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“There was no sign outside…”

From the July 7, 1855, meeting of the Woman’s Hospital Association. The minutes 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.

“…paid money for treatment…”

See “…free black people…,” above.

Documents reveal that the prices for rooms went down the higher you climbed into the hospital—I am assuming a degree of segregation between paying and non-paying patients.

From the January 3, 1855, and November 1, 1862, meetings of the Woman’s Hospital Association. The minutes 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.

“The two rooms at the end of the passage…”

See “…two beds in Sims’s hospital…,” and “…never to speak of it again,” above.

I am suggesting that these are Stuart’s rooms, and as will be detailed later, they were used in conjunction with Stuart’s role as a fixer for men of great means in New York—i.e. for illicit abortions, treatments for venereal disease, and so on.

“Dr. Sims’s surgical theatre…”

I found a single source that suggested that Sims operated on the fourth floor, but while this makes sense from the perspective of post-operative treatment—it’s easier to carry someone down stairs than up them—it didn’t make sense in terms of access to water and heat. No other sources spoke to where the operations took place, so I opted to locate his surgical theater in the basement. It is of course possible that the theatre surgical was somewhere else, completely.

“…was now in Alabama.”

Thomas Addis Emmet signed documents in Alabama on January 22, 1857—the exact date of Anarcha’s release from Woman’s Hospital. It’s possible that these documents are the indication of the formal transfer of Anarcha’s ownership from Nathan Harris to William L. Maury. Along with his law partner, Harris had died—likely of yellow fever—in 1855 (see below for documentation). Emmet and his wife had traveled back to Alabama to finalize the sale of Harris’s estate. I am assuming that this would have taken more than a few days, and that Emmet was absent from Woman’s Hospital for the entirety of her stay in late 1856 and early 1857. At the very least, he was not present for Sims’s subsequent experimental surgery on Anarcha, which took place in early January and will be documented in a later chapter.

“…there were forty beds…”

Accounts disagree as to how many beds there were when Woman’s Hospital opened. Forty is more common.

Marr, J. P. (1957). Pioneer surgeons of the Woman's Hospital: The lives of Sims, Emmet, Peaslee, and Thomas. Philadelphia: Davis. p. 22.

Harris, S. (1950). Woman's surgeon: The life story of J. Marion Sims. New York: Macmillan, p. 155.

“…services that were held on Sundays…”

There are accounts of one of the wards being converted to a meeting hall for annual galas, later in Woman’s Hospital’s history. I am assuming that some accommodations would have been made for seating for regular religious services, as well.

From the February 7, 1857, meeting of the Board of Lady Managers. The minutes 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.

“…gathered to do knitting…”

From the March 1, 1856, meeting of the Woman’s Hospital Association. The minutes 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.

“…chambermaids, some of them patients.”

As with Anarcha and the others before them, and the patients of Catherine and Reginald Hamlin in Ethiopia (documented in the “Joy Village” section of the afterword to the printed book), some of the patients at Woman’s Hospital—including, in this case, Mary Smith (see “…Mary Smith…,” above), whose tragic story will be documented in a later chapter—became nurses, assistants, and employees.

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.

“…lively songs on a piano…”

From the June 6, 1856, meeting of the Board of Lady Managers. The minutes 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.

“…Maria Sharp…”

Mary Sharp is one of the few early patients of Woman’s Hospital who was not identified as being from Ireland.

From the first of three case records books from 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.

“…caught a chill.”

Tough to read, the end of the second to last paragraph: “The only cause known which could have produced it was that during the week previous she had done her own washing and exposed herself to cold.”

From the first of three case records books from 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.

“…heard her vomiting at night…”

From the first of three case records books from 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.

“She didn’t complain…”

From the first of three case records books from 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.

“…the operation to close her hole…”

From the first of three case records books from 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.