Digital Collections
The Medical Society of South Carolina has partnered with the Waring Historical Library at the Medical University of South Carolina to digitize the Society's meeting minutes, as well as portraits commissioned by the Society. These historical digitized materials are presented via the MUSC Digital Archives, MEDICA, which is itself a part of the Lowcountry Digital Library.
The digital collection includes the minutes of the Society for the years 1789-1986, and photographs of the Medical Society's portraits.
Minutes for the years 1789-1924 are handwritten; 1925-1986 are typed. Minutes through 1945 are in bound volumes; 1946-1986 are loose-leaf. The bound volumes are presented here as complete volumes, while the loose-leaf minutes are presented by individual year.
Using the Collection
The minutes of the MSSC have been fully transcribed so that they are full-text searchable. To view the transcript of a page, select the "page & transcript" option from the "View" menu that appears to the left of the image. These typed transcripts will be particularly helpful for years where the original minutes are handwritten (1789-1924).
In keeping with transcription standards, the minutes were transcribed exactly as written. This means that spelling and punctuation errors made in the original minutes have not been corrected in the transcripts. This may affect search results.
Please note that medical and other terminology may differ from the terminology we currently use. For example, "scarlatina" and "variola" are more commonly used in the older minutes than "scarlet fever" or "small pox".
For assistance searching or using the collection, please contact the
Waring Historical Library.
"Surviving Flexner: How the Medical College of the State of South Carolina Became a State Institution (1913)" Digital Exhibit
This exhibit is brought to you by the MUSC Library and the Waring Historical Library. At the time of the 1910 publication of the report MEDICAL EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA, known informally as the Flexner Report, the Medical College of the State of South Carolina had been in existence for 86 years. Significant for being the first medical school in the Deep South, the Medical College had flourished in its first 37 years until the outbreak of the Civil War forced the college to close for four years. After the war ended and the school reopened in 1865, the faculty and board of trustees struggled to keep its doors open. For the next 48 years the Medical College continued educating men to be physicians however by the early twentieth century the school was compelled to reevaluate its existence.
