 1965, 1968 27 9 Programs 1959, 1969, 1973 27 10 Passports and vaccination certificates 1964, 1965 27 11 Memorial services material 1974 28 Medical memorabilia circa 1930s-1960s 29 Plaques circa 1967-1973 30 Plaques circa 1967-1973 Charles E. Apgar Material 1880, 1906 31 1 Letter to his father written from Centenary Collegiate Institute, 1880; article by him entitled A Westfield Home: The Advantages of Home Ownership in General and of Westfield Homes in Particular, published in the Suburbanite monthly magazine, February1906 31 Sound recording circa 1960 31 2 Arlene Francis and VA-Dave Garroway Show circa 1960 Biographical Information 1938-1974 32 1 1938-1960 32 2 1961 32 3 1962 32 4 1963 32 5 January-September 1964 32 6 October-December 1964 32 7 January-September 1965 32 8 October-December 1965 32 9 January-August 1966 32 10 September-December 1966 32 11 January-August 1967 32 12 September-December 1967 32 13 January-May 1968 32 14 June-December 1968 32 15 January-September 1969 32 16 October-December 1969 32 17 1970-1971 32 18 1972 32 19 1973 32 20 January-April 1974 32 21 May-August 1974 Photographs circa 1912-1974 33 1 Of Apgar (formal photographs) circa 1919-1963 33 2 Of Apgar (informal photographs) 1948-1974 33 3 Of Apgar with others circa 1912, circa 1921-1929 33 4 Of Apgar with others 1933-circa 1940s 33 5 Of Apgar with others (Aqualumni members) 1938, 1943, 1944, 1966 33 6 Of Apgar with others 1950-1955 33 7 Of Apgar with others 1957-circa 1950s 33 8 Of Apgar with others 1960-1963 33 9 Of Apgar with others 1964-1969 33 10 Of Apgar with others circa 1960s-1974 33 11 Of other people circa 1920s-1960s 33 12 Of other people circa 1920s-circa 1960s 33 13 Of places 1929-circa 1950s 33 14 Other photographs circa 1950s-1970s 34 1 Photograph album circa 1917-1970 34 2 Photograph album circa 1917-1970