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1923

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.

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.

Transcribed by digital volunteers

National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection

Documents and Manuscripts

Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of the Carole Ione Lewis Family Collection

National Museum of African American History and Culture

2018.101.2

diaries

ink on paper with leather and adhesive

H x W x D (closed): 5 5/16 × 3 7/16 × 9/16 in. (13.5 × 8.8 × 1.5 cm)

Object Name • Diary of Dr. Ionia Rollin Whipper

nmaahc_2018.101.2

NMAAHC

DIARY OF DR. IONIA ROLLIN WHIPPER

National Museum of African American History and Culture

CC0

1920s

Whipper, Ionia Rollin • Howard University Hospital • Samuel Ward Manufacturing Company • United States Department of Labor

District of Columbia • United States • Massachusetts • North and Central America • Suffolk County • Washington • Boston

Medicine • Description and travel • Women • Black Enterprise • American South • Social reform • Education • Government • Midwifery

City • Boston • County • Suffolk County • State • Massachusetts • Country • United States • City • Washington • State • District of Columbia • Continent • North and Central America

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