Whitfield Jenks Bell Jr.

Whitfield Bell, an eminent scholar, died on January 2, 2009. He earned his B.A. from Dickinson College in 1935 and his Ph.D. in history from the University of Pennsylvania in 1947. He served with the American Field Service in World War II. His early years were spent at Dickinson College where he was appointed to the Boyd Lee Spahr Chair of American History, the youngest person ever named to an endowed chair there. In 1955 he began work on The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, published by Yale University in cooperation with the American Philosophical Society. He served as associate editor, overseeing publication of the first five volumes. He joined the staff of the American Philosophical Society in 1961. He was appointed librarian in 1966 and executive officer in 1977. He retired as librarian in 1980 and as executive officer in 1983. His books include John Morgan, Continental Doctor, The Colonial Physician and Other Essays, and The College of Physicians of Philadelphia: A Bicentennial History. In 1996, the American Association for the History of Medicine honored him with its lifetime achievement award.