The Wistar Institute is the nation’s first independent institution devoted to medical research and training. The Wistar Institute has evolved from its beginnings as an anatomical teaching museum to its present-day status as an international leader in basic biomedical research.
The Archives of The Wistar Institute were established to preserve the history of The Wistar Institute of Anatomy and Biology, its role as the nation’s oldest independent biomedical research institute, and of the Wistar family as related to The Institute.The history of the institute extends back to the Colonial Era of Philadelphia and the role of Caspar Wistar, M.D. (1761-1818), Chair of Anatomy at the University of Pennsylvania and author of the first American textbook of anatomy.The Wistar Institute was founded in 1892 and named for Dr. Wistar by his great-nephew Isaac Jones Wistar (1827-1905).
Important collections of the Archives include:
Records and correspondence of the Wistar family, beginning with the New Jersey glass house established by Caspar Wistar in 1726.
Correspondence and manuscript collections compiled by Isaac Jones Wistar, Philadelphia businessman and philanthropist, president of The American Philosophical Society and The Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia.
The Civil War collections of Brigadier General Isaac Jones Wistar, including official records, correspondence, books, and ephemera.