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“…hoped to raise $10,000…”
A plea for hospitals. (1851). New-York: Baker, Godwin, printers, pp. 19-20.
“…Elizabeth Blackwell…”
There are many sources about Elizabeth Blackwell’s medical education. Sims’s biography addresses her presence in New York at the time, but notably it avoids mentioning the fact that Sims and Blackwell knew each other. Sims’s autobiography makes no mention of Blackwell at all.
Harris, S. (1950). Woman's surgeon: The life story of J. Marion Sims. New York: Macmillan, p. 99.
“Blackwell too was hoping…”
A Blackwell letter dating from 1851—or a fragment of a Blackwell letter—is held at the Library of Congress.
“…fifteen-dollar ticket price.”
Barnum, P. T. (1855). The life of P.T. Barnum: Written by Himself, New York, Redfield, p. 332.
“…he could book a room…”
It is notable that Sims’s account of meeting Barnum in New Orleans characterizes it as a happy accident, and he doesn’t even mention seeing Lind sing. Even Sims’s biographer found that to be an untenable omission. I go further than that, in suggesting that Sims intended to meet Barnum. I find it highly likely that Sims would have been aware of the Joice Heth episode, and that he would have made a mental connection between Heth and Anarcha. The timing is remarkable. Sims claims to cure Anarcha in 1849, but does not publish about it until the beginning of 1852 (as will be seen, he wrote his article in the fall of 1851). Sims met Barnum in 1851, as well, about six months earlier. Given the fact that Sims’s reputation as a showman seems to have stemmed from what he called his friendship with Barnum (despite the fact that there is no evidence they ever met again), it seems highly likely that Sims would have seized the chance to draw advice out of Barnum, and that later, recognizing that it might not reflect well on his narrative, he would avoid discussing their meeting in detail.
Harris, S. (1950). Woman's surgeon: The life story of J. Marion Sims. New York: Macmillan, p. 107.
SIMS, J. Marion, (1885). The Story of my Life, ed. by H. Marion-Sims. D. Appleton & Co: New York, p. 258.
“…great seething concourse of humanity…”
This is actually a characterization of her arrival in Philadelphia, but Lind was received with enthusiasm everywhere she went.
Barnum, P. T. (1855). The life of P.T. Barnum: Written by Himself, New York, Redfield, p. 319.