History 461/561: American Medical History

Tuesdays and Thursdays 1200 – 1320 in 175 Lil

Professor: James C. Mohr
Office: 383 McKenzie Hall
Hours: T, R 13:30 to 14:30, and by appointment
Phone: 346-5903
E-mail: jmohr@uoregon.edu


Required texts (available in paperback at the Bookstore):

Leavitt and Numbers, eds., Sickness and Health in America (LN in the syllabus below)
Warner and Tighe, eds., Major Problems in the History of American Medicine and Public Health (WT in the syllabus below)

This course is designed to offer a fundamental knowledge of American medical history and a chance to think about the role and the place of medicine and health in our society. The course presupposes no prior knowledge of medicine or medical history and does not involve hard science. The course does presuppose a basic prior knowledge of American history in general, and does presuppose a willingness to read thoroughly in areas that might not be immediately familiar. Students will be expected to do the assigned reading in advance and come to class prepared to discuss that day’s reading.

In addition to a mid-term exam and a final exam, the course will also require a research paper of 7-10 pages. The paper assignment will be discussed in class during the first week of the quarter.

For graduate students enrolled in this course as History 561: You will fulfill all of the undergraduate requirements (including the exams and research paper), and in addition you will turn in one other paper. That other paper will address a medical history subject related to your larger interests, and it will be discussed individually with Professor Mohr.

Grading:

For undergraduates: Mid-term exam 35%; research paper 30%; final exam 35%.

For graduate students: Mid-term exam 25%; research paper 25%; additional graduate paper 25%; final exam 25%.

A syllabus with lecture topics and reading assignments follows.

 

Week I.
Sep. 30: Introduction, ground rules, and discussion of research paper

Oct. 01: Lecture: The European Heritage
Reading: WT, 1-25; LN, 3-10

Week II.
Oct. 07: Lecture: Colonial Medicine and the Boston Inoculation Debate
Reading: WT, 28-54, 451-457; LN, 45-71, 407-417

Oct. 09: Lecture: Medicine in the Early Republic
Reading: WT, 55-71, 93-124; LN, 72-83

Week III:
Oct. 14: Lecture: Regulars and Irregulars in the Nineteenth Century
Reading: WT, 125-149

Oct. 16: Lecture: The Problem of Regulating Medical Practice and the Origins of Anti-Abortion Legislation
Reading: LN, 225-236; and work on your research paper

Week IV.
Oct. 21: Lecture: The Triumph of Scientific Medicine, Part 1: Surgery
Reading: WT, 168-178, and work on your research paper

Oct. 23: Lecture: The Triumph of Scientific Medicine, Part 2: General Practice
Reading: WT, 199-233; LN, 87-101, 115-142
Week V.
Oct. 28: Mid-term Exam

Oct. 30: Lecture: The Triumph of Scientific Medicine, Part 3: General Ethical Problems
Reading: WT, 264-274, 327-329, 379-386 409-417; LN, 309-333, 543-554

Week VI.
Nov. 04: Lecture: The Tuskegee Syphilis Study
Reading: LN, 392-404; WT, 388-408, 416-423

Nov. 06: Lecture: Epidemics and US History
Reading: LN, 418-433, WT, 489-498

 

Week VII.
Nov. 11: Lecture: The Great Influenza Epidemic of 1918
Reading: No additional assignment; work on your research paper

Nov. 13: Lecture: Women and American Medicine
Reading: WT, 149-157, 339-347372-379; LN, 237- 265, 351-368

Week VIII.
Nov. 18: Lecture: Medicine and the State: The Evolution of Public Health
Reading: LN, 437-542

Nov. 20: Lecture: The Problem of Mental Health
Reading: LN, 334-348

Week IX.
Nov. 25: Lecture: Historical Origins of the Current Crisis, Part 1, Funding
Reading: WT, 435-441, 485-489; LN, 269-283
Research Papers Due

Nov. 27: Thanksgiving Holiday, no class

Week X.
Dec. 02: Lecture: Historical Origins of the Current Crisis, Part 2, Organizational Problems
Reading: WT, 461-484, 532-539; LN, 284-294

Dec. 04: Overview, Review, and Discussion

FINAL EXAM: 8:00 am, Tuesday, December 9

 

Paper assignment:

You are to read at least 250 (consecutive) pages of any medical journal published any time between 1835 and 1935. After reading those pages thoroughly (ads, editorials, notes, and all), write a 7-10 page paper about some aspect of the material you found.

Your paper may take many different forms. There is no right or wrong approach. Here are some of the questions you might ask yourselves to get started: What were American medical people writing about in your selection? What concerned them? Were they focused on particular diseases, or problems? Why and toward what end? What was the state of medicine reflected in those pages? What surprised you? What disappointed, shocked, or embarrassed you in there? Who advertised in these journals?

In selecting your 250 pages, you may choose from any of the journals listed below, and you may arbitrarily pick any date or issue to begin. You are strongly advisee to do some preliminary scanning of various choices before committing to the 250 pages you want to write about.

Both of the first two journals are available in UO libraries in “hard” copy, so you could deal with the originals themselves right here on campus. So are scattered issues of the others. Others are available in electronic form, though you should be aware that electronic resources are often awkward to peruse complete-page-by-complete-page (as distinguished from pulling up separate articles).

1. Journal of the American Medical Association.[1883-1935] (Sci desk, shelved by title)

2. The American Journal of the Medical Sciences [1827-1933] (online via American Periodicals Series, 1827-1924; Microfilm1827-1840, 1841-1900; Sci Storage, shelved by title, 1855-1933)

3. Journal of Experimental Medicine. [1896-1932] (SCI Storage, shelved by title, various years from 1906 through 1932)

4. Medical Examiner [1854-1856] (online via American Periodicals Series)

5. The North-Western Medical and Surgical Journal. 1849 (KNIGHT R11 .N6, 1856-1857)

6. The Chicago Medical Journal. Chicago, 1858 (KNIGHT R11 .N6, 1866)

7. Medical Sentinel [of Portland, OR], [1893-1930] (SCA OrColl 610.5 M46, 1894, 1901-1910, 1913-1922, 1925-1927, 1929)

8. The Journal of Industrial Hygiene and Abstract of the Literature: Official Organ of the American Association of Industrial Physicians and Surgeons. [1919-1934] (Sci desk, shelved by title; 1919-1931; 1933-1934)

9. Northwest Medicine [of Seattle], [1916-1935] (SCI Storage, shelved by title)

10. American Journal of Nursing (JSTOR; 1900-1935)

11. Any of the US Public Health Service reports prior to 1935 (check with Sci Lib Ref)