Health and Healing in America

Over the next four class periods, we will explore ideas and historical practices around sickness, health and healing in early America, using 2 case studies: the Martha Ballard diary from Maine (1780s-1810s) and the Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition (1803-1806).

For each case study, the first class period will discuss the writings of a  historian and give a general overview to the text, the time period, and the conclusions that scholars are able to draw from these sources. Then you’ll go to the original text and explore for yourself, and bring your findings, questions and conclusions to our second class discussion.

Wed 9/15 – read 2 articles about Ballard as a “social healer” by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich: “Martha Moore Ballard and the Medical Challenge to Midwifery” in the Leavitt reader (Chapter 4 in the big blue volume), AND an excerpt from her 1990 Pulitzer Prize-winning book, A Midwife’s Tale, titled “1787: Exceeding Dangerously Ill” (as a PDF).

Mon 9/20 – explore the diary itself at DoHistory.org

Wed 9/22 – read a chapter from Volney Steele’s 2005 book, Bleed, Blister and Purge: A History of Medicine on the American Frontier, titled “Lewis and Clark: Keelboat Physicians” (PDF)

Mon 9/27 – explore the journals themselves at the Online Lewis and Clark Journals Project (University of Nebraska Lincoln)