Health and Healing in America

UPDATE: NO Class Today, Wed 2/8 – Dr. Hangen is sick

This week we look at another late 18th/early 19th century context of frontier medicine, medical care in the Lewis and Clark expedition (1803-1806). Continue reading →

Reading: Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, “1787: Exceeding Dangerously Ill” from A Midwife’s Tale (1991) – it’s posted as a PDF on Blackboard under “Readings”

Links for Today:
DoHistory.org
Guidelines and search term suggestions for the Diagosis: History project (due Wed Feb 15)

Bring laptops on Wednesday 2/1 to work with the Ballard diary

For Monday, Feb 6 – Reading is Volney Steele, “Lewis and Clark: Keelboat Physicians” posted as a PDF on Blackboard under “Readings.”

Reading for Today: Burnham, Health Care in America, Ch 1-2

Links for Today, re: Smallpox Inoculation in Boston
Dramatization of a Smallpox Inoculation / HBO’s John Adams (2008)
Interview with Stephen Coss, author of The Fever of 1821
The Fight Over Inoculation During the 1721 Boston Smallpox Epidemic (Harvard Science in the News)
The Boston Smallpox Epidemic (Contagion: Harvard Open Collections) – with original sources

For Monday:
Read Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, “1787: Exceeding Dangerously Ill” from A Midwife’s Tale (1991) – it’s posted as a PDF on Blackboard under “Readings”

Please bring laptops to class on Monday, as we’ll be exploring a digital version of the diary Ulrich used to write this essay.

Response #1 is due on Wednesday, 1/25. Please use the readings so far and choose something to comment on, discuss, or analyze [Flexner Report, Porter Chapters 1-3, Hippocratic oath, Burnham’s Chapters 1-2]. Write a 400+ word reading response and post it to the Blackboard Response Journal by 12:00 noon on Wednesday. (Pro tip: compose and proofread your response offline and then cut/paste into Blackboard, to avoid losing work).

Links for Today:
Drug resistant diseases (CDC)
Black Death – Bubonic Plague clip (History Channel)

Reading for Wednesday:
Burnham, Health Care in America, Chapters 1-2

As we agreed, please read up through Chapter 3 of Willrich’s book Pox: An American History. Continue reading →

I look forward to our in-person meeting this week, especially as I’m eager to hear your responses to our reading. Continue reading →

Since Worcester State was cancelled on Feb 5th, we had to combine two classes. Continue reading →

I appreciated the lively discussion during our first in-person meeting last evening. Things are off to a great start! Here is what you will need for this next week. Continue reading →