Lydia Rabinowitsch-Kempner autograph book and papers, 1879-1885, 1910-1933 and undated

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Summary

Creator:
Rabinowitsch-Kempner, Lydia, 1871-1935
Abstract:
Lydia Rabinowitsch-Kempner (1871-1935) was a German bacteriologist and one of the first women to reach the rank of Professor in Germany. The Lydia Rabinowitsch-Kempner Autograph Book and Papers date from the late nineteenth and early twentieth-century, and contain letters written to Rabinowitsch-Kempner from leading German scientists, as well as a reprint and three photographs. Correspondents include Robert and Hedwig Koch, Paul Ehrlich, Emil Behring, Richard Pfeiffer, and Alexandre Besredka, as well as calling cards with notations from Lord Joseph Lister, Elie (Ilija) Metchnikoff, and Albert Calmette. Many of the letters and calling cards are arranged in a bound scrapbook, and relate to personal as well as professional matters. The collection also contains a series of six letters from Max von Pettenkofer to Paul Lindau, editor of Nord und Süd,. Acquired as part of the History of Medicine Collections at Duke University.
Extent:
1 Linear Foot
15 Items
Language:
Material in German, English
Collection ID:
RL.01061

Background

Scope and content:

The Lydia Rabinowitsch-Kempner Autograph Book and Papers date from the late nineteenth and early twentieth-century, and contain letters written to Rabinowitsch-Kempner from leading German scientists. Correspondents include Robert and Hedwig Koch, Paul Ehrlich, Emil Behring, Richard Pfeiffer, and Alexandre Besredka, as well as calling cards with notations from Lord Joseph Lister, Elie (Ilija) Metchnikoff, and Albert Calmette. Many of the letters and calling cards are arranged in a scrapbook, and relate to personal as well as professional matters. The collection also contains a series of six letters from Max von Pettenkofer to Paul Lindau, editor of Nord und Süd, and a reprint in English by Pettenkofer dating from the late nineteenth-century, as well as three photographs of Robert Koch, Paul Ehrlich, and Emil Behring.

Acquired as part of the History of Medicine Collections at Duke University.

Biographical / historical:

Lydia Rabinowitsch-Kempner (1871-1935) was a bacteriologist who studied tuberculosis. She was born in Kovno, Lithuania and studied in Zurich and Bern. In 1912, she became the first woman in Berlin and the second woman in Prussia to reach the rank of Professor. Rabinowitsch-Kempner worked with Robert Koch at the Institute for Infectious Diseases (Institut für Infektionskrankheiten). In 1895, Rabinowitsch-Kempner went to the United States to teach at the Women's Medical College in Philadelphia and established a bacteriology laboratory there. Returning to Germany, she edited the Zeitschrift für Tuberkulose from 1914 to 1934 and became associate professor of pathology and director of the bacteriological department at Berlin University, Moabit Hospital in 1920. After the Nazi seizure of power in 1933, Rabinowitsch-Kempner was forcibly retired in 1934.

Lydia Rabinowitsch-Kempner married Walter Kempner, another assistant to Robert Koch, in 1898 and had two sons, Walter Kempner and Robert Kempner, and a daughter. Walter Kempner came to Duke Medical Center in 1933 and Robert Kempner was a prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials. Lydia Rabinowitsch-Kempner died in Berlin in 1935.

Acquisition information:
The Lydia Rabinowitsch-Kempner Autograph Book and Papers were received by the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book Manuscript Library as a transfer in 2011.
Processing information:

Processed by Willeke Sandler, March 2012

Encoded by Willeke Sandler, April 2012

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Contents

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Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

The copyright interests in this collection have not been transferred to Duke University. For more information, consult the copyright section of the Regulations and Procedures of the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library.

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Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Lydia Rabinowitsch-Kempner Autograph Book and Papers, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.

Permalink:
https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/m1sh3q