Unique Stories: Nursing Collections in the Medical Heritage Center

By Lisa Wood, MLS
Archivist

I joined the staff of the Medical Heritage Center just three months ago. In that short time, I have become immersed in and increasingly informed about the history of women and medicine, particularly nursing history. Nursing was established as a modern profession fully open to women by Florence Nightingale and its history is a significant collecting area for the Medical Heritage Center. With the valuable assistance and input of our Friends of Nursing History Steering Committee, the Center has grown varied holdings related to nursing history. Records we hold from nursing organizations give a broad view of the field in Ohio:

I find the collections from individual nurses that illustrate their personal experiences attending nursing school and working in the profession the most interesting. It is especially exciting to hear nurses tell their stories in their own voices. The Nursing Oral Histories Collection contains recordings of interviews with over 50 Ohio nurses.

As the archivist responsible for processing personal papers, I have had the honor of working with my colleagues to arrange and describe collections for eight individual nurses:

Becoming familiar with these collections, and others on the MHC shelves, there are a few things that I have noticed. An obvious difference between nursing in the 2020s and nursing in previous decades is their uniforms. While we are used to seeing nurses in scrubs and clogs or sneakers today, it was not that long ago they wore wool capes, dresses, polished white shoes and starched caps. In fact, receiving their first cap in nursing school, an event known as a capping ceremony, was a milestone. I have found caps, still very stiff with starch, in multiple collections. Shoes are not as commonly donated, but Ruth Bope Dangel did donate her white nursing shoes – still white and still in their original box.

When Carol Ann Lemley received her cap from The Ohio State University School of Nursing it was reported in the newspaper in her hometown of Galio, Ohio. From the Carol Ann Lemley Huffman, RN Papers, The Ohio State University Medical Heritage Center.Program from Carol Ann Lemley's capping ceremony at The Ohio State University School of Nursing in 1945. From the Carol Ann Lemley Huffman, RN Papers, The Ohio State University, Medical Heritage Center

In the tradition of Florence Nightingale, who began nursing on the battle fields of the Crimean War, I see that military service has continued to be part of some nurses’ careers. Annrose Domin Reichert enlisted in the U.S. Army Student Nurse Program before she had graduated from nursing school. For twin sisters June Lownie Radcliff and Joyce Lownie Davis nursing and military service became their joined life story. First, they attended nursing school together, then they enlisted. When called to active duty in February 1953 during the Korean War they were stationed together at Fitzsimmons Army Hospital. After the war they continued to work and participate in veterans’ organizations as a pair.

News paper clipping that reported Annrose Domin and several of her nursing school classmates enlisting in the U.S. Army Student Nurse Program in 1967. From the Annrose Domin Reichert Papers, The Ohio State University Medical Heritage Center

June and Joyce Lownie on active duty during the Korean War at Fitzsimmons Army Hospital in Colorado. From the June M. Lownie Radcliff, RN Papers, The Ohio State University, Medical Heritage Center

June and Joyce Lownie

Nurses can have as many or more letters after their names as doctors. In addition to the RN for ‘registered nurse,’ many also hold master’s degrees and doctorate degrees. These were just the abbreviations that I was familiar with prior to processing nurses’ papers. When I came across Debbie Ann Cannon Freece, MS, RN, CNS I was stumped by the meaning of CNS. A quick search informed me that it stands for Clinical Nurse Specialist and indicates a nurse has advanced training. Since I started working at the Medical Heritage Center I created and regularly add to a list of the abbreviations I find in medical collections.

Nurses do not only work in hospitals and doctors’ offices. Their expertise is valuable in numerous settings. Reading their curriculum vitae and resumes I see positions listed in public schools, local and state departments of health, social service agencies, assisted living facilities and companies and organizations that provide on-site care for employees. They also like to share their knowledge as instructors and administrators and by writing and publishing articles.

Nursing is of course not the only story about women in the Medical Heritage Center. There is much to learn from the archival collections about women as patients and numerous collections from individual women working as physicians, dentists, optometrists, and medical school faculty. So much that these will need to be subjects of additional posts! I cannot wait to further explore the collections and learn more.

