Scope and Contents
The collection consists of materials by or about John Chalmers Da Costa, MD (1863-1933), as well as some items relating to his wife, Mary Brick Da Costa and his cousin John C. Da Costa, Jr. Types of materials within the collection include addresses, medical journal articles (published), personal and family correspondence, notebooks, ephemera and certificates. While the addresses were mainly given at Jefferson Medical College, a few were presented at meetings of the Pennsylvania Medical Society and other medical organizations. The correspondence documents Da Costa's appointment at Jefferson, his membership in various medical organizations, his medical writings, and congratulations or acknowledgements. Of interest is a series of letters written in 1926 regarding Da Costa's selection as recipient of the Henry Jacob Bigelow Medal and his subsequent decline of that honor. Notebooks include those containing lecture notes taken while a student at the University of Pennsylvania and Jefferson, a volume labeled "Invoice Book" containing patient notes and case histories and a notebook listing railway accidents for 1897. The certificates mainly document his naval activities, his membership in various medical organizations, his education and receipt of various honors.
Biographical / Historical
Special care needs to be taken in the differentiation of Professor of Surgery John Chalmers Da
Costa (1863-1933), whose papers dominate this collection, from other members of his family with identical names.
John Chalmers Da Costa (1863-1933)
John Chalmers Da Costa was born in Washington, D.C. on November 15, 1863. He was the son of George T. and Margaret (Beasley) Da Costa. At the time of Da Costa’s birth, his father was serving in the Army of the Potomac, and his mother was temporarily residing in the nation’s capital to be closer to her husband.
Da Costa attended the Friends’ Central School and the University of Pennsylvania, graduating from the latter in 1882, before earning his M.D. from Jefferson Medical College in 1885. He was the valedictorian of his graduating class. After his graduation, Da Costa spent thirteen months in residency at Old Blockley Hospital. He then became Assistant Physician to what was then called the Insane Department. He resigned from this post in 1887 and took a new position as Assistant Physician at the Pennsylvania Hospital for the Insane. That same year, Da Costa entered private practice and also began working in Samuel D. Gross’s surgical clinic.
When Gross died in 1889, his successor as Professor at Jefferson took on Da Costa as an office assistant. In 1895, Da Costa joined the faculty of Jefferson Medical College as Clinical Professor of Surgery. He was sought-after as an instructor, and other medical schools attempted to recruit him for their faculty. Da Costa did not accept any of these offers and was instead appointed full Professor of Surgery in 1900. When Professor W. W. Keen retired in 1907 Da Costa was appointed his successor. He subsequently became the first Samuel D. Gross Professor of Surgery at Jefferson Medical College, a position he held from 1910 to 1933. During his tenure at Jefferson, he also worked as a surgeon at the Philadelphia Hospital and as a consultant to St. Joseph’s and Misericordia Hospitals. Additionally, he served as a surgeon to the Philadelphia Firemen’s Pension Fund for thirty-five years, taking no salary for this work.
Da Costa was a member of many professional societies, including the American Surgical Association, the Society of Clinical Surgery, and the American College of Surgeons (Vice President, 1928-1929). During World War I, he served as a Junior Lieutenant in the Navy and was later promoted to Commander. In 1919, he traveled to care for President Woodrow Wilson during the negotiations for the Treaty of Versailles and League of Nations. On February 26, 1895, Da Costa married Mary Roberts Brick, the sister of a Jefferson Medical College alumnus. The couple had no children.
Da Costa published the first edition of Modern Surgery, General and Operative in 1894. The text went through nine subsequent editions between its initial publication and 1931. The book was well-received and influential, receiving praise from notable medical figures including Harvey Cushing, William Mayo, and Rudolph Matas. In 1931, the same year that he produced the tenth edition of Modern Surgery, Da Costa also published The Papers and Speeches of J. Chalmers Da Costa. This work was followed by a similar collection, published posthumously in 1944, entitled The Trials and Triumphs of the Surgeon.
Beginning in 1922, Da Costa suffered from a severe case of rheumatoid arthritis. Eventually, the disease left him unable to work in a clinical setting, but he continued to teach. When the arthritis grew worse, Da Costa delivered his lectures from a wheelchair. In 1925, Da Costa attempted to resign from his teaching position, citing ill health, but the Board of Trustees refused to accept his resignation. Da Costa continued teaching until 1930 and retained the title of Samuel D. Gross Professor of Surgery until his death. John Chalmers Da Costa died on May 16, 1933, at the age of 69. He was buried at the Woodlands Cemetery in Philadelphia.
Other members of the Da Costa family represented in this collection include:
John Chalmers Da Costa (1834-1910)
John Chalmers Da Costa was the uncle and namesake of Jefferson's Samuel D. Gross Professor of Surgery (see above). Immediately following his graduation from Jefferson Medical College in 1878, Da Costa was appointed a Demonstrator of Obstetrics at his alma mater. Subsequently, he became Chief of the Gynecological Clinic at Jefferson. For more than 20 years, he was a visiting gynecologist at the Jefferson Medical College Hospital. Da Costa was also known as a skilled speaker and writer with a dedication to the preservation of surgical history. Notably, he and his colleagues found and restored a wooden operating table once used in demonstrations by Samuel D. Gross, Joseph Pancoast, and W. W. Keen. The table is currently housed in the Thomas Jefferson University Department of Surgery.
John Chalmers Da Costa, Jr. (1871-1920)
An 1893 graduate of Jefferson Medical College, Da Costa was nicknamed "Black Jack" for his black hair and mustache. He was the son of the Jefferson Hospital gynecologist noted above and the cousin of Jefferson's Samuel D. Gross Professor of Surgery. Da Costa obtained a position on the teaching staff of Jefferson Medical College in 1895. Eventually, he was appointed Associate Professor of Medicine, specializing in hematology. Da Costa resigned his teaching position in 1918 due to poor health.
Mary Roberts Brick Da Costa (d.1951)
Mary Roberts Brick Da Costa was the sister of Joseph Coles Brick, an 1894 graduate of Jefferson Medical College who later became an Associate Professor of Proctology at his alma mater. She married Professor of Surgery John Chalmers Da Costa on February 26, 1895. The couple had no children. Da Costa died on January 27, 1951 at the age of 90.