Papers, 1934-1994.

Format:

Other

Author/Creator:

Dickens, Helen Octavia.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

American Medical Women's Association.

Association of American Medical Colleges.

Devereux Foundation.

Marriage Council of Philadelphia.

National Association of Medical Minority Educators, Inc.

Pan American Medical Women's Alliance.

University of Pennsylvania. Office of Minority Affairs.

University of Pennsylvania.

Minorities in medicine--United States.

Minorities in medicine.

Teenage pregnancy--United States.

Teenage pregnancy.

Women in medicine--United States.

Women in medicine.

Penn Provenance:

Donated in 1994 by Helen O. Dickens (accession number 1994:62).

Physical Description:

19 Cubic ft.

Place of Publication:

1934-1994.

Biography/History:

Helen Octavia Dickens was born in Dayton, Ohio, to Charles and Daisy (Green) Dickens on February 21, 1909. She was a 1934 graduate of the University of Illinois School of Medicine, the only African-American woman in her graduating class. She spent two years after graduation at Provident Hospital in Chicago, and then practiced with Dr. Virginia Alexander in a birthing-home practice in North Philadelphia.

Dickens saught further training in obstetrics and gynecology, spending a year at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Medicine. Dickens passed the board examinations in 1945, becoming the first female African-American board-certified Ob/gyn in Philadelphia. That year, Dr. Dickens became Director of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Mercy Douglass Hospital in Philadelphia. In 1951, Dr. Dickens joined the courtesy staff of Women's Hospital and would later be named chief of obstetrics and gynecology. When the University of Pennsylvania took over the Women's Hospital in 1956, Dr. Dickens became a member of the staff and faculty in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of the School of Medicine.

One of her special interests was aiding pregnant teenagers. In 1967, Dickens founded the Teen Clinic at the University of Pennsylvania for school-age mothers in the inner city. The clinic's services included counseling and group therapy, educational classes, family planning assistance, and prenatal care. Another of Dickens's interests was cancer education and services.

Helen O. Dickens died on 2 December 2001 at the age of 92 and was survived by her daughter Jayne Brown.

Summary:

The Helen O. Dickens Papers document the latter half of Dickens' career in the field of medicine, medical education and public health. The collection contains correspondence, articles, reprints, grant proposals and some notes regarding Dickens' work in teenage pregnancy during the 1960s and 1970s which can be found in the Medical and Correspondence series.

It is Dickens' administrative work and participation in professional organizations which figures most prominently in the collection. Her important role to enhance the participation of minorities in medical education, particularly the University of Pennsylvania, is well represented in the form of correspondence, minutes, and reports in the Minority Affairs subseries of the University of Pennsylvania series and National Association of Medical Minority Education subseries of the Organizations series. In addition to her advocacy work for minorities, Dickens' papers contain material which highlights her work with women's groups such as the Pan American Medical Women's Alliance and the American Medical Women's Association. There is also correspondence, minutes, reports, and newsletters of a number of professional organizations in which Dickens was an active member, such as the Marriage Council of Philadelphia, the Devereux Foundation, and the Association of American Medical Colleges.

Finding Aid/Index:

Finding aid available from the repository.

OCLC:

122614736

Access Restriction:

Access is granted in accordance with the Protocols for the University Archives and Records Center.

Online:

Finding aid