Ethelyn Anderson, MD Papers

Collection

Identifier: US-NNCORMA-RGPPM-005

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Scope and Contents

The Ethelyn Anderson, MD Papers document aspects of Dr. Anderson's life from 1912 to 1955 through papers and artifacts.

The most heavily documented period of Dr. Anderson’s life focuses upon her early years, including her time at Cornell University Medical College in Ithaca and in New York City. This portion of her life is described through her diary, which begins with her time at the Cornell University campus in Ithaca, New York, in 1925, and provides details regarding her life as a medical student. Dr. Anderson describes her medical coursework (such as observations made during anatomy dissections), walks around campus, her social life and activities, and short trips made with friends (including visits to Syracuse and watching football games.) The diary skips 1927 and only includes a single entry from 1928, where Dr. Anderson discusses her experience as the Associate Director (Student) for Nurses at Bellevue Hospital and her attitude toward increased medical responsibilities. The 1929 entries detail her rotation at the Berwind Clinic, where Cornell students received obstetrical training on an outdoor service.

In addition to the diary, this collection contains a brief selection of documents related to her life and medical career. This includes correspondence beginning in 1937, which provides some insight into Dr. Anderson’s time as a private practitioner. The folder focusing upon the Department of Public Health of New Mexico contains a brief overview of Dr. Anderson’s career up to 1955, when she had applied for a job within the department. Details related to her work at this time are minimal.

The collection also contains some artifacts, including World War II ration books.

Dates

1912-1955

Conditions Governing Access

Historical records in the Medical Center Archives are protected by HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996), internal policies requiring protection and confidential handling of PHI (protected health information), FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act), or other institutional polices regarding internal or confidential records, and may require additional permissions prior to access. Some records in this collection are restricted and require additional permissions prior to access. View the container inventory for more information and visit the Medical Center Archives website for the most updated policies and procedures regarding access to historical materials containing restrictions.

Conditions Governing Use

The copyright holder of this collection is NewYork-Presbyterian or Weill Cornell Medicine or is unknown. Materials from this collection cannot be reproduced outside the guidelines of United States Fair Use (17 U.S.C., Section 107) without the advance permission of the Medical Center Archives of NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medicine or the copyright holder. In the event that anything from the collection become a source for publication, a credit line indicating the Medical Center Archives of NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medicine is required.

Historical records in the Medical Center Archives are protected by HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996) and internal policies which require protection and confidential handling of all protected health information (PHI). Materials containing PHI, personally identifiable information (PII), and/or student information (protected under FERPA) have been restricted and require additional permissions prior to reproduction and use.

Please visit the Medical Center Archives website for the most updated policies and procedures regarding reproduction and use.

Biographical / Historical

Ethelyn Anderson was born into a large, close-knit family on January 23, 1903. In 1919, she graduated from high school in Olean, New York and then attended the Teacher's College at Syracuse University, receiving her degree in 1923. Anderson taught high school in Leonardsville, New York for a year, and then later travelled to St. Peter, Minnesota to become the Director of Physical Education for Women at Gustavus College.

In the fall of 1925, Anderson matriculated at Cornell University Medical College, spending her first year at the campus in Ithaca, New York. In the summer of 1928, Anderson served as the Assistant Director of the Tuberculosis Preventorium in Santa Clara, New York. During her fourth year of medical school, Anderson worked as the Associate Director (Student) for Nurses at Bellevue Hospital. This position required performing physical examinations on student nurses, as well as maintaining office hours for them. After graduating from medical school in 1929, Dr. Anderson completed a rotating internship at Allentown General Hospital in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

After finishing her internship, Dr. Anderson joined the staff of Richmond Memorial Hospital and established a private practice in Annadale, Staten Island. In addition to her employment at Richmond Memorial Hospital, Dr. Anderson worked with two local high schools on Staten Island, performing physical examinations on female students. In 1936, Dr. Anderson married Harry Kofalk and until 1942, she took a hiatus from medicine, choosing to focus on raising their daughter. Dr. Anderson returned to medicine briefly in 1940 for six months, in order to complete her residency training at Brandywine Sanatorium in Delaware. In 1942, she resumed her role as a full-time practicing physician, establishing a private medical practice on the first floor of her family’s home in Ridgewood Park, New Jersey.

In 1951, the Kofalk family moved to Oklahoma. Between July 1951 and March 1952, Dr. Anderson served as the school physician at Oklahoma A&M. She served as a field officer in Albuquerque, New Mexico, holding clinics at various pueblos and assisting at the Albuquerque Indian Hospital for one month in 1952. Dr. Anderson then took charge of the E. Taylor Indian Hospital, where she helped care for Indigenous patients from surrounding areas, held clinics, and examined school children in the Pueblo of Zuni on a yearly basis until 1954. In 1955, Dr. Anderson worked for the Los Angeles Board of Education, and then became the Director of the Division of School Health for the New Mexico Department of Health.

Dr. Ethelyn Anderson passed away on April 2, 1978 in California.

Extent

1.67 Linear Feet (1 box)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

Dr. Ethelyn Anderson was a physician and Class of 1929 graduate of Cornell University Medical College. The Ethelyn Anderson, MD Papers document aspects of Dr. Anderson's life from 1912 to 1955 through papers and artifacts.

Arrangement

This collection is arranged in alphabetical order by folder title.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

This collection was given to the Medical Center Archives in October of 1980 by Harriet Kofalk Kimbro, Dr. Ethelyn Anderson's daughter.

Related Materials

Dr. Anderson maintained scrapbooks and photographs throughout her life. Two scrapbooks contain photographs she took while studying at Syracuse University. The scrapbook photographs include scenes of the campus, parades, football games, dorm rooms, and friends. Many other photographs (all black and white) were organized geographically.

The photographic material including portraits and activities of family members and a trip to Sweden in the 1920s to visit relatives. The photographs also depict her time at Cornell University Medical College, and her office, lab, assistants, and home from early in her medical career. Finally, there are photographs from later in her medical career, including outdoor scenes, hospital buildings, and a glimpse of Indigenous Peoples.

The above-mentioned photographic items were removed from the Ethelyn Anderson, MD Papers and placed into the Photograph Collection of the Medical Center Archives at an unknown date.

Processing Information

The Ethelyn Anderson, MD Papers were originally processed by an unknown staff member at an unknown date.

After a flood impacted the Medical Center Archives in 1998, some items within the collection were destroyed and consequently discarded. The remaining items were consolidated from three boxes into one box at that time. The discarded items included a History of Allentown General Hospital (1 volume); Servantes, the yearbook of Edward Harvey Memorial School of Nursing at Allentown, PA (1 volume), 1930; The Crane, the yearbook of Bellevue School of Nursing (1 volume), 1928; Gustavian, the yearbook of Gustavus Adolphus College (1 volume), 1926-1927; The Onondagan, the yearbook of Syracuse University (3 volumes), 1922-1924; two tine cigarette cases; a leather skin with “Syracuse” in leather letters sewn on front; and two handheld fans from Heck Memorial Home.

In 2021, Medical Archives Assistant Rebecca Snyder and Head Archivist Nicole Milano updated the finding aid with applicable restrictions, an updated Biographical Note and Scope and Content Note, and new sections for the abstract, language, processing, arrangement, and related material. Restrictions were updated again in 2023.