If you have questions about Medical Heritage Center collections or would like to view collections, please email the Center at mhcmail@osumc.edu for reference services or to schedule an appointment.

 

Finding Spring

Voices in Humanism

Finding Spring

Each year, when spring arrives, we often see the budding flowers first.
We are being welcomed back into warm and sunny days so it is time to dust off the bicycle.
Somehow, we feel healthier and happier when on a bike exploring the world anew.

Jeanie Croope
Artist, photographer, blogger, community volunteer
WKAR Public Broadcasting, Retired
Friend of Voices in Humanism

A Child’s Treasure

Voices in Humanism

A Child’s Treasure

A child’s treasure passed down from father to daughter, drawn in charcoal, an equally timeless medium.

Erica Dale, B.S. Biology
The Ohio State University Class of 2023
Humanism in Medicine Executive Board President 2022-2023

The Dawn of a New Year

Voices in Humanism

The Dawn of a New Year

As this new year dawns, we were struck by the sight of this morning’s sunrise at our New Hampshire home.

The colors against the winter sky seemed to send a message about the new year. Exactly what that message is, only time will reveal but may it portend a year of generosity and gratitude.

Nature’s beauty is a gift we are given. Kindness and generosity are gifts we can all give to each other.

Louise Dierker, MD, MPH, MM, MFA
OSU College of Medicine Class of 1967
Photographer
Following a career in medicine as a psychoanalyst, Dr. Dierker pursued her love of music, earning degrees in music composition.

A Welcome Winter Visitor

Voices in Humanism

A Welcome Winter Visitor

It is the holidays that help us welcome the winter months with a smile. Whatever holidays we celebrate, winter’s beauty is there to decorate. The bright red appearance of the cardinal is a joyful sight for any holiday. Definitely time to make sure the bird feeder is filled to the brim.

Jeanie Croope
Artist, photographer, blogger, community volunteer
WKAR Public Broadcasting, Retired
Friend of Voices in Humanism

Reflections on the Country Doctor: A Slice of History with a Personal Connection

Reflections on the Country Doctor: A Slice of History with a Personal Connection
By Phil Sparling

As kids growing up in the 1950s, my brother, sister and I looked forward to Sunday and holiday visits to our paternal grandparents’ home in London, a small town 25 miles west of our house in Columbus. My father was a surgeon and his father was a country doctor.

The London home at 60 N Main Street was special because it was like a castle: huge and old, three stories with a turret, balconies, long hallways, and secret stairways, most of which were off-limits. Then there were the doting aunts, my grandmother’s oatmeal cookies, the parakeets in the parlor, London cousins, and a side ally to explore.

Even as a boy, I knew Grandpa Doc was revered. I remember him as an old man quietly dozing in his comfortable chair in the family room. It was a big chair to accommodate his large frame; it was his chair, no one sat there but him. My parents and aunts continually cautioned us to not disturb him, as he needed his rest.

After four decades as a general practitioner (GP), he no longer tended patients as age and simple wear and tear from a demanding calling had taken its toll. He died in 1959 at age 76 when I was 10. My father died suddenly a few years later when I was a teenager. After my father’s death, visits and connections to London diminished and life moved on in different directions.

Now, in retirement, and after more than half a century living in the Southeast, I visited my dad’s boyhood home and discovered the house had been beautifully restored to its original grandeur. This led me to delve into its history and uncover a surprisingly long history of medical care dispensed from 60 N Main.

It all began with Henry James Sharp, born in 1845 in Gallipolis (Gallia County). Like his father, he became a physician. After attending Ohio Wesleyan, he enrolled in Starling Medical College in Columbus, graduating in 1871. It’s important to note that Starling’s three-year program was well regarded and one of the forerunners of the Ohio State University College of Medicine.

At the time, physician training was not standardized; it varied widely within and across states. The MD credential could be obtained through short courses or apprenticeships; most of which were designed for maximum profit, not educational soundness. At county fairs, paper-milled doctors still peddled patent medicines. Many were talented charlatans capable of wowing audiences with enthralling oratory. Sustained advocacy by the American Medical Association from 1900 to 1920 established the template for medical education as we know it today.

