New online exhibit-Antebellum Medicine

The Lamar Soutter Library at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, Massachusetts is pleased to announce the launch of a new online exhibit featuring two collections relating to antebellum medicine in central Massachusetts.  With funding from the New England Region of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine and in conjunction with the Worcester District Medical Society and the Worcester Recovery Center and Hospital the collections of historical medical writings were digitized and are now accessible online.

The first collection, the Union Medical Association Papers, contains papers of a group of physicians who practiced in southern Worcester County and established the Union Medical Association in 1834.  The collection consists of reports and transcripts of lectures created by the Association’s members from 1834 to 1858 on topics that include medical ethics, statistics, medical cases, and new remedies. 

The second collection is part of the unpublished papers of Dr. Samuel B. Woodward, (1787-1850), physician, educator, and the first superintendent (1832-1846) of the State Lunatic Hospital (now the Worcester Recovery Center and Hospital), the first publicly funded mental health facility in the United States. Woodward was also the co-founder and first president (1844-1848) of the Association of Medical Superintendents of American Institutions for the Insane (now the American Psychiatric Association).  The collection contains essays, addresses, obituaries, letters, and verses created by Woodward from 1806 to 1848 covering various medical, social, financial, educational, and personal topics.