The College of Physicians of Philadelphia is not an academic organization, as the name suggests, but a not-for-profit educational and cultural institution dedicated to advancing the cause of health, and upholding the ideals and heritage of medicine. It was founded in 1787 by twenty-four prominent Philadelphians, including John Redman (1722-1808), elected first president of the College; John Morgan (1735-1789), founder of America's first medical school; and Benjamin Rush (1745-1813), a signer of the Declaration of Independence and vigorous advocate of many humanitarian and social causes.

The College, according to its constitution, was founded "to advance the Science of Medicine, and thereby lessen human misery, by investigating the diseases and remedies which are peculiar to our country" and to promote "order and uniformity in the practice of Physick." Dr. Rush, the primer mover behind the founding of the institution, further articulated these aims when he declared in a speech to the newly-formed College that it should collect and publish medical observations and inquiries on health-related topics, hold regular meetings, cultivate a botanical garden, and create a medical library. Developing a national dispensatory and advising government bodies on matters pertaining to the health of American citizens were also goals Rush articulated. Though not all of Rush's aims were immediately carried out, all of them have been achieved in the long history of the College

The College's members immediately became involved in public health issues. A report was sent to the Pennsylvania Legislature detailing the harmful effects of spirituous liquors. When the yellow fever epidemic struck in 1793, members assisted the city in developing steps to combat the disease. The College was instrumental in the publication of The Pharmacopeia of the United States in 1830. The College's tradition of activism was embodied in the visit in 1987 of President Ronald Reagan, who participated in a forum on major health care issues. He made his first public address on health care in the United States on this occasion.

The Library was founded in 1788 when John Morgan donated sixteen of his own books to the College. Other members followed suit and, soon, they determined to collect books, provide an adequate place to keep them, and regularize borrowing procedures. The first librarian was appointed in 1792. Books, journals, manuscripts and other material accumulated gradually. The greatest benefactor of the Library to date has been Dr. Samuel Lewis (1813-1890), a true bibliophile, who donated thousands of books to the College, including medical incunabula and a rare first edition of William Harvey's De Motu Cordis (1628).

The Historical Medical Library now collects only in medical history and related fields. We are in the process of deaccessioning all professional clinical and biomedical literature published after 1990. Our retrospective collection development policy is designed to improve the Historical Medical Library's capabilities as one of the world's leading resources for the history of western medicine through the late twentieth century.

In the history of medicine, the College is a renowned center for study as well as a prestigious repository. The Francis Clark Wood Institute for the History of Medicine, founded in 1976 to make better known to the scholarship community the rich historical resources of the Library and the Mütter Museum, provides money for short-term memberships and a year-long scholar in residence program. The Wood Institute's Seminar Series in the History of Medicine are held weekly during the fall and spring. Conferences have also been held, including one whose theme was "'A Melancholy Scene of Devastation': The Public Response to the 1793 Philadelphia Yellow Fever Epidemic (1993).

Although establishing a museum of specimens was not an immediate goal of the founding members, the Mütter Museum is an historically important division of the College. Thomas Dent Mütter (1811-1859), a member, bequeathed his collection of medical specimens and artifacts to the College in 1858. He also gave thirty thousand dollars to support the collection. Added to the pathological collection started by the College in 1849, Mütter's donation at a stroke created a nationally significant museum. Under the curatorship of member Thomas Hewson Bache (1826-1912), the museum acquired such important material as the skull collection of Viennese anatomist Joseph Hyrtl (1811-1894) and Adam Politzer's collection of tympanic membranes. The museum also acquired a plaster cast of the Siamese Twins Chang and Eng Bunker, whose autopsy was performed at the College in 1874. The Museum makes a good stop on a sightseeing trip to Philadelphia.

A new gallery for special exhibits opened in June 1996. Its first exhibit was one jointly prepared by the College, the Cleveland Health Museum and the Strong Museum of Rochester, New York. It was called "Say Ahh!: Examining America's Health." The gallery's next exhibit, "Only One Man Died: Medical Adventures on the Lewis & Clark Trail," ran from 2003 through 2005. Opening on April 8, 2006 will be "The Medical World of Benjamin Franklin."

It was not until 1911 that the College established a medicinal herb garden, next to its then-new building on the site of a former livery stable. The garden was chiefly decorative and educational, not a source of herbs for Philadelphia. A major replanting of the garden was carried out by the Philadelphia Section of the American Herb Society in 1937. Other refurbishings occurred in 1961, 1976, and 1991. Today, the garden, maintained by the Women's Committee of the College, features medicinal herbs planted in four raised beds separated by a brick walkway. Each plant is labeled with its common name, botanical name, and medicinal use. A special feature of the garden is a plane tree from Cos, the island in the Aegean on which Hippocrates lectured in the 4th century B.C.E.; he is known to have lectured under a plane tree. A cool oasis in the hot city, the garden offers a place for relaxation as well as the opportunity to learn about its herbs.

But the College membership and staff have not stood still, and even now are working to use the unique resources of the College in the best way possible to serve the medical community and the public.