Following graduation, the new Dr. Sharp moved to London and started his practice as a GP. The following year, he married Katharine Dooris from Zanesville. She became a force in her own right as an author, botanist and suffragist. They raised their five children in London and became prominent and respected leaders in the community. They never left London.

 

Katharine Sharp

Henry Sharp

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. Sharp was a doctor on horseback, practicing from 1871 till his death in 1916 at age 70. House calls were routine. In the course of a day, he might deliver a baby at one farm, set a broken leg at another and return home to find an office full of patients. In the middle of the night, he was often roused from his bed to treat an emergency. GPs faced epidemics and cancers with inadequate knowledge and resources but with dedication to provide the best care possible for patients, all of whom were neighbors.

By the early 1890s, he was prosperous and decided to build a grand home for his family and to better accommodate patients. In this era, doctors saw patients in their homes, so adequate space for a waiting room, exam room and office was a constant challenge. He remained at 60 N Main, which he initially purchased in 1875, as it was a central location, one block from the center of London at the intersection High and Main.

Directly across the street were the recently completed (1892), classically-designed Madison County Courthouse (added to National Register of Historic Places in 1973) and a modern brick jail and sheriff’s residence. In fine fashion, Dr. and Mrs. Sharp had renowned Columbus architects Yost & Packard design a Queen Anne’s style residence. The new house was completed in 1894.

Katharinre Dooris-Sharp wrote a poem about a modern feature of their new home. A few verses are presented below (from The Doctor’s Speaking Tube and Other Poems, Boston: Gorham Press, 1904).

The Doctor’s Speaking Tube

He had traversed the county from end to end,
And even beyond did his trips extend;
There was not a by-road and hardly a gate
Which he had not entered, early or late;
There was not a tree nor flower that grew,
Nor silent land-mark, but what he knew.

‘Twas a tedious method of gathering pelf;
And the long years made the doctor, himself,
Through the county, a sort of land-mark, too,
As over the smooth roads his fleet horse flew:
For no one knew horse-flesh better than he,
And faster than his was a rarity.

Well, the doctor concluded to build a house
With a speaking-tube attachment, to rouse
From his peaceful slumbers, that, nevermore,
Would he need to descend to his front hall-door,
When half awake and en deshabille
And muttering such words as a doctor will.

So he built a mansion in modern style,
Where, the very first night, came Micky O’Rile
In search of a doctor. He pounded the door,
As many and oft-times he’d pounded of yore.
Then: “What do you want?” came a voice at his back.
Mick turned around quickly: ‘twas midnight and black.

No form could he see, but ‘mid splashes of rain,
“Say, what do you want?” came the murmur again.
“Bedad, thin,” says Micky, “that same is a ghost!
“Its a foine thing for sperrits a poor man to roast!
“Its me lave I’ll be takin’ in a bit of sthrake!”
And the doctor lay, chuckling, a good while awake.

Sometimes in the lonely midnight hour
A soft voice tried on the tube its power:
“O Doctor, we need you so very much!”
In the gentle tone was a magic, such,
For a second bidding there was no need,
And away he went at his greatest speed.

60 N. Main, circa 1900

A son Wilfrid Dooris Sharp, born 1880, followed his father into medicine. Doctoring ran in families, then as now. After graduating from Starling Medical College in 1904 and completing a one-year internship, he returned home and joined his father’s practice at 60 N Main. After a few years, he left for additional medical training and then moved to Cleveland where he practiced for 37 years until his death in 1946.

In 1919, three years after her husband’s death, K. Dooris-Sharp sold “the doctor’s house” to a newer doctor in London, Harry Perkins Sparling. He too was a doctor’s son, born in 1883 in Marietta where he went to Marietta College and then Starling-Ohio Medical College, graduating in 1910.  He married Stella Murphy the same year and they moved to London a year later after his internship at Mount Carmel Hospital.

