Guide to the Charles V. Chapin Papers, 1880-1941

Rhode Island Historical Society
121 Hope Street
Providence, RI 02906
Tel: 401-273-8107
Fax: 401-751-7930
Email: reference@rihs.org

Published in 2009

Collection Overview

Title:	Charles V. Chapin Papers
Date range:	1880-1941
Creator:	Chapin, Charles V. (Charles Value), 1856-1941
Extent:	11 linear feet
Abstract:	Charles V. Chapin (1856-1941) served as Superintendent of Health in Providence, RI from 1884-1932 and as City Registrar from 1889-1932. Chapin was well known nationally and internationally for his public health work related to contagious diseases, such as diphtheria, scarlet fever, and typhoid. In 1910, he was instrumental in setting up City Hospital, where people who had contagious diseases could get medical care. This collection contains biographical information, certificates, commissions, correspondence, manuscript material, physician's reports and scrapbooks related to Chapin's work.
Language of materials:	English
Repository:	Rhode Island Historical Society
Collection number:	MSS 343

Scope & content

This collection, ranging from 1873-1941, has been divided into six series. Series one contains correspondence. Few personal letters are found in this collection. Most of the letters relate to Chapin's work as the Superintendent of Health and City Registrar.

Series two contains many handwritten and typed manuscripts on a variety of issues. Some are complete, others are incomplete or just notes. All but a few manuscripts have been identified. Many of the manuscripts are talks or lectures that he gave in front of a variety of groups. These groups include: Exchange Club, Rotary Club, Providence Medical Association, Clinical Club, Brown University, Harvard, Rhode Island Medical Society, Hartford School of Sociology, Brown & Sharpe, and nurses at various hospitals.

Series three contains miscellaneous material. There is material that is biographical in nature, such as a censors report, list of wedding gifts, a commission given by the American Medical Association, a contract with a private physician for service as a contract surgeon in the U.S. Army, as well as obituaries and tributes. The collection also contains certificates, a ledger on the sales of municipal sanitation in the United States and index cards indicating date of expected confinement (birth) of several women in 1928.

Series four contains physician reports on scarlet fever and typhoid sent to the Superintendent of Health. Each report gives names of patients for each address, their ages, and a note on their treatment. For some years the reports also indicate cases in public institutions; deaths; tabulation of results; and reports on patients visited who turned out to have some disease other than scarlet fever. The reports on typhoid also contains "notes on milk supplies."

Series five contains bound volumes of reports on contagious diseases taken by the Sanitary Inspector and series six contains bound scrapbooks kept by Anna Chapin pertaining to her husband, Charles.

Access Points

Subject Names

• Chapin, Charles V. (Charles Value), 1856-1941

Subject Topics

• Communicable diseases
• Epidemiology
• Diphtheria
• Hygiene
• Influenza
• Malaria
• Mortality
• Physicians, Rhode Island
• Pneumonia
• Public Health
• Sanitation
• Scarlet Fever(Scarlatina)
• Sexually Transmitted Diseases
• Tuberculosis
• Typhoid fever

Subject Topics

• Rhode Island/Local Interest
• Health and Medicine

Arrangement

• Series 1: Correspondence.
• Series 2: Manuscript Material.
• Series 3: Miscellaneous.
• Series 4: Physician Reports on Scarlet and Typhoid Fever.
• Series 5: Sanitary Inspector Reports on Contagious Diseases: Bound Volumes.
• Series 6: Scrapbooks: correspondence, programs, newspaper clippings, journal articles, lecture lists, reviews.

Historical note

Charles V. Chapin (1856-1941) was born in Providence, Rhode Island to Joshua Bicknell Chapin (1814-1881) and Louise (Value) Chapin (1814-1890). His father was a physician and the Commissioner of Public Schools in Rhode Island. He married Anna Augusta (Balch) (1858-1947) on May 6, 1866 and they had a son Howard M. (1887-1940), who was the director of the RI Historical Society Library from1913 until his death in 1940.

Chapin obtained his early education at English and Classical High Schools and then entered Brown University and graduated with an A.B. in 1876. After graduation he studied under Dr. George Wilcox and then continued his education at the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Bellevue Hospital and Medical College. In 1879, upon graduating with his M.D., he worked at Bellevue for a year. In 1880, Chapin returned to Providence and started a private practice. He was also a Professor of Physiology at Brown University from 1883 to 1896.

1884 was the year in which Chapin was appointed as Superintendent of Health and he served in that capacity until his retirement in 1932. Chapin had tried to retire in the early 1900s due to poor health, however, after taking a hiatus out of the country, he came back and resumed his position. He also held the job of City Registrar from 1889-1932.

Chapin was well known, nationally and internationally, for his public health work related to contagious diseases, such as diphtheria, scarlet fever, and typhoid. His research showed that contagious diseases were not airborne, but were spread through contact. He was also a prolific writer and lecturer and was a member of many associations and societies. Chapin was the president of the American Public Health Association in 1926 and 1927 and was the first president of the American Epidemiology Society in 1927. He also received the Sedgwick Medal in 1930.

In 1910, he was instrumental in setting up City Hospital, where people who had contagious diseases could get medical care. Currently this former hospital building is a dormitory for Providence College. Chapin died in 1941 and is buried at the Swan Point Cemetery in Providence.

Access & Use

Access to the collection:	There are no restrictions on access.
Use of the materials:	Researchers are advised that express written permission to reproduce, quote, or otherwise publish any portion or extract from this collection must be obtained from the Rhode Island Historical Society
Preferred citation:	Charles V. Chapin Papers, MSS 343, Rhode Island Historical Society.
Contact information:	Rhode Island Historical Society 121 Hope Street Providence, RI 02906 Tel: 401-273-8107 Fax: 401-751-7930 Email: reference@rihs.org

Administrative Information

ABOUT THE COLLECTION
Acquisition:	This collection was donated by the Rhode Island Medical Society in 1983.
Processing information:	The physician reports on scarlet and typhoid fever sent to the Superintendent of Health are filed in alphabetical order by street name and thereunder by building number.The numbered manuscript material has been filed according to date and then alphabetically within that certain date, rather than by manuscript number. All folders still carry the manuscript number in the upper right hand corner of the folder. The manuscript number is also indicated in the inventory by parentheses after the title and date of the manuscript material.Several of the scrapbooks are in poor condition. The bindings are fragile and the ones with brown pages are starting to crumble.The John Hay Library at Brown has four boxes of correspondence and some manuscript material of books and articles and the Harvard School of Public Health has several hundred volumes and thousands of reprints of articles from Chapin's personal library.
ABOUT THE FINDING AID
Author:	Finding aid prepared by Harold Kemble.
Encoding:	Finding aid encoded by Mark Chepkwony 2009 June 29
Descriptive rules:	Finding aid based on Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS)

Additional Information

Bibliography:

Conley, Patrick T. Album of Rhode Island History, 1636-1986, 199. Providence: RI Publications Society, 1986. Rhode Island Cemetery Database Williams, Alfred M. and William F. Manding, eds. Men of Progress, 265, Boston: New England Magazine, 1896.

Inventory

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