This unique history and archive collection honors the many women who were early health professional pioneers in Mississippi. The collection highlights those women who are distinguished by being the "first" educated and licensed practitioners duly qualified to deliver health care along with their male colleagues. The information in the collection reveals the significant contributions and accomplishments these women brought not only to the state’s health care system, but also to health care nationwide.

The idea for the collection grew from planning efforts for the application to host the national traveling exhibit, “Changing the Face of Medicine: Celebrating America’s Women Physicians.” This exhibit highlights the barriers to education, the prejudices and discrimination in becoming practitioners and the accomplishments of these extraordinary women physicians. The application resulted from the collaboration of the Rowland Medical Library, National Center of Excellence in Women’s Health, Division of Multicultural Affairs, Division of Information Systems, and the Division of Public Affairs at the University of Mississippi Medical Center along with the Jackson Medical Mall Foundation and the Jackson-Hinds Library System. The application was one of 61 selected to host the traveling exhibit on display in the Jackson Medical Mall, March 6-April 8, 2008.

Developed by the staff of the Rowland Medical Library, the archive is not limited to women physicians. It includes women health professionals who were either born in Mississippi but spent all or part of their health careers out of state, or who were born in other states and came to Mississippi to deliver health care for part or all of their health professional careers, or who were born in the state and devoted all or part of their career to delivering health care in Mississippi. To date, the collection contains information about 350 women health professionals of which 236 are women physicians. The collection consists of a file folder on each person with as much information as can be identified including a curriculum vitae, biographical information, photograph and other items of interest. Special effort is made to identify women who became “first” in their practice area, in their employment, in their achievements or in their research. Sixty-three women physicians alone have been identified as “first” in some area of medical practice.

A special effort has been made to identify all female graduates of the University of Mississippi health professional schools up to 1977 to include the first graduating class of the School of Dentistry. In keeping with the focus on women physicians for the traveling exhibit, the collection likewise emphasizes Mississippi’s women physicians and will focus more on other female health professionals beginning in the summer of 2008. Of note are the first female graduates of the two-year medical school on the Oxford campus in 1920. Between 1920 and 1955, 46 women have been identified as graduates of the two-year school. After moving to Jackson in 1955, the school began offering the traditional four-year medical program. From 1955 to 1977, 102 females have been identified as graduating from this program.

To help build the collection, the library invites anyone with knowledge of a woman health professional that meets the archive’s criteria to contact the library and provide as much of the following information as possible: a photograph, resume, and biographical information to not only identify the person but also to document their accomplishments in their career area. If information in the collection is inaccurate, the library welcomes any additional material that will provide an accurate and complete archival collection of each individual. Access to the collection is given upon request.