Charles Pickering was born on September 15, 1844 in Boston, Massachussets, United States, the son of Charles Gideon and Elizabeth Cabot (Jackson) Putnam and brother of James Jackson Putnam. His father was a physician and his ancestors had long been distinguished in Massachusetts as jurists or physicians, his maternal grandfather being James Jackson.
Charles Pickering Putnam was graduated by Harvard College in 1865 and by the Harvard Medical School in 1869, after which time he continued his medical studies at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, and, later, in Germany.
Beginning in 1871 Putnam carried on a general practice in Boston, later specializing, partially, in pediatrics and orthopedics. He also lectured at the Harvard Medical School from 1873 to 1879 and served at the Boston Dispensary as a physician from 1871 to 1873 and as orthopedic surgeon from 1873 to 1876. In 1898 he was elected president of the American Pediatric Society.
In 1873 he founded, with others, the Boston Society for the Relief of Destitute Mothers and Infants and he served as president of the society from 1904 until his death. He became physician to the Massachusetts Infants Asylum in 1875 and under his direction the death-rate in this institution was greatly reduced. In 1879, when the Associated Charities of Boston was founded, he was made president and served as chairman of many committees up to the time of his death.
He was appointed chairman of the unpaid board of trustees of the Children's Institutions of Boston, serving from 1902 to 1911.
He died April 22, 1914.
Charles Pickering Putnam was the most important leader in charitable and social work in Boston in his day. He founded the Boston Society for the Relief of Destitute Mothers and Infants, a pioneer establishment which fostered the idea of keeping mother and child together. He also reorganized the Boston institutions for the care of prisoners, the poor, and delinquent children. He helped to organize the Directory of Nurses, the Boston Medical Library, the Mental Hygiene Association, the Massachusetts Civic League, the State Board of Insanity, and many other projects which had to do with the schools of Massachusetts, playgrounds, juvenile courts, and the probation service for prisoners.
Putnam was a member of numerous medical societies and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Charles Pickering was completely unselfish and endowed with great sympathy and a fertile mind. As a practitioner, especially in pediatrics, he was greatly loved.
Quotes from others about the person
According to Lee post, "In short, Dr. Putnam was for a generation the backbone of social work in Boston".
In 1889 Charles Pickering Putnam was married to Lucy Washburn, daughter of William and Susan Tucker Washburn; there were three children, one son being a physician.
