Apparatus XY

26The financial plan was to raise funds through a campaign for $5.00 contributions from a large group to be followed by an endowment campaign. From the beginning the new hospital was to have a dual purpose: "an opportunity for training for women, and...a chance to study the problem of hospital care for people of moderate means" (6 Apr. 1927 Sabin to Thomas, Naples Table Correspondence 1927 #1, APS). Sabin began working on this even before Thomas's letter. In January 1926 she wrote to her sister Mary that she had been asked to go on the Board of a women's hospital, and that the hope was that they would raise $5,000,000 for a building. At that point she was still hesitant due to her work obligations (12 Jan. 1926, Series II, Box 6, Folder 11, SSC). Nonetheless, she enthusiastically took up the cause. In 1928 Dr. Elsie Seelye Pratt was slated to discuss the Gotham Plan at the meeting of the American Association of University Women and asked Sabin to send whatever materials she could including subscription cards.(5 Feb. Series II, Box 12, Folder 9, SSC). Also in 1928 Sabin sent a plan to G. Canby Robinson of Vanderbilt for his reaction and mentioned that her group had sent a woman to a hospital in Boston to study their laboratories (9 May and 4 Jun. Box Richa-Ru, APS).

27 The plan for Gotham Hospital paid specific homage to the Blackwell sisters for their founding and work with the New York Infirmary and spoke directly of the need for an endowment to lower costs to patients, the costs themselves being determined by a uniform cost for procedures and a reasonable maximum fee for physicians and surgeons. At the same time, it promised the "hospital will give medical women, both physicians and surgeons a chance to practice" (The Gotham Hospital, Box G, Gotham Hospital #2. APS). This point was reiterated in an April 1, 1930 letter Sabin sent to Waldo Hutchins, Jr. in which she noted that a proportion of positions in the hospital would be set aside for women "until such time as women have a fair opportunity for hospital training in proportion to their numbers in the profession" (Box G, Gotham Hospital #2, APS). In March 1929 invitations were sent out to prominent women physicians to join a laboratory committee to determine what would be necessary for the hospital. A Special Gifts Committee was also formed (Gotham Hospital #2, Box G, APS). Consideration was given to a medical school affiliation as well. Sabin was enthusiastic about the possibilities noting that "Dr. Goldwater who is regarded as the best hospital expert in New York says ours is the only plan that will work for people of moderate means," and adding "Cornell has decided to copy our nursing plan so I think that one can say that the women have already made a contribution to the vexed question of hospitals" (18 Apr. 1929 Sabin to Ella Strong Denison, Series II, Box 10, Folder 3, SSC). By 1930, enough money had been raised to buy a plot at Central Park West between 107th and 108th Streets. The General Campaign was being chaired by Mr. Matthew Sloan, who was president of the New York Edison Company, while the large gifts committee had the President of the Pennsylvania Railroad at its head (1 Apr. Sabin to Hutchins Jr., Gotham Hospital #2, Box G, APS). The Board of Directors included other women physicians besides Sabin such as Louise Pearce and Addisone Boyce and was chaired by Henry Bruere (The Gotham Hospital Campaign, Gotham Hospital #2, Box G, APS).

28 The campaign and booklet explaining it, "New York Leads a New Hospital Movement," garnered interest from others who wished to do something similar, but by September 1930 the Depression was already taking its toll (5 Apr. 1930 Edward H. Watson to Sabin, Gotham Hospital #1, Box G, APS). In response to a letter expressing interest in offering women of limited means semiprivate or private hospital beds, Sabin addressed the financial situation. Despite having bought the land and begun their campaign, "our advisors have urged us not to press the drive until the financial condition of the country is on the upgrade. Under the circumstances you might well prefer to endow a bed in a hospital which is already running" (12 Sep. 1930 Sabin to Rickey in response to 10 Sep., Gotham Hospital #1, Box G, APS). By March 1932 Sabin had to write to Susanne Parsons, a Hopkins graduate to whom she had first written about the plans for the Gotham Hospital as early as 1928, that "the plans for the Gotham Hospital are wholly in abeyance and even may not be revived after the depression" (24 Mar. and 30 May 1928, Box O-Ree, APS). Sadly, it never was revived and in 1943 the Board of the Gotham Hospital dissolved its Corporation and applied any remaining funds to the William Booth Memorial Home and Hospital (2 Apr. Henry Bruere to Sabin, Series II, Box 15, Folder 7, SSC).

29 Despite the disappointing end to the Gotham Hospital Plan, Sabin did not give up on fundraising to help women even during the difficult Depression years. In particular, she began a campaign to endow a fellowship at Bryn Mawr in honor of the great mathematician Emmy Noether, who found refuge at that school when forced out of her university position and out of the country by Nazi Germany. Unfortunately Noether died in May 1935 after finding refuge in the United States (4 May 1935 Letter to Editor New York Times and 1 May 1936 letter, Noether, Emily Memorial Fund A, Box No, APS). Shortly thereafter, Sabin began her campaign to establish an endowment, seeking the help of both Abraham and Simon Flexner. Simon Flexner urged Sabin to have Mrs. Ella Denison as a donor since her name was well-known due to the Denison Fellowship in support of scientific research (24 Oct. 1935 Noether, Emily, Memorial Fund, F, Box No, APS). Abraham Flexner tried to use his influence at the Institute for Advanced Study to get men on the committee but found they were too involved at the moment with the problems arising with scientists in Germany. He urged her to stay with the original plan of having a committee of women (17 Jan. 1936, Noether, Emily, Memorial Fund F, Box No, APS). Nonetheless, the Honorary Committee had the top men in mathematics including Oswald Veblen, and Albert Einstein from the Institute for Advanced Science. Einstein had described Noether "as the most significant creative mathematical genius thus far produced since the higher education of women began," and Sabin considered his endorsement of particular significance ("Women in Professions," Abstracts, Unpublished Papers #4, Box A-An, APS).

30She consistently reiterated two goals in establishing the fellowship: to honor a woman of unquestionable attainment and to serve as a protest to the racist policies of Nazi Germany (18 Jan. 1936 Sabin to Mrs. Felix Fuld, Noether, Emily, Memorial Fund, F., Box No, APS and 26 Mar. 1936 to Mrs. Backer in Noether, Emily, Memorial Fund B). These goals were expressed in personal appeals sent to women from whom she sought contributions. The original goal was to raise $25,000 so that the interest could be used for a scholarship for students in advanced mathematics, although under the urging of Simon Flexner and President Marion Park of Bryn Mawr, that goal was later decreased to $10,000. By November 1936 that goal had been reached, a particularly impressive achievement given the short time frame, the economic difficulties of the era, and the many other appeals being made on behalf of scientists and intellectuals fleeing Nazi Germany (8 May 1936 Sabin to Elizabeth Arden, Noether, Emily, Memorial Fund A; 20 Nov. 1936 Sabin to Mrs. Agnes Leach, Noether, Emily, Memorial Fund, L, Box No, APS). In her letter of thanks upon being informed that the goal had been reached, Pres. Park of Bryn Mawr noted that the idea had been Sabin's, saying as well "for the tremendous amount of work which you have put in, I cannot thank you enough" (21 Nov. 1936 Series II, Box 12, Folder 9, SSC).[11]Interestingly, the <em>New York Herald Tribune</em> article of March 21 1936 reporting on "An Emmy Noether Memorial" quotes Simon Flexner writing on behalf of the plan but only mentions Sabin as the person to whom checks should be sent, Series II, Box 12, Folder 7, SSC.