History of medicine in the United States

4th of July

On the 4th of July, we selected articles and blog posts that show the United States’ contribution to the history of medicine. Topics include discussions about eugenics, race, mental health, yellow fever, programs of the Rockefeller Foundation, and interviews with prominent scholars.

 

The United States in HCS-Manguinhos: 

Eugenics and sterilization in the United States, 1920 – 1950 Alexandra Minna Stern and her team at the University of Michigan reviews medical records to investigate ethnic and gender bias in sterilization policies.

Eugenics and sterilization in the United States In an interview to HCS-Manguinhos, Alexandra Stern, University of Michigan, talks about her initial findings related to ethnic and gender bias in sterilization policies.

On the history of medicine in the United States In this interview, published in HCS-Manguinhos, Charles Rosenberg, professor of the history of science at Harvard University offers reflections and considerations on the history of medicine and public health.

The rise of psychoanalysis in US hospitals, 1903-1937 This article explores the work of William Alanson White, who was superintendent of St. Elizabeths, the largest hospital in the United States between 1903 and 1937, and had a significant impact on the practice of the psychoanalytic method in the hospital setting in the country. White considered psychoanalysis important for healing both the individual as well as society.

The adaptation of evolutionary thinking in its public circulation This article analyzes the case of “Evolution: a Journal of Nature (1927-1938)”. The aim of this publication was to promote evolutionary thinking in a specific context: the controversy over teaching evolution in schools in the United States in the early twentieth century.

Past responses to mental health This NLM exhibition explores 200 years of mental health treatment in the United States, from asylums prison-like to a more inclusive treatment.

Race in science: a paradoxal idea Evelynn Hammonds, Chair of the Department of History of Science at Harvard University, presents some of the most important works and approaches that marked the historiography of race, specially in the United States.

The yellow fever in the US imaginary, 1821-1848 While commercial links between Mexico and the United States through the port city of Veracruz brought significant advantages, public health concerns around yellow fever produced fascination and fear among US audiences.

Science and gender, feminism and history of science: an interview with Evelyn Fox Keller This interview covers the trajectory of Evelyn Fox Keller, emeritus professor of history and philosophy of science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Keller reflects on her career and the challenges she had to overcome to push back the frontiers of science with her pioneering work on language, gender, and science, which has been very influential in changing views in the history of science.

Los proyectos de investigación nutricional de la Fundación Rockefeller en México Durante 1945, un oficial de la “International Health Division” de la Fundación Rockefeller fue enviado a México para hacer varios viajes de exploración con el objeto de encontrar sitios idóneos para ampliar los proyectos de investigación nutricional que la fundación filantrópica tenía en el país.

Research Stipend Program: Rockefeller Archive Center The research stipends are designed to support research by serious scholars in the collections located at the Rockefeller Archive Center. Many of the collections of the Rockefeller Archive Center are of great interest to Brazilian researchers.

Report of the medical commission to Brazil: Rockefeller Foundation, 1916 This 1916 report features a comprehensive analysis of education in Brazil with a special focus on the medical profession.

Race and the Rockefeller Foundation From 1927 to 1942, the Rockefeller Foundation ran a tuberculosis commission in Jamaica. This paper explores the role that race played in it.

The history of nursing through postcards This online exhibition available at the website of the National Library of Medicine includes over 2,500 postcards about the profession of nursing during the 20th century.

Agricultural programs in Mexico and India In her research report, Gabriela Soto Laveaga, Professor of the History of Science at Harvard concentrates on different aspects of the RF’s activities in this arena.
Scientific Partnerships in Brazil and the Malaria Service of the Northeast Gabriel Lopes, postdoctoral researcher at Fiocruz, presents how Rockefeller Foundation’s International Health Division collaborated closely with Brazilian entomologists in the fight against malaria in Brazil.

Photography and History of Medicine August 19th, World Photography Day. A selection of articles and blog posts on photography from the history of medicine.

 Media, politics and health: An Interview with Daniel Hallin In the book Making Health Public, published in 2016, political communication scholar Daniel Hallin and Anthropologist Charles Briggs examine news coverage of health issues in the United States. In this interview, Hallin compares the media coverage of Covid-19 and the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, talks about the possible consequences of this crisis for the upcoming US presidential elections and highlights some similarities between the fields of Communication and Medical Humanities.

La pandemia: ¿El acto final de Donald Trump? “De nuevo, se nota el genio político de Trump – o de sus asesores. El sentimiento anti-Trump en este país es tan fuerte que anula todo razonamiento frío de la situación actual.” Eric Carter, Profesor en el Macalester College hace una reflexión sobre la actuación del presidente de Estados Unidos en la pandemia.

A referendum on Trump’s policies and leadership Eric D. Carter, Edens Associate Professor of Geography and Global Health at Macalester College examines the midterm election results and the prominence of themes such as healthcare and immigration.

A divided US: The unexpected electoral victory of Trump Theodore Brown, professor of history at the University of Rochester analyses the victory of Donald Trump and the reactions of the progressive political forces in the US.