William J. Ledger, MD Papers
-
No requestable containers
-
Ask a Question
Scope and Contents
The William J. Ledger, MD Papers span from 1978 through 2007 and comprise the personal and professional papers of Ledger, former obstetrician and gynecologist-in-chief at the New York Hospital and chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Cornell University Medical College.
Ledger’s involvement at the New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center is well represented in the collection. There are files related to the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, including reports and statistics, policies and procedures, programs, publications, financial materials, and committees documenting the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. These include departmental committees such as the Women’s Health Steering Committee and the Lying-In Hospital Committee. There are also personnel-related material from the department, including the employment, scheduling, evaluation, and appointment of residents, nursing staff, faculty, and physicians.
Ledger’s collection also includes reports and statistics, policies and procedures, financial materials, and committee minutes and agendas documenting the New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center more broadly. Committees include the Curricula Committee, the New York Hospital Executive Committee, the Quality Assurance Committee, the Faculty Practice Plan Committee, the Major Modernization Committee, the Committee of Infections, as well as numerous search committees. Additionally, there is a large number of personnel-like files related to the wider New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center, noting the scheduling, promotion, and appointment of hospital staff, faculty, and physicians from other departments.
The collection also includes Ledger’s personal and professional correspondence with colleagues, patients, and friends. The correspondence includes topics such as applications for faculty positions, fellowships, and residency appointments, hospital and department operations, research, professional societies, manuscript drafts, diagnoses, letters of recommendation, and invitations to social events. The bulk of these topics involve the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, though some correspondence relates to the hospital, the medical college, the wider medical community, and Ledger’s personal life. While the bulk of the correspondence consists of paper-based manuscripts, there are a handful of other formats and 3D items as noted in the Content List.
Finally, the collection includes many files related to national and international medical conferences Ledger attended, including conference brochures and presentation notes.
The William J. Ledger, MD Papers are in the original order they were organized in when received by the Medical Center Archives; they have not been rearranged by the archival team. Materials are roughly in chronological order within each box.
While the original order of the materials remains intact, the materials arrived to the Medical Center Archives unfoldered and without folder titles. Therefore, the materials were foldered and labeled by the archival team. The labeling system created by the archival team includes a set of five recurring and descriptive keywords meant to facilitate collection discovery and represent the scope and content of the collection:
• Conferences
• Correspondence
• Department Files
• New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center (NYH-CMC)
• Personnel
See the Contents List for more information.
Dates
- 1978 - 2007
- Majority of material found within 1978 - 1998
Language of Materials
The majority of this collection is written in English, though there is also some correspondence in Danish, and conference brochures in Spanish, German, Italian, and Swedish.
Conditions Governing Access
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). Some records in this collection contain PHI, personally identifiable information (PII), and/or student information (protected under FERPA), which have been restricted and require additional permissions prior to access. Finally, some records in this collection are closed due to institutional policies and require additional permissions prior to access. Visit the Medical Center Archives website for the most updated policies and procedures regarding accessing 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
William J. Ledger, MD received his undergraduate degree from Princeton University in 1954 and his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1958. After a rotating internship for one year at Hamot Hospital in Erie, Pennsylvania, Ledger practiced obstetrics and gynecology as a general duty medical officer in the United States Air Force from 1959 to 1961. He completed his residency training in obstetrics and gynecology from 1961 to 1964 at Temple University. Ledger was a member of the academic faculty at the University of Michigan from 1964 to 1972 and at the University of Southern California from 1972 to 1978.
In 1978, he was appointed obstetrician and gynecologist-in-chief at the New York Hospital and chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Cornell University Medical College. During his tenure at the New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center, Ledger expanded the department’s facilities and staff. He reorganized the clinical activities by recruiting faculty to establish sub-specialty research divisions within the department with an emphasis on endocrinology, infertility, and oncology. Ledger successfully lobbied the New York Hospital Executive Committee to financially support this research. Under Ledger’s leadership, the department developed new preventative health care programs, established a center for the care of women with pelvic floor dysfunction, grew the high-risk obstetrical unit, and discovered new insights into infection and immunology related to Chlamydia trachomatis. The department also became known for its successful use of new, assisted reproductive technologies, such as in vitro fertilization. Ledger was later named president of the medical board of the New York Hospital in 1992. He retired as chair of the department in 1998 but continued directing the Cornell University Medical College residency program and the student obstetrics and gynecology clerkship.
Ledger engaged in several professional organizations throughout his career. He was a fellow of both the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and of the American College of Surgeons, and a member of the Perinatal Research Society. Ledger was a founder of the Infectious Diseases Society for Obstetrics and Gynecology and served as its first president from 1977 through 1978. He was also the first obstetrician-gynecologist elected to the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases.
Ledger’s research made him a leading authority on infectious diseases in the field of obstetrics and gynecology. His research focused on anaerobic bacteria in soft tissue pelvic infections. He authored the first and second editions of the textbook Infection in the Female and co-authored Vulvovaginal Infections with Steven Witkin, MD. Ledger published more than 200 articles in peer-reviewed medical journals during the course of his career.
Ledger and his wife, Nancy, had three children: Robin, Wendy, and Matthew. Ledger died on September 29, 2020.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Infectious Diseases Society for Obstetrics and Gynecology. n.d. “History.” Accessed March 20, 2023. https://www.idsog.org/about-us/history/.
Nadel, Dick. March-April 1979. “Dr. Ledger Named Head of Obstetrics and Gynecology.” Focus on People 3 no. 2. Source can be found in the Ledger Biographical File at the Medical Center Archives.
Princeton Alumni Weekly. December 2021. “Memorial: William J. Ledger ’54.” Accessed March 20, 2023. https://paw.princeton.edu/memorial/william-j-ledger-54.
The Museum of Natural History New York. May 1, 1997. The Seventeenth Annual Maurice R. Greenberg Award Gala. Source can be found in the Ledger Biographical File at the Medical Center Archives.
Weill Cornell Medicine: Obstetrics & Gynecology. December 24, 2002. “Dr. Ledger Honored by Colleagues and Friends in Ob/Gyn.” Accessed March 20, 2023. https://news.weill.cornell.edu/news/2002/12/dr-ledger-honored-by-colleagues-and-friends-in-obgyn.
Weill Cornell Medicine: Obstetrics & Gynecology. September 29, 2020. “In Memoriam: Dr. William J. Ledger.” Accessed March 20, 2023. https://obgyn.weillcornell.org/news/memoriam-dr-william-j-ledger.
Extent
36.8 Linear Feet (84 Boxes)
Abstract
William J. Ledger, MD was the obstetrician and gynecologist-in-chief at the New York Hospital and chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Cornell University Medical College from 1978 through 1998. The William J. Ledger, MD Papers, which span from 1978 through 2007, include correspondence, department files, personnel material, conference material, and other files related to his personal and professional activities.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The bulk of the William J. Ledger, MD Papers were donated to the Medical Center Archives in 1993 and 1996 by the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center. Boxes 76-80 were sent to the archives by an unknown donor at an unknown date.
Processing Information
This collection was processed by Alyssa Moore, Medical Center Archives Intern, in 2023. The finding aid was written by Alyssa Moore and Chiyong (Tali) Han, with assistance from Nicole Milano in 2023.
Materials that fall outside of the collecting scope of the Medical Center Archives were deaccessioned and discarded.
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the Medical Center Archives of NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medicine Repository