Diploma of New York Hospital, issued to Samuel Gedney Mott, May 1, 1813
Engraver William Satchwell Leney American, born England
After John R. Murray American
Related person Samuel Gedney Mott American
Not on view
This early medical diploma is adorned with an image of New York Hospital and the recipient's name filled in below. The institution had been established in 1771 by Royal Charter when New York was still a British colony, then funded by well to do city residents. It was the city's first hospital and America's second, pre-dated only by the Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia. A two-story H-shaped building was erected on the west side of Broadway, set back about ninety feet from the road and between today's Worth and Duane Streets. The Revolutionary War delayed the hospital's opening until 1791 and the institution remained at that address until 1877 when it moved uptown to new modern quarters between 15th and 16th Streets, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. A second move to the hospital's current York Avenue location took place in 1932.
