Born in the mining town of Central City, Colorado, as the daughter of an engineer, Florence Rena Sabin was raised in New England and carved out a career of firsts in developmental biology and anatomy.

Receiving a bachelor's degree from Smith College in 1893, Sabin entered the three year old medical school at Johns Hopkins University in 1896, becoming the first woman graduate from the school with the class of 1900. At Hopkins, Sabin became the protégé of Franklin P. Mall, who encouraged her research interests in anatomy. By any reckoning, her talent for medical investigation was enormous, earning her an internship at Hopkins Hospital, followed by a special fellowship in the Department of Anatomy from the Baltimore Association for the Advancement of University Education of Women. By 1917, Sabin was made a member of the faculty in the Department of Histology, the first woman at the University to be promoted to the status of full professor.

Her early research centered on the embryological origins of the lymphatic system, and she later worked on the origins of blood, blood cells, and blood vessels, on the histology of the brain, and on the pathology and immunology of tuberculosis.

In September, 1925, Sabin accepted the invitation to head the Department of Cellular Studies at the Rockefeller Institute, becoming the first woman faculty member there, and continuing her work on tuberculosis. She retired to Colorado in 1938, but emerged six years later at the request of the governor to chair a subcommittee on public health and help reform and modernize the state's public health system. She retired a second time in 1951 and died October 3, 1953.

Honors accrued to Sabin throughout her career, including a number of firsts. In addition to being the first female graduate of Hopkins medical school, the first full professor there, and the first at Rockefeller, she was the first president of the American Association of Anatomists (1924) and the first woman member of the National Academy of Sciences (1925). She was selected as one of two representatives for the state of Colorado in the National Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol.

The Papers of Florence Rena Sabin, a pioneer in women's role in medical research, consist of 19.5 linear feet of correspondence, notes, and publications pertaining to her research in anatomy and embryology. The collection is rich in detail on her work on tuberculosis, cancer, the origins of the lymphatic system, and pernicious anemia, as well as her involvement with a number of professional organizations.

The Florence Rena Sabin Papers were photocopied as part of the Save America's Treasures Project (2004-2006). A new arrangement was implemented for the photocopies, or reader copies, to improve access. The inventory in this finding aid reflects the arrangement of the reader copies.

Provenance

Gift of the Rockefeller Institute, 1964.

Preferred citation

Cite as: Florence Rena Sabin Papers, American Philosophical Society.

Related material

Additional Sabin material is located in the Alan Mason Chesney Papers at Johns Hopkins University, at Smith College, and the archives of the Rockefeller Institute in Tarrytown, N.Y.

Physiology, Biochemistry, and Biophysics Note

• American Association of Anatomists
• American Association of University Women
• American Woman's Association
• Institute for Advanced Study (Princeton, N.J.)
• John Hopkins University. School of Medicine--Faculty
• John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
• National Academy of Sciences (U.S.)
• National Tuberculosis Association
• New School for Social Research
• New York University. Hall of Fame for Great Americans.
• Peking Union Medical College
• Rockefeller Institute
• Society for Experimental Biology
• World Center for Women's Archives

• Cunningham, R.S. (Robert Sydney), 1891-1963
• Doan, Charles Austin, 1896-1990
• Flexner, Simon, 1863-1946
• Mall, Franklin P. (Franklin Pa
• Sabin, Florence Rena, 1871-1953
• Streeter, George Linius, 1873-1948
• Weed, Lewis H. (Lewis Hill), 1886-1952

• Anatomy
• Cancer -- Research
• China -- Medical care
• Ellen Richards Prize
• Embryology
• Lymphatics
• Naples Table Association
• Physiology
• Spain -- Medical care
• Tuberculosis -- Research
• University in Exile (see New School for Social Research)
• White House Conference on Child Health and Protection
• Women anatomists
• Women physicians
• Women physiologists