Ruth Webster Lathrop
{{short description|American physician}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Ruth Webster Lathrop
| image = Dr Ruth Webster Lathrop (1911).jpg
| alt = A white woman in an oval frame; her hair is arranged in an updo; she is wearing a dress or blouse with a high lace collar and bib.
| caption = Ruth Webster Lathrop, from a 1911 yearbook.
| other_names =
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| birth_date = May 23, 1862
| birth_place = New York
| death_date = July 31, 1940
| death_place = Philadelphia
| occupation = Physician, medical school professor
| years_active =
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}}
Ruth Webster Lathrop (May 23, 1862 – July 31, 1940) was an American physician and medical school professor, who taught physiology at the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania.
Early life
Lathrop was from Le Roy, New York, the daughter of Francis Cuming Lathrop and Fannie Aurelia Comstock Lathrop.{{Cite book|last=Daughters of the American Revolution|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oI5AAQAAMAAJ&q=Ruth+Webster+Lathrop&pg=PA194|title=Lineage Book|date=1905|publisher=The Society|pages=194|language=en}} She attended Ingham University in her hometown,{{Cite news|date=1908-07-03|title=One of the first Students of Ingham University is dead.|pages=2|work=Buffalo Morning Express and Illustrated Buffalo Express|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/59604992/one-of-the-first-students-of-ingham/|access-date=2020-09-19|via=Newspapers.com}} and graduated from Wellesley College in 1883. She earned a medical degree at the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1891.{{Cite news|date=1940-08-01|title=Dr. Ruth Lathrop Dies in 79th Year|pages=9|work=The Philadelphia Inquirer|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/14216894/ruth-webster-lathrop-obituary/|access-date=2020-09-19|via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news|date=1891-05-07|title=Was It Too Mannish?|pages=7|work=The Philadelphia Inquirer|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/14015442/graduated-from-womans-medical-college/|access-date=2020-09-20|via=Newspapers.com}}
Career
Lathrop taught physiology and anatomy courses at the Woman's Medical College of Philadelphia.{{Cite book|last=Konkle|first=Burton Alva|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uMI0AQAAMAAJ&q=Ruth+Webster+Lathrop&pg=PA340|title=Standard History of the Medical Profession of Philadelphia|date=1897|publisher=Goodspeed Bros.|pages=340|language=en}} She was one of several faculty who resigned in protest in 1923, when colleague Alice Weld Tallant's appointment was not renewed.{{Cite book|last=Peitzman|first=Steven Jay|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f_-SVxIluc0C&q=Ruth+Webster+Lathrop&pg=PA150|title=A New and Untried Course: Woman's Medical College and Medical College of Pennsylvania, 1850-1998|date=2000|publisher=Rutgers University Press|isbn=978-0-8135-2816-8|pages=150|language=en}} She later taught at Temple University School of Medicine.{{Cite news|date=1940-08-01|title=Woman Physician Dies|pages=11|work=The Baltimore Sun|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/59605443/woman-physician-dies/|access-date=2020-09-19|via=Newspapers.com}} She retired in 1937.
Lathrop was one of the vice-presidents of the American Academy of Medicine, an affiliated society of the American Medical Association, focused on "sociological problems in the field of medicine".{{Cite news|date=1910-06-05|title=Three Medical Meets On|pages=4|work=St. Louis Globe-Democrat|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/59598082/three-medical-meets-on/|access-date=2020-09-19|via=Newspapers.com}} She and her mother were charter members of the Independence Hall chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.{{Cite web|title=CHAPTER HISTORY|url=https://www.ihcdar.org/chapterhistory|access-date=2020-09-19|website=IndependenceHall DAR|language=en}} She was also active in the Philadelphia Wellesley Club,{{Cite journal|date=March 1899|title=Alumnae Notes|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O7MAAAAAYAAJ&q=Ruth+Lathrop+Philadelphia&pg=PA340|journal=Wellesley Magazine|volume=7|pages=339–340}} and the Association of Collegiate Alumnae.{{Cite journal|date=March 1912|title=Committee on Credentials|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0MImAQAAIAAJ&q=Ruth+Webster+Lathrop&pg=RA1-PA206|journal=The Journal of the Association of Collegiate Alumnae|volume=5|pages=206}}
Personal life
Lathrop lived in Philadelphia with a fellow physician, Annie Bartram Hall. She died at their home in 1940, aged 78 years, from heat exhaustion. At her request, her remains were dressed in academic regalia for cremation.{{Cite news|date=1940-09-14|title=Brother and Friend Share Estate of Dr. Ruth Lathrop|pages=9|work=The Philadelphia Inquirer|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/14220321/ruth-lathrop-estate/|access-date=2020-09-19|via=Newspapers.com}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- Ruth Webster Lathrop, [https://books.google.com/books?id=F_gCAAAAYAAJ&dq=Ruth+Lathrop+Philadelphia&pg=PA70 "Women Physicians as Teachers"] The Woman's Medical Journal 18(April 1908): 70. A paper read before the Woman's Medical Society of the State of New York, March 1908.
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Category:People from Le Roy, New York
Category:Wellesley College alumni
Category:Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania alumni
Category:Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania faculty
Category:American women physicians