Medicine: Resources available in the Special Collections Research Center

Photocopies relating to Dr. William Rickman (d. 1783) of Kittiewan, Charles City, Va., former director of the Continental Hospital of Virginia, 1776-1780. Includes will, letter, biographical material, as well as general information about medicine in Revolutionary Virginia.

Papers of Richard M. Bucktrout, merchant and mortician in Williamsburg, Virginia. Includes April 5, 1997 letter from Anne H. Cutler to "U.S. in France" seeking help identifying French soldiers who died in 1781 in the French Revolutionary Hospital in the Wren Building of the College of William and Mary, with enclosures: Interview with Professor P.P. Peebles. Business roots. Excerpt from a letter by Mrs. Rutherfoord Goodwin, 1953.

Correspondence and other papers, mostly 1810-1860, of the Barraud family of Norfolk, Virginia. A number of the letters, as well as some poems, are from St. George Tucker (1752-1827), a close friend of Barraud's when he lived in Williamsburg, Va. Subjects covered include the War of 1812, medical service in the American Revolution and social life in Norfolk, Virginia.

This collection includes a variety of material formats and subjects from throughout the College's history. Includes an extract from the journal of the Virginia Convention, 15 June 1776, giving the report of Mr. Starke, in which he recommends that the Palace rather than the College be used as a hospital for sick and wounded soldiers, and the resolution that this be done.

Letter written April 27, 1854 from Joseph Beale, U.S. Germantown, Montevideo, South America, to his wife, in care of Col. Blow, Norfolk, concerning his fondness for his wife and child and his wish to leave the Navy as a doctor and enter into private practice.

Papers (including accounts, reports and a general order) of Doctor James Cornick, fleet surgeon (on board the Savannah) in the Pacific Squadron, United States Navy, concerning medical stores.

See this SCRC exhibit for more information on the Civil War.

An artificial collection of papers, chiefly 1861-1865, pertaining to the American Civil War from both the Confederate and Union sides. The collection includes both official and private correspondence, orders, descriptions of campaigns and battles, articles concerning the war, artifacts, medicine, hospitals, etc.

Papers, 1838-1882, of Gideon Christian, physician, of Norfolk, Va. The collection includes letters, accounts, lotteries, prescriptions, and forms for excusing draftees into the Confederate Army on medical grounds.

Papers, 1859-1934, but mainly 1862-1864, of Augustus C. Golding (Goldin, Golden). Includes letters, letterbook, diaries, documents, pension papers, printed materials, and photographs. All items relate to Golding's service in the Union Army, 1861-1864, in Northern Virginia, on the Virginia peninsula, and in Maryland. Golding's letters to family and friends describe troop movements, battles, camp conditions, his health, a hospital, and the weather.

This collection, 1860-1867, consists mainly of letters between Richard S. Morgan, a Chicago apothecary and Celia Frary, a Morris, IL schoolteacher, who married in Grundy County, Ill. in 1863. Includes March 20, 1865 [last letter, Camp Butler, Apothecary, enlisted in 91st IL] "I do nothing but fill ward prescriptions & examine the sick. I have touched more small pox & measles today than you can shake a stick at...I have charge of all the Porter Ale Wine & Whiskey medicine"

Papers of Richard M. Bucktrout, merchant and mortician in Williamsburg, Virginia. Includes correspondence, receipts, financial papers, records of soldiers killed at the Battle of Williamsburg and legal papers, dated 1855 to 1869. List of deaths at the Seminary Hospital from July to November, 1861 in Williamsburg, Virginia and coffins made for soldiers dying in Williamsburg in July-August, 1861.

