Diary of Dr. Ionia Rollin Whipper
date: label: Date
content: 1923
name: label: Written by
content: Dr. Ionia Rollin Whipper, American, 1872 - 1953
label: Manufactured by
content: Samuel Ward Manufacturing Company, American, 1868 - c. 1930
label: Subject of
content: United States Department of Labor, American, founded 1913
label: Subject of
content: Howard University Hospital, American, founded 1862
notes: label: Caption
content: This diary, begun in 1923, documents the daily life of Dr. Ionia Rollin Whipper, a 1903 graduate of Howard University School of Medicine, during a time when she was touring the South as an assistant medical officer for the Children's Bureau of the U.S. Department of Labor. During the tour, Dr. Whipper lectured and instructed midwives in childbirth practices. After the tour, she returned to Washington, DC where she was an obstetrician in the Maternity Ward of Freedman's Hospital. She began to mentor and assist the teenage girls she encountered in the hospital and in 1931 she opened the Ionia R. Whipper Home for Unwed Mothers in Northeast Washington, D.C. It would remain the only maternity home for black women in the Washington area for many decades.
label: Description
content: Personal diary of Dr. Ionia Rollin Whipper from the year 1923. The diary is leather bound and has gold lettering on front that reads, [Day by Day / A PERPETUAL DIARY]. The tile page has the same title written in the same format as the cover. Underneath is the manufacturer's mark which is a circle with a shield in the center with the words, [TRADE MARK, SAMUEL / WARD / MFG. CO. / Boston]. On the opposite page is a handwritten inscription in black ink stating, [-Howard / Around the world dinner / in every place and at same / hours.] The first few pages have a list of addresses and starting January 4th, Rollin describes her activities each day including payments, lectures, meetings, and travel arrangements. There are dates scattered throughout the diary that are blank, greatly increasing in March. After each month is a page [Memoranda]. On March 13, a love poem on brown paper titled, [TELL HIM NOW]. Rollin stops writing in the diary on June 16th. The book begins again on the September Memoranda in claiming she had just found the book and have been in the hospital working since January 1st, 1921. After that the book is blank except for November 10 - 11th and December 11-12. and 21-22. on December 30-31st Rollin has listed [California / Books]. The [Memoranda] on the next two days has the inscription written above, [Office Sept. 8 / 1877] with a list of Insurances. The diary ends with a list of names and addresses. The back cover is blank.
label: Transcription Center Status
content: Transcribed by digital volunteers
place: label: Place made
content: Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts, United States
label: Place used
content: Washington, District of Columbia, United States, North and Central America
topic: label: Topic
content: African American
label: Topic
content: American South
label: Topic
content: Black Enterprise
label: Topic
content: Education
label: Topic
content: Government
label: Topic
content: Medicine
label: Topic
content: Midwifery
label: Topic
content: Social reform
label: Topic
content: Travel
label: Topic
content: Women
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection
label: Classification
content: Documents and Manuscripts
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of the Carole Ione Lewis Family Collection
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture
identifier: label: Object number
content: 2018.101.2
objectType: label: Type
content: diaries
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: ink on paper with leather and adhesive
label: Dimensions
content: H x W x D (closed): 5 5/16 × 3 7/16 × 9/16 in. (13.5 × 8.8 × 1.5 cm)