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A Guide to the Papers of Dr. James Carmichael 1816-1834 Carmichael, Dr. James 11373

A Guide to the Papers of Dr. James Carmichael 1816-1834

A Collection in
The Special Collections Department
Accession number 11373


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Funding: Web version of the finding aid funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Processed by: Sharon Defibaugh

Repository
Special Collections, University of Virginia Library
Accession number
11373
Title
Papers of Dr. James Carmichael 1816-1834
Physical Characteristics
ca. 675 items (2 Hollinger boxes, ca. 1 linear foot)
Language
English
Abstract
This collection consists of the correspondence, 1819-1830, 1834, and undated, and day book, 1816-1817, of Dr. James Carmichael (1771-1831) and his son, Edward Carmichael, of Fredericksburg, Virginia, ca. 675 items (2 Hollinger boxes, ca. 1 linear foot), who emigrated from Scotland in the 1780s to practice medicine in the Fredericksburg area. Dr. James Carmichael was one of the physicians involved in treating yellow fever, which was epidemic in 1803 in the Fredericksburg area, and began a family of physicians continuing to the present.

Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

The collection is without restrictions.

Use Restrictions

See the University of Virginia Library’s use policy.

Preferred Citation

Dr. James Carmichael Papers, 1816-1832 and n.d., Accession #11373, Special Collections Department, University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.

Acquisition Information

This collection was purchased by the University of Virginia Library from Jerry Showalter, Bookseller, Ivy, Virginia, on January 30, 1998.

Scope and Content Information

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.

Contents List

Box 1
Day Book of Dr. James Carmichael 1816-1817
Correspondence of Dr. James Carmichael 1819-1830, 1834, n.d.
Box 1-2 Physical Location: 1819-1824: Box 1
1825-1830, 1834, n.d.: Box 2
10 folders

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:

  • Box 1
    Letter 1819 Dec 23

    swollen knee

  • Box 1
    Letter 1820 Jan 3

    Scipio need for a truss (Pratt family)

  • Box 1
    Letter 1820 Jan 14 & 23

    unspecified

  • Box 1
    Letter 1820 Jan 27

    mumps

  • Box 1
    Letter 1820 Feb 11

    tooth extraction for Ned (Jones family)

  • Box 1
    Letter 1820 Feb 16

    child with worms

  • Box 1
    Letter 1820 Mar 27

    slave purged and bled, inquires about the need for a blister treatment

  • Box 1
    Letter 1820 Mar 28, 29

    woman bleeding from the nose

  • Box 1
    Letter 1820 Jul 18

    man in considerable pain

  • Box 1
    Letter 1820 Sep 10

    several of the people are very sick

  • Box 1
    Letter 1820 Oct 3

    Israel has the pox (Hooe family)

  • Box 1
    Letter 1820 Oct 10

    unspecified

  • Box 1
    Letter 1820 Oct 26

    headache and fever

  • Box 1
    Letter 1821 Jan 6

    Woman sick at Clark's

  • Box 1
    Letter 1821 Apr 5

    infection in the eyes of two slave boys

  • Box 1
    Letter 1821 Apr 8

    George's wife is sick (Long family)

  • Box 1
    Letter 1821 Apr 27

    Patty's sick child with worms or cold (Jones)

  • Box 1
    Letter 1821 Apr 25

    Judy's sick child with ear infection or whooping cough, "as all our black children have it" (Jones family)

  • Box 1
    Letter 1820 May 10; 1822 Jul 30

    Slave of Bernard's estate sick

  • Box 1
    Letter 1821 May 15

    Robin has pain in his side (Lipscomb)

  • Box 1
    Letter 1821 May 15

    Robin has pain in his side (Lipscomb)

  • Box 1
    Letter 1821 May 19

    Anthony has permit to visit doctor (Selden)

  • Box 1
    Letter 1821 Aug 15

    [Brass?] very ill with fever (Stanard)

  • Box 1
    Letter 1821 Aug 19, 31

    Delphia has fever and other symptoms (Herndon)

  • Box 1
    Letter 1821 Sep 22

    slave man ill with fever and pain in head & neck

  • Box 1
    Letter 1821 Sep 29

    woman Jenny taken with a bleeding (Strachan)

  • Box 1
    Letter 1821 Oct 1

    James ill with fever (Jones family)

  • Box 1
    Letter 1821 Dec 4

    Nelson sent for examination (Jones family)

  • Box 1
    Letter 1822 Jan 3

    Edmond's elbow may be out of place (Alsop family)

  • Box 1
    Letter 1822 Jan 22

    [Hill?] has "the polite disorder" (Jones family)

