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“…Harriet…”

This was actually two transactions, one for $852.00 and one for $454.78, totaling $1,306.78.

Records of Sims’s transactions involving enslaved persons are held at the Montgomery County Archives in Montgomery, Alabama.

Harriet, George, Emma, and Nat

“…R.G. Dun credit investigators…”

The R.G. Dun report on Sims comes from several years later, when he was about to go into business with William O. Baldwin and his brother-in-law, B. Rush Jones. The report reads: “1849 Sims has not much means; his health is poor. Baldwin and Jones are worth 30K each—not Sims. 1851. J & B worth 30 and 40K each…Sims is a man of high standing, but poor.” (Vol. 20, Alabama.) Sims consistently said that his finances were in a similar state throughout his time in Alabama.

The R.G. Dun & Co./Dun and Bradstreet Collections are held at the Baker Library/Bloomberg Center at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. They cannot be photographed; researchers are permitted only to take notes on the materials.

“…all his colleagues recognized…”

SIMS, J. Marion, (1885). The Story of my Life, ed. by H. Marion-Sims. D. Appleton & Co: New York, pp. 241-42.

Sims, J. M., & New York Academy of Medicine. (1858). Silver sutures in surgery. New York: S.S. & W. Wood, p. 54.

“…A Practical Treatise on Midwifery…”

“Trismus Nascentium—Its Pathology and Treatment,” J. Marion Sims, The American Journal of the Medical Sciences, Vol. 11, April 1845, p. 367.

“…Quain and Wilsons’s…”

“Trismus Nascentium—Its Pathology and Treatment,” J. Marion Sims, The American Journal of the Medical Sciences, Vol. 11, April 1845, p. 368.

“…New Orleans Medical Journal.”

“Trismus Nascentium—Its Pathology and Treatment,” J. Marion Sims, The American Journal of the Medical Sciences, Vol. 11, April 1845, p. 378.

“…Eberle’s baby…a concoction of oil…”

“Further Observations on Trismus Nascentium,” J. Marion Sims, The American Journal of the Medical Sciences, Vol. 16, July 1848, p. 74.

“…dozens of slave babies…”

Both of Sims’s papers on trismus nascentium are filled with detailed accounts that reveal that autopsies must have been performed, and Sims does occasionally indicate that he procured the infant spine, as will be detailed below.

“Further Observations on Trismus Nascentium,” J. Marion Sims, The American Journal of the Medical Sciences, Vol. 16, July 1848, p. 67.

“…a success in August 1845…”

“Trismus Nascentium—Its Pathology and Treatment,” J. Marion Sims, The American Journal of the Medical Sciences, Vol. 11, April 1845, pp. 374-75.

“…clever use of his pocketknife.”

“Trismus Nascentium—Its Pathology and Treatment,” J. Marion Sims, The American Journal of the Medical Sciences, Vol. 11, April 1845, pp. 372-73.

“…gave birth to a son…”

See “…Merry Christmas Sims…,” above.

“…too late to be saved.”

“Trismus Nascentium—Its Pathology and Treatment,” J. Marion Sims, The American Journal of the Medical Sciences, Vol. 11, April 1845, pp. 371-72.