Scope and Content Note
The papers of Anita Newcomb McGee (1864-1932) span the years 1688-1932, with the bulk of the material concentrated in the period 1869-1932. They consist of correspondence, drafts of articles, diaries, notebooks, scientific and medical notes, news clippings, photographs and memorabilia, with some photostatic material. The collection is organized by type of material.
An “Idea Book” contains McGee's writings on subjects such as “Happiness” and “Use of imagination in science.” A considerable amount of the correspondence is with family, especially her father, Simon Newcomb, mathematician and astronomer, and her son, Eric Newcomb McGee, who changed his name to Eric McGee Newcomb. Included are holograph copies of lectures and articles on hygiene and medical matters. There are also articles derived from McGee's studies of communist societies in the United States such as the Shakers, and the Bethel and Oneida communities. A segment of the collection relates to the formation of the Women's Anthropological Society of America, and there are letters written while McGee was acting assistant surgeon, United States Army, in the Spanish-American War.
Principal correspondents in addition to those mentioned include Gifford Pinchot, Charles Benedict Davenport, Alcander Longley, and Edward Singleton Holden.
Included in the collection is the family correspondence, 1836-1846, of McGee's grandfather, Charles A. Hassler, a surgeon in the United States Navy, containing a letter from James Madison, 1832.