 

Harry Sparling

By the time he bought the Sharp’s house, Dr. Sparling had established roots in the community as a GP. He and Stella had four children between 1911 and 1916. The large home at 60 N Main was a good fit for a growing family and his expanding practice. For patients, it was still the doctor’s house, only the doctor had changed. As with Dr. and Mrs. Sharp, Dr. and Mrs. Sparling would become part of the fabric of London and live out their lives there.

Sparling children, circa 1920

As you have gathered, Dr. Sparling was Grandpa Doc. I recall stories about midnight house calls and the transition from buggy to automobile. A remnant is the stone stoop on the road in front of the house to step up onto to enter the buggy. And aunts told tales about patients paying the doctor’s bill in kind with eggs, chickens or a part of a butchered hog.

Due to declining health, Grandpa Doc stopped practicing about 1950. He was among the last generation of GPs as medical specialties grew rapidly from mid-century forward. His son (my father) William R. Sparling was an example of the shift to specialization: a 1939 graduate of Ohio State’s College of Medicine, he joined the Army Medical Corp in 1940, then following the war completed a residency in general surgery. He remained in Columbus with a surgical practice at Mount Carmel Hospital.

My grandfather died in 1959 and my grandmother passed in 1972. The house was kept in the Sparling family until 1988. In 2000, another doctor bought it and restored it to its early glory. Of course, today it is a residence only. The original patient waiting area is a spacious entry foyer and the exam room is a cozy den.

60 N. Main, 2020

From the horse-and-buggy doctor a century and a half ago to today’s primary care physician, the special connection between doctor and patient remains the crux of medicine. But the days of the general practitioner with his black bag are gone, as are visits to the doctor’s house.

As a side note, traveling back into the past was eye-opening. I reconnected with the life and times of previous generations. Be your own wayfinder where family lore, written records and memories of home are guideposts.

 

I gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Ohio State University Medical Center archivist Kristin Rodgers, officials at the Madison County Recorder’s Office, and current owners of 60 N. Main, Mark and Moira Landes. This essay is dedicated to my brother.

 Phil Sparling is a retired professor who lives in the North Georgia foothills. 

Oaks

Voices in Humanism

“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the sun” Ecclesiastes 3:1

Our sentinel oaks sit on this new England hilltop for all to enjoy.
Fall arrives and calls us for long walks and the beauty of the season.
Winter is around the corner and awaiting its time to turn the oaks to white.
Each season brings with it special joys and quiet times.

Louise Dierker, MD, MPH, MM, MFA
OSU College of Medicine Class of 1967
Photographer
Following a career in medicine as a psychoanalyst, Dr. Dierker pursued her love of music, earning degrees in music composition.
LADierker.com

Early Autumn Medley

Voices in Humanism

Early Autumn Medley

Autumn begins to peek into the green of summer with the promise of crisp days and healthy walks.
The camera calls us to capture the emerging color and the world becomes a photographer’s dream.
I love finding the pumpkins and the flowers and then feeling the fall air, all of which reminds us of the beauty of the seasons.

Jeanie Croope
Artist, Photographer, Blogger, Community Volunteer
WKAR Public Broadcasting, Retired
Friend of Voices in Humanism

Roadside Daisies

Voices in Humanism

Roadside Daisies
Summer calls us to travel and then rewards us with its beauty.
Something as simple as daisies along the road can help us pause and rest a bit.
I always bring my camera along so that I might share these bits of respite with friends and family.

Jeanie Croope
Artist, Photographer, Blogger, Community Volunteer
WKAR Public Broadcasting, Retired
Friend of Voices in Humanism

Morgan’s Forge

Voices in Humanism

Morgan’s Forge
Watercolor on Paper

“A mile to the east on the wooded path, you will find a charming pub, a classic country churchyard and WWI grave, well-tended regardless of the season. Down the hill to the south, past steep vistas of grazing sheep, relax at yet another warm and welcoming pub. And, when day is done, come home to a cozy cottage in Milford, outside Bath, England, where a cozy fire and a good book help bring a wonderful day to a close. A little bit of heaven on earth.”

Jeanie Croope
Artist, Photographer, Blogger, Community Volunteer
themarmeladegypsy.blogspot.com
WKAR Public Broadcasting Retreat
Friend of Voices in Humanism

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