Letters from Cassimere Churchill, a member of Company E, 9th Cavalry Regiment, New York, to his family while stationed in New York, Washington, D.C. and Virginia during the Civil War. A participant in the battles of Yorktown, Va. and Williamsburg, Va. as an artillery guard; descriptions of Yorktown, Va., Manassas, Va. and Washington, D.C. Includes December 24, 1861 letter: "Please do not let anyone see this." Drilling exercises. He was sick, and got medicine but threw it away so he could "die a natural death." A comrade gave him coal and molasses. Includes letter June 12, 1862: Washington (D.C.) Dear Sister Have yet to get horses. The ones requested were given to General McClellan. When he was sick and took quinine. Rough conditions that made him get sick.

The collection contains letters written by Rufus Robbins, Jr. to family members during the Civil War. In his year and a half of service in the 7th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, Robbins frequently wrote to his parents and brothers Henry and Edwin in South Abington, Massachusetts. The letters contain information about camp life and the activities of Robbins' regiment. Includes letter to Mother Carver Hospital, Washington, D.C., 1862 Rufus Robbins, Jr., of the 7th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, swallowed his surgeon’s prescription of quinine mixed with magnesia.

Correspondence, 1861-1864, of William P. Allcot while he was serving with the 62nd New York Infantry Regiment in various camps around Washington, D. C. and in Virginia ending with his stay in Island Hospital, New York in 1861-62; those from Allcot while he was serving at camps and on battlefields in Virginia and Maryland, 1862-1864; and those from Allcot while he was a patient at Carver Hospital, Washington, D. C., 1864. Their contents describe conditions in camp and on the battlefield (Fredericksburg, Fair Oaks, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg); express Allcot's views on the Civil War; discuss family affairs; and tell of his health and conditions at Carver Hospital.

Diary, 1862 January 21-June 8, of F. N. Walker, captain in the 3rd South Carolina Volunteers, in which he discusses what he is reading; news he hears of battles, and marching from Manassas, Va. (including a visit to the battlefield of First Bull Run) to the vicinity of Yorktown and Williamsburg, Va. (mentioning the statue of Lord Botetourt, College of William and Mary, and Eastern State Hospital). 96 p. : bound volume

Minute book, 1862-1865, of the Ladies' Soldiers' Aid Society of Monroe, Michigan. Includes minutes of the Society, whose purpose was to "furnish such hospital stores as are not known to be furshined by the general government." This would typically involve making packages and shipping them to the hospitals of various armies. Also includes list of members, constitution, and bylaws of the organization. Among the members is listed are Elizabeth Bacon, the wife of George Armstrong Custer. She was elected treasurer of the organization on 20 October 1863.

Ledger, 1863-1864, of Captain Edward Restieaux, the chief quartermaster of the Pennsylvania Reserves Divison under General Samuel Crawford. This ledger is a list of medicines given to soliders, and include the name of the medicine, amount given, and to whom it was given. Medicines given include potassium chlorate, bismuth, camphor, glycerin, and morphine, among many others.

Papers of four generations of the Campbell family of Orange Co., Va. The collection includes papers of the Graves family and correspondence, medical accounts, military orders and reports of Dr. William S. Parran who served in the 13th Virginia Regiment of Confederate States Army at the battles of Bull Run, Cedar Mountain and who was killed at Antietam.

Logbooks, account books and accounts, 1807-1841, of Christopher Tompkins kept while captain of ship "Pocahontas", 1807-1809, and while running a general merchandise store in Mathews Co., Va. Includes typed excerpts from a memoir of Tompkins compiled by his son, Christopher Quarles Tompkins in 1860 and twenty-one pages from an account book listing foodstuffs of A. Y. P. Garnett, surgeon in Sally Tompkins' Confederate hospital, Robertson Hospital, in Richmond, Virginia during the Civil War.

Sally Louisa Tompkins was born 1833 at "Poplar Hall" in Mathews, Virginia, daughter of Christopher and Maria Patterson Tompkins. She opened the Robertson Hospital in Richmond, Virginia where she and her staff of doctors treated the Confederate wounded. In recognition of her efforts, she was awarded an officer's commission as a captain in the Confederate States Army by President Jefferson Davis.

