Page 252
“Two days after Anarcha arrived…”
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.
“…Anarcha share what she knew.”
See “…while Anarcha was recovering from the experiments…,” above.
“…a large Irishwoman named Mary Smith…”
See “…Mary Smith…,” above.
The duplicity of the Sims legacy is aptly demonstrated by the contrasting characterizations of Mary Smith from Thomas Addis Emmet, Sims’s assistant, and Seale Harris, his biographer.
“A Memoir of Dr. James Marion Sims,” Thomas Addis Emmet, New York Medical Journal, January 5, 1884, p. 3.
“Marion Sims and the Origin of Modern Gynecology,” Seale Harris, Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine, Vol. 12, No. 3, March 1936, p. 97.
“…operated on a number of times…”
The official case record at Woman’s Hospital says that Mary Smith was discharged as cured in 1857. Emmet’s account (See “…a large Irishwoman named Mary Smith…,” above) claims that Sims did not achieve any success with Smith until 1861, and even then she was eventually left a pauper. This case alone is enough to call veracity of the case record into question—a point that will be made about Anarcha’s case record in a future chapter.
There are no records describing Anarcha’s time among the other patients at Woman’s Hospital—my account of this is speculative.
From the third 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.
“…escorted them on the train…”
Richard Maury was doing a lot of traveling between Charlottesville and New York at this time—it makes sense that he would escort Anarcha north.
“A Long Life Devoted To The Public Health,” The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN), December 18, 1977.
“…the home that the Maury family owned…”
There are many Maury letters to and from 365 4th Street in New York.
Letter from Rutson Maury to Ann Maury, May 7, 1863, held in the Maury Family materials at the Special Collections department of the Swem Library at William and Mary College in Williamsburg, Virginia.
“…the Lieutenant Maury who was now her owner…”
https://www.vashonhistory.com/Publications/Commentaries/william_maury_bio.pdf
“…barely more than a girl…”
Lewis and Nan’s gravesite in the Bowling Green Cemetery in Bowling Green, VA. Nan was twenty-four when she married, Lewis, a cousin nineteen years her senior.