Bidwell Talk to Look at Colonial Women and Medicine
MONTEREY, Mass. — Before there was an American Medical Association, before there was even a medical school established in North America, women provided much of the health care for themselves, their families and their communities. Rebecca Tannenbaum will discuss these women at the Bidwell House Museum on Saturday, July 31, at 10 a.m.During the 17th and 18th centuries, medicine was an everyday part of women's work. Young girls learned how to make and use herbal medicines just as they learned how to make butter and cheese. Housewives nursed their own families and those of their neighbors. Even when a formally educated physician was called to a case, he usually depended on the women of the household to make up his prescriptions and carry out his orders. Some women became especially skilled at this kind of household medicine and earned the respect and gratitude of their communities.
Other women were more specialized and charged for their services. Childbirth, for instance, was almost entirely in the hands of midwives and other women called themselves "doctoresses," treating many different kinds of illnesses and injuries for men and children as well as women.
Tannenbaum teaches at Yale University, where she offers courses on early America, women's history, and the history of medicine. She has published many articles and a book, "The Healer’s Calling," which focuses on women medical practitioners in early New England. Her current research project looks at the roles of women and medical professionals in creating modern motherhood.
Bidwell House Museum is located at 100 Art School Road. For more information, call 413-528-6888.