Papers, chiefly 1862-1868, relating to Eastern Lunatic Asylum (now Eastern State Hospital), Williamsburg, Va. Includes correspondence, patient reports, and requisition orders of Dr. Peter Wager, director of the hospital during the Union occupation of Williamsburg. There are also replies, 1956-1957, to inquiries for information about Dr. John de Sequeyera [or Sequeyra], a physician at the hospital from 1773 to 1793, and the hospital during the Civil War.

This collection includes a variety of material formats and subjects from throughout the College's history. Includes typed letter copy; Alfred Hitchoock, Williamsburg, to unknown, 12 May 1862, concerning his service at the College hospital.

Handwritten diary by a Hospital Corps man detailing repeated trips to Cuba between December 5, 1898 and May, 1899. He was chosen from a Hospital Corps School in Washington, D.C. (Established in 1898, often called "Old Naval Hospital") to be among twelve sent on a humanitarian mission to Cuba. He sails from New York to Cuba on the Bay State Hospital Ship, which is delayed after an explosion within fifty feet of the diarist. The Bay State Hospital Ship was a project of the Massachusetts Volunteer Association which was organized in 1898 to send medical and humanitarian supplies to benefit U.S. troops overseas and particularly troops and local people in Cuba and Jamaica.

This collection consists of the papers of Jefferson H. Clark, a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania physician, who was a field surgeon in France during World War I, and of the research papers of his daughter Mary Clark Shade (1928-2009), who was working on a book documenting her father's WWI duty. Mary Clark Shade's research papers include index cards, notes, photographs, postcards, photocopies of articles, and related material. Jefferson H. Clark's papers include diaries, an officer's record book, correspondence, military orders and records, maps (one of which is labeled 'trench map'), photographs, dictionary, his helmet and embroidered helmet bag, a ration tin and a surgical kit.

The collection of Alfred E. Bradley largely concerns his service, first as Military Observer and then as First Chief Surgeon, with the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) in England and France between 1916 and 1918. The bulk of the collection consists of papers and documents covering the period May 1916 through June 1918 and concerns Bradley's service in Europe during World War I. The collection includes correspondence and documents mainly relating to Bradley's official capacity as Military Observer and Chief Surgeon as well as letters and documents of a personal nature.

This collection primarily concerns Clara Louise Walde Lawrence's career as a nurse in the period before, during, and after World War I. Materials in the collection include correspondence, scrapbooks, diaries, photographs and negatives, pamphlets, medical supplies, and other publications. Most of the correspondence, photographs, and publications relate to either WWI or nursing.

Papers, 1917-1918 of Frances G. Hoppin who opened the Red Cross Grenelle Dispensary in Paris, France in 1917, one of about 30 civilian dispensaries administered by the Red Cross in Paris at that time. This accession consists of both personal papers and records relating to the dispensary. Included are two journals in which Frances Hoppin recorded both her personal experiences as well as business items relating to the dispensary. Also included is a 3-page report on the dispensary, detailing supplies, itemized expenses and salaries, and the number of people treated, etc.; personal and business correspondence, newspaper clippings in French and English, postcards, a program for classes in social hygiene, miscelleneous ephemera, and a photograph of a nurse with bedridden children at the Grenelle Dispensary in Paris, France.

Diary, 1917-1921, of an unknown nurse who served during World War I. She is first stationed at a hospital in Roselle, New Jersey. For a brief while she was also stationed at Camp Merritt, New Jersey. She set sail from Hoboken, New Jersey aboard the RMS Aurania on 8 January 1918. During the journey, she describes the damage from the Halifax Explosion, which had happened approximately a month previous. Once in Europe, she describes her journeys with the advancing U.S. Army, in both France and Belgium.

Diary, 1918-1919, of Edith Gibbons of Cleveland, Ohio. Includes information about her time working with the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) in England and Frace just after the end of World War I, giving aid to American soldiers still stationed there. There is also description of the scenery and landmarks she encountered, including he descriptions of damage done to them from the war. Gibbons also describes her experiences with German prisoners of war and her visit to a prisoner of war camp. Finally, she describes her interactions with soldiers whom she is helping and relates some of their stories about the war. Also included is Gibbons' passport.

