Page 237

“…Mary Smith…”

Mary Smith is often described as Woman’s Hospital’s first patient. She was not—she is listed third in the case record. She will play a significant role during Anarcha’s time at Woman’s Hospital, documented in a later chapter, and it was Mary Smith’s case history that I used to account for Anarcha’s pregnancies (see “Anarcha learned she had been sold…” above).

From the first page of the first of three surviving case record books of Woman’s Hospital. The books are held at the Arthur H. Aufses, Jr. Medical Archives and Mount Sinai Records office at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, New York.

Emmet, T. A., & Woman's Hospital (New York, N.Y.). (1893). Reminiscences of the founders of the Woman's Hospital Association. New York: Stuyvesant Press, p. 4. First printed in the New York Journal of Gynaecology and Obstetrics.

“When Sims removed it…”

A different account claims that the pessary was a “silver globe.”

Emmet, T. A., & Woman's Hospital (New York, N.Y.). (1893). Reminiscences of the founders of the Woman's Hospital Association. New York: Stuyvesant Press, p. 5. First printed in the New York Journal of Gynaecology and Obstetrics.

From third of three surviving case record books of Woman’s Hospital. This included records that were re-transcribed, several years after the fact. There are double entries for both Anarcha and Mary Smith. The books are held at the Arthur H. Aufses, Jr. Medical Archives and Mount Sinai Records office at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, New York.

“Also like Anarcha…”

Anarcha’s case record, in the first of three surviving case record books, is held at the Arthur H. Aufses, Jr. Medical Archives and Mount Sinai Records office at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, New York.

“…numerous pregnancies…”

See “Anarcha learned she had been sold…,” above.

From the first page of the first of three surviving case record books of Woman’s Hospital. The books are held at the Arthur H. Aufses, Jr. Medical Archives and Mount Sinai Records office at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, New York.

“…excoriation of her nates…”

From third of three surviving case record books of Woman’s Hospital. This included records that were re-transcribed, several years after the fact. There are double entries for both Anarcha and Mary Smith. The books are held at the Arthur H. Aufses, Jr. Medical Archives and Mount Sinai Records office at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, New York.

“Eveline Triesdale…”

From the third page of the first of three surviving case record books of Woman’s Hospital. The books are held at the Arthur H. Aufses, Jr. Medical Archives and Mount Sinai Records office at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, New York.

“…Mary Stegher…”

From the fifth page of the first of three surviving case record books of Woman’s Hospital. The books are held at the Arthur H. Aufses, Jr. Medical Archives and Mount Sinai Records office at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, New York.

“Jane McRain…another woman…”

From the first of three surviving case record books of Woman’s Hospital. The books are held at the Arthur H. Aufses, Jr. Medical Archives and Mount Sinai Records office at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, New York.

“…one in eight couples in New York…”

I’m estimating on the high end, as Sims surely did. If both “Natural” and “Acquired” sterility could account for six per cent, that’s roughly one in eight.

Sims, J. M. (1990). Silver sutures in surgery; together with Clinical notes on uterine surgery. Birmingham, Ala: Classics of Obstetrics & Gynecology Library, p. 2.

“Whatever prevented the egress…”

Sims did not originate this idea, but he continued to hold it long after others had begun to abandon it.

“On the Surgical Treatment of Stenosis of the Cervix Uteri,” J. Marion Sims, Transactions of the American Gynecological Society, Vol. 3, 1878, p. 54.

“…the city’s powerful families and dynasties.”

Sims, J. M. (1990). Silver sutures in surgery; together with Clinical notes on uterine surgery. Birmingham, Ala: Classics of Obstetrics & Gynecology Library, p. 5.

“…Sims began employing a tube…”

Emmet, T. A. (1879). The principles and practice of gynaecology. Philadelphia: Henry C. Lea, pp. 129-31.

Sims, J. M. (1990). Silver sutures in surgery; together with Clinical notes on uterine surgery. Birmingham, Ala: Classics of Obstetrics & Gynecology Library, p. 14.

“…an eighteen-year-old girl…”

The images of Bridgey Headley’s case in the printed book all come from this same source.

From the third page of the first of three surviving case record books of Woman’s Hospital. The books are held at the Arthur H. Aufses, Jr. Medical Archives and Mount Sinai Records office at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, New York.

“…a pedunculated tumor…”

“A Memoir of Dr. James Marion Sims,” Thomas Addis Emmet, The New York Medical Journal, January 5, 1884, p. 3.

Emmet, T. A., & Woman's Hospital (New York, N.Y.). (1893). Reminiscences of the founders of the Woman's Hospital Association. New York: Stuyvesant Press, p. 7. First printed in the New York Journal of Gynaecology and Obstetrics.

“…the perfect chance to prove the theory…”

“A Memoir of Dr. James Marion Sims,” Thomas Addis Emmet, The New York Medical Journal, January 5, 1884, p. 3.

“…tie off the stalk with silver wire.”

Sims, J. M., & New York Academy of Medicine. (1858). Silver sutures in surgery. New York: S.S. & W. Wood, p. 44.

“It might be a floating kidney…”

Emmet, T. A., & Woman's Hospital (New York, N.Y.). (1893). Reminiscences of the founders of the Woman's Hospital Association. New York: Stuyvesant Press, p. 7. First printed in the New York Journal of Gynaecology and Obstetrics.