  • Box 1
    Letter 1822 Apr 4

    a slave woman in labor called a "Calcutta case"

  • Box 1
    Letter 1822 Jul 13

    Reuben has a "strong complaint" (Jones family)

  • Box 1
    Letter 1822 Aug 20

    boy with pain in left side

  • Box 1
    Letter 1823 Feb 18

    young slave boy has a very bad eye (Jackson family)

  • Box 1
    Letter 1823 Mar 3

    young woman with ulcerated leg (Mitchell family)

  • Box 1
    Letter 1823 Apr 9, May 11 young slave woman with a swollen knee (Battaile family)
  • Box 1
    Letter 1823 May 1

    five year old boy with worms and headache (Stanard family)

  • Box 1
    Letter 1823 May 9

    male slave suffering derangement (Morson family)

  • Box 1
    Letter 1823 May 30

    slave woman Judy wishes to be bled (Jones estate)

  • Box 1
    Letter 1823 Jun 4

    slave boy with high fever and headache (Stanard family)

  • Box 1
    Letter 1823 Jul 12

    slave girl with boils (Jones family)

  • Box 1
    Letter 1823 Jul 25

    slave girl with high fever and headache (Jackson)

  • Box 1
    Letter 1823 Sep 6

    slave boy very sick with poison oak (Seddon family)

  • Box 1
    Letter 1823 Sep 6

    Uncle's slave is sick

  • Box 1
    Letter 1823 Sep 20

    arrangements to bring two slaves home

  • Box 1
    Letter 1824 Feb 6

    slave man with a rupture

  • Box 1
    Letter 1824 Feb 25

    slave very ill

  • Box 1
    Letter 1824 Apr 26

    pain in slave woman's side

  • Box 1
    Letter 1824 Jun 10

    male slave needs a truss

  • Box 1
    Letter 1824 Sep 3

    male slave with "the gravel"

  • Box 1
    Letter 1824 Sep 29

    female slave unable to deliver her child

  • Box 1
    Letter 1824 Dec 17

    female slave with stomach, chest and throat pain

  • Box 2
    Letter 1825 Jan 19

    female slave unable to deliver her child

  • Box 2
    Letter 1825 Jan 25

    female slave with headache and backache

  • Box 2
    Letter 1825 May 20

    a slave boy is very ill

  • Box 2
    Letter 1825 Jul 14

    Gerard is ill (Forbes family)

  • Box 2
    Letter 1825 Sep 16

    Caroline, 34 years old, suffering from asthma (Hooe family)

  • Box 2
    Letter 1825 Sep 26

    death of a slave girl

  • Box 2
    Letter 1825 Dec 11

    male slave with fistula

  • Box 2
    Letter 1826 Jan 28

    male slave dangerously ill

  • Box 2
    Letter 1826 May 30

    female slave with the thrush

  • Box 2
    Letter 1826 Aug 2

    sends Rachel with her child (Strothers family)

  • Box 2
    Letter 1826 Aug 10, 16

    slave child with worms

  • Box 2
    Letter 1826 Oct 8

    slave woman very ill

  • Box 2
    Letter 1826 Oct 28

    male slave Frank still ill (Stanard family)

  • Box 2
    Letter 1827 Jan 10, 13

    slave woman [Harrie?] with severe sore throat

  • Box 2
    Letter 1827 Feb 16

    Ned has frostbitten fingers (Clark)

  • Box 2
    Letter 1827 Mar 13

    slave boy with infected teeth

  • Box 2
    Letter 1827 Mar 18

    slave woman with obstruction

  • Box 2
    Letter 1827 Apr 27

    little boy with ague

  • Box 2
    Letter 1827 Jun 4

    child Isaac with eye inflammation

  • Box 2
    Letter 1827 Jul 19

    Patsy much worse (Gordon family)

  • Box 2
    Letter 1827 Aug 9

    slave boy grows worse

  • Box 2
    Letter 1827 Sep 1

    Nelly will describe her complaint (Taliaferro family)

  • Box 2
    Letter 1827 Oct 2

    slave girl very ill

  • Box 2
    Letter 1827 Nov 16

    slave woman with fever and headache

  • Box 2
    Letter 1828 Jan 15

    slave girl with eye inflammation

  • Box 2
    Letter 1828 Mar 15

    slave girl sent for examination

  • Box 2
    Letter 1828 Jun 25

    Matilda and thumb problem (Maury family)

  • Box 2
    Letter 1828 Jul 16

    sick servant

  • Box 2
    Letter 1828 Aug 4

    a one year old child with bowel trouble

  • Box 2
    Letter 1829 Mar 15

    male slave unwell

  • Box 2
    Letter 1829 Apr 7

    male slave James needs treatment

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