Edward Belvin's Collection of Williamsburg and James City County, Virginia material. Includes copies of wills and death certificates, correspondence and certificates. Includes appointment letter from Army Nurse Corps for Julia B. Heier of Portsmouth, Virginia dated March 6, 1918, with attached appointments through June 2, 1919.

Personal and professional papers of Amos Ralph Koontz, surgeon. The personal papers, 1865-1986, include the correspondence of Koontz, his wife, Besse (Stocking) Koontz and their son, James William Koontz. Included are travel diaries, documents concerning the College of William and Mary and Johns Hopkins and material relating to social clubs and societies. The professional papers contain correspondence relating to Koontz' medical practice, political material, documents pertaining to military service, memberships in professional organizations, and newspaper and magazine article reprints.

Diary, circa 1942-1943, of Walter Haworth, a resident of Guernsey during World War II who was deported by the German Army and imprisoned in the Ilag V-B Biberach prison camp in southern Germany. Includes information about his daily life, including food and accomdations, other people in the camp, and his relationship with the guards. Also includes information about the Red Cross and the supplies that they are able to give to prisoners throughout the course of the war.

Chiefly letters and telegrams, 1920, received by John Barton Payne on the occasion of his appointment as U. S. Secretary of the Interior. Includes miscellaneous correspondence, some pertaining to his work as chairmen of the American Red Cross

Ten posters from the World War I era for the Red Cross and Victory Loans

The 67th Field Hospital Collection contains documents and photographs depicting the history of the 67th Field Hospital during the European Theater of World War II and the 17 reunions of the 67th Field Hospital held from 1986 to 2002.

Correspondence, official and personal, of the family of Albert W. Raymond, American volunteer ambulance driver who was taken a prisoner of war by the Germans in France on May 15, 1940. He was held at the German prison camp for officers at Hoyerswerda, near Dresden. Among the correspondents are his wife, Helen, his daughter and son-in-law, Fred I. Raymond, and Alfred R. Thomson. Includes recollections of his capture, newspaper clippings and photographs.

Diary of a medical doctor who served in the U.S. Navy beginning July 5, 1942, when he reported for duty at the Navy Yard in Washington, D.C. The name given on the front of the diary is H.T. Wilbur which suggests him as the author. Wilbur was detached for duty to the U.S.M.C. recruiting station, also Washington, D.C. He writes extensively on medical issues and cases and events encountered during his tour of duty. At the start of his diary he also reflects on his career decision and discusses qualifications and certification, etc.

Correspondence, photographs, and military papers concerning the World War II service of 2nd Lt. A.N.C. Lina Nancy Potter (1901-1975) of Narragansett, Rhode Island. Potter enlisted in the United States Armed Forces in 1942 and served as a nurse in a military hospital in India from 1943-1945. This collection consists of 23 letters of her outgoing wartime correspondence to family (her Aunt Harriet E. Weaver and Uncle Charles Weaver of Rhode Island) in the United States, her military papers, and three wartime photographs of Potter and her fellow nurses. Potter's correspondence is of special interest because Potter was allowed to censor her own letters (perhaps because she was an officer) before they were sent to the United States. Thus, Potter's correspondence contains a log of wartime conditions at a hospital near Burma, India. Her letters discuss poor food and housing conditions, status of her work in India, the war in India and China, and aspects relative to women's history during WWII.

Letters of Thomas C. Douglass, 1941-1946, relating to World War II. Letters to his wife Suzanne Lyon Wallace Douglass (1922-1999) concern family issues and war news and include descriptions of his medical practices and financial dealings.

Papers, letters and photographs of Mary Frances Switzer of Florida who served as a WWII Army nurse in France. Letters are from friends and family, but mostly from her sometime beau, Allen Galer, who writes about the ups and downs of their relationship.