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Special Collections Department, University of Virginia Library
Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library© 2000 By the Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia. All rights reserved.
Funding: Web version of the finding aid funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Processed by: Sharon Defibaugh
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Dr. James Carmichael Papers, 1816-1832 and n.d., Accession #11373, Special Collections Department, University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.
This collection was purchased by the University of Virginia Library from Jerry Showalter, Bookseller, Ivy, Virginia, on January 30, 1998.
The correspondence discusses medical treatment, the prescription of medicine, and urgent requests for visits from the physician, from the perspective of the patient, family, and slave owner. There are no letters from Dr. Carmichael to his patients. The collection also contains a few accounts and receipts scattered among the letters, some of which also deal with the purchase of reference books and medical supplies (1820 May 6, 29, June 7; 1821 Dec 10; 1822 Apr 17, 18, Sep 27; 1823 Mar 19, Aug 29, Oct 1, 31; 1824 Apr 8, 15, May 27, Sep 30, Oct 19, 22, Nov 18; 1825 Apr 8, 25, May 16, Aug 19; 1827 Jun 7, Dec 7; 1828 Apr 7, May 6).
At least seventy-five different area families are represented in this collection and some of the correspondents include: Mann Page, Hugh Mercer (n.d.), Burr Harrison, Fontaine Maury, Bushrod Washington, St. Ledger Landon Carter (1823 Oct 23; 1826 Oct 8, n.d.), James Barbour (n.d.) and Edmund Berkeley. Letters of special interest include one from Robert Carter from Sabine Hall, March 26, 1828, and from hotel keeper, J[ohn?] Gray, at the University of Virginia, March 15, 1825.
Many of the letters to him pertain to the medical treatment of local slaves and a list of all letters discussing the health of slaves or possible slaves follows:
swollen knee
Scipio need for a truss (Pratt family)
unspecified
mumps
tooth extraction for Ned (Jones family)
child with worms
slave purged and bled, inquires about the need for a blister treatment
woman bleeding from the nose
man in considerable pain
several of the people are very sick
Israel has the pox (Hooe family)
unspecified
headache and fever
Woman sick at Clark's
infection in the eyes of two slave boys
George's wife is sick (Long family)
Patty's sick child with worms or cold (Jones)
Judy's sick child with ear infection or whooping cough, "as all our black children have it" (Jones family)
Slave of Bernard's estate sick
Robin has pain in his side (Lipscomb)
Robin has pain in his side (Lipscomb)
Anthony has permit to visit doctor (Selden)
[Brass?] very ill with fever (Stanard)
Delphia has fever and other symptoms (Herndon)
slave man ill with fever and pain in head & neck
woman Jenny taken with a bleeding (Strachan)
James ill with fever (Jones family)
Nelson sent for examination (Jones family)
Edmond's elbow may be out of place (Alsop family)
[Hill?] has "the polite disorder" (Jones family)
a slave woman in labor called a "Calcutta case"
Reuben has a "strong complaint" (Jones family)
boy with pain in left side
young slave boy has a very bad eye (Jackson family)
young woman with ulcerated leg (Mitchell family)
five year old boy with worms and headache (Stanard family)
male slave suffering derangement (Morson family)
slave woman Judy wishes to be bled (Jones estate)
slave boy with high fever and headache (Stanard family)
slave girl with boils (Jones family)
slave girl with high fever and headache (Jackson)
slave boy very sick with poison oak (Seddon family)
Uncle's slave is sick
arrangements to bring two slaves home
slave man with a rupture
slave very ill
pain in slave woman's side
male slave needs a truss
male slave with "the gravel"
female slave unable to deliver her child
female slave with stomach, chest and throat pain
female slave unable to deliver her child
female slave with headache and backache
a slave boy is very ill
Gerard is ill (Forbes family)
Caroline, 34 years old, suffering from asthma (Hooe family)
death of a slave girl
male slave with fistula
male slave dangerously ill
female slave with the thrush
sends Rachel with her child (Strothers family)
slave child with worms
slave woman very ill
male slave Frank still ill (Stanard family)
slave woman [Harrie?] with severe sore throat
Ned has frostbitten fingers (Clark)
slave boy with infected teeth
slave woman with obstruction
little boy with ague
child Isaac with eye inflammation
Patsy much worse (Gordon family)
slave boy grows worse
Nelly will describe her complaint (Taliaferro family)
slave girl very ill
slave woman with fever and headache
slave girl with eye inflammation
slave girl sent for examination
Matilda and thumb problem (Maury family)
sick servant
a one year old child with bowel trouble
male slave unwell
male slave James needs treatment