The American Plague - Molly Caldwell Crosby [122]
Information about doctors during the epidemic as well as general information about Victorian medicine came from a variety of sources: the Breusch Papers, LaPointe’s From Saddlebags to Science, Dromgoogle’s Yellow Fever Heroes, Honors, and Horrors of 1878, Keating’s The Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1878, Paul Starr’s The Social Transformation of American Medicine, T. O. Summers’s Yellow Fever and Goodman and Gillman’s The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics. I also based some of the details like spring-loaded lancets or leaden glass bottles on visits to the Memphis history exhibit at the Pink Palace.
Descriptions of the day-to-day work of the Howard physicians were taken from Breusch’s article in the Journal of the Tennessee Medical Association. Details about Mitchell’s specific treatment for fever cases was found in Dromgoogle’s account. The bizarre treatment for yellow fever involving sitting on a chair and passing out was taken from Dr. S. S. Fitch’s The Family Physician, 1876.
The quote from the 1878 Boston Medical and Surgical Journal about surgeons serving in war versus the yellow fever epidemic was found in the Breusch papers.
“Only one change was noticeable—the decrease of their numbers” is from Keating’s The History of Yellow Fever.
All information pertaining to Charles C. Parsons was taken from the Parsons file, George C. Harris papers and papers belonging to the Sisterhood at St. Mary’s—all are held in the Yellow Fever Collection at the Memphis Library.
“A man on Poplar . . . cowardly deserted his wife and little daughter, both of whom were ill with the fever; if he isn’t dead, somebody ought to kill him” appeared in the September 6, 1878, Appeal.
The account of Louis Schuyler was taken from the papers belonging to the Sisterhood of St. Mary’s, as well as the George C. Harris papers. A fictional description of his death is also available in Charles Turner’s The Celebrant. It was never confirmed, nor denied, that Louis Schuyler was moved into the death alley still alive. After his death, letters from concerned friends and family were sent to Dean George C. Harris. Those letters, as well as his explanation, are part of the Yellow Fever Collection.
The description of the illness and deaths of Constance and Thecla were taken from the papers belonging to the Sisterhood of St. Mary’s. A few of the details were also found in the William J. Armstrong papers. The obituary quote, “Of them it may be said they were lovely in their lives, and in their death they were not divided,” was found in the scrapbook of George C. Harris.
The account of Dr. William J. Armstrong’s final days and death were taken from his personal correspondence and the article about his life and letters in the West Tennessee Historical Papers, 1950.
The final list of those who perished in the epidemic was taken from several sources, including Keating’s book, Breusch’s papers, the Elmwood book, the Charles G. Fisher papers, and Memphis 1800-1900, Volume III: Years of Courage.
Descriptions of the citizen’s meeting at the Greenlaw on Thanksgiving Day was taken from newspaper accounts.
I found that the Emily B. Souder sank in December of 1878 in the shipping news of the New York Times.
Greatly Exaggerated
Statistics from the 1878 epidemic came from three sources: Bloom’s The Mississippi Valley’s Great Yellow Fever Epidemic, Carrigan’s The Saffron Scourge and the Conclusions of the Board of Experts, 1879.
Information about the state of the country following the epidemic and the battle over the National Board of Health came from John Ellis’s Yellow Fever and Public Health in the New South and Margaret Humphreys’s Yellow Fever and the South. The quote about the president not wanting to commit the recessed congress to an investigation was taken from Ellis’s book, as was the quote from Harper’s.
Statistics about financial aid