Diary of Margaret Hill Morris
This collection is composed of the original, handwritten Revolutionary War diary of Margaret Hill Morris, as well as a photocopy of the diary of Margaret Hill Morris. The entries detail Morris’s experiences during the early years of the American Revolutionary War, including her fears for her family, the movement through her town of various military groups, including “Tory Hunters,” “Gondola Men,” and Hessian soldiers. Morris also describes her treatment of the sick and injured at surrounding military camps.
Margaret Hill Morris diary (MC.975.01.049), Quaker & Special Collections, Haverford College, Haverford, PA.
Link to finding aid: http://hdl.library.upenn.edu/1017/d/pacscl/HAVERFORD_USPHCMC97501049
In the Words of Women
Based largely on the book of the same name, the blog is a kind of trailer for it and the primary source material it contains. An invitation, you might say … to eavesdrop on the lives of women writing 250 years ago … to become acquainted with 144 little-known but amazingly articulate chroniclers … and to discover a valuable new perspective on the Revolutionary Era.
The women featured lived between 1765 and 1799. But once you attune your ears to their way of writing, their voices easily leapfrog across the centuries. Read just a few sentences and you’ll find yourself back in time, entering their concerns, sharing their feelings. And what they have to say is always fascinating, often eye-opening, sometimes heart-rending.
Botanic Remedies in Colonial Massachusetts, 1620-1820
This article by George E. Gifford, Jr. covers in depth the timeline of medicinal innovations and trends throughout colonial times. While all of the discoveries and publications are credited to men, the article gives insight into what resources were available to colonists in terms of botany, chemical compounds, and published knowledge. Aside from detailing the pharmaceuticals of different eras in colonial history, the article compares and contrasts types of medical handbooks that were available to housewives and women in medicine.
Note: Information from this article is cited throughout the Femina Medicus website, but Gifford, Jr.’s article is a gold mine of relevant information that lies beyond the scope of the narrow topic of women in medicine.
https://www.colonialsociety.org/node/1215
Medicine in Colonial America, by Oscar Reiss
MEDICINE IN COLONIAL AMERICA, BY Oscar Reiss, MD, is both informative and entertaining. It contains approximately twice as many pages as most other works on colonial medicine, and, thus, twice as much information.
In addition to expected topics, such as the training of colonial physicians and illnesses seen and treated by them, the 11 chapters cover such diverse topics as competition for the medical dollar and morbid anatomy….In the chapter “Illnesses Seen and Treated,” the most common diseases and medical conditions of the period are considered.
Of special interest to this reviewer and anyone who wishes more information is the bibliography of more than 300 sources. Reiss often guides us through it with suggestions for further reading. For instance, at the conclusion of the chapter on physiology, he refers the reader to eight of his sources for additional pertinent information. The detailed index also provides quick reference to particular subjects of interest.
Through this entertaining discourse, we can envision the colonial physician with severely limited knowledge and resources by today’s standards, ready, willing, but only somewhat able to attend to the medical and surgical maladies of his time. The information contained in this volume will be of great value to the physician, nurse, pharmacist, and dentist interested in his or her professional heritage.
ISBN 0-7618-1576-7, New York, NY, University Press of America, 2000.
Femina Medicus: Women in Medicine During the Revolutionary War 