The SC&L team recently revisited 1200 manuscript collections, reviewing the descriptions and content notes and updating the subject headings to make these materials more easily accessible to our research public.  One of the treasures that we uncovered was a small collection of materials pertaining to Dr. Samuel Johnson Hall of Louisville.

This collection (SC 937 Dr. S. J. Hall account book and notebook, 1892-1904) consists of two volumes; one notebook is filled with lecture notes and class schedules, quiz questions and the minutiae of medical student life ca. 1893, the other notebook documents the early years of Hall’s medical practice in Louisville, with entries as early as 1894 and as late as 1909, outlining fees charged, prescriptions dispersed, and births and deaths attended.

For someone studying the history of the medical profession, these volumes present a unique view of the life and practices of a young Kentucky physician at the turn of the 20^th century.  Reading through the class notes and homework in notebook one, we can get a glimpse of medical education, health care and science from the practitioner’s eyes.  S. J. Hall attended Louisville Medical College from 1892 to 1894, and is listed in the 1904 Physicians’ and Dentists’ Directory of the States of Indiana and Kentucky as being a “regular doctor” which we interpret to be a “general practitioner” in today’s vernacular.[1]  Over the span of his career, Dr. Hall maintained an office in downtown Louisville and held daily office hours. However, in addition to his regular practice, Dr. Hall was also listed as having the specialty of “Surgery” in the 1916 American Medical Directory. This specialty is no surprise based on the amount of surgery notes he kept during his medical training. On a personal level, we know very little about him other than the bare facts that he was born in 1864 in Lyon County to John E. and Deliha Thorne Hall and his wife’s name was Elmira Cowley.[2]

However, let us be honest with ourselves, as much as we may be interested in medical student life in 1893, what we are really fascinated by are the  patient records, especially considering the scarcity and unreliability of birth and death records during this time period.  Jefferson county courthouse did not have any records disasters, like many others in Kentucky, but vital records for the end of the 19th century are scarce.  While the courthouse will have births for 1852, 1854-1859, 1900-1909, and the Health Department will have records for 1898 to 1910, Dr. Hall’s register provides some records that predate the city records.

In separate sections devoted to each type of event, such as “Births” or “Deaths”, Hall’s ledger records a line for each occurrence.  Hall must have used these entries to help him with his billing as each line records the number of hours in attendance, as well as patient information.  The birth records include father’s name (first and last), mother’s name (including maiden name), their address, whether it was a live or stillbirth, gender, date, legitimacy, race and number of siblings.  The deaths record first and last name, race, gender, address, date of death, age at death, cause of death and name of undertaker.  For those who have struggled with the illegibility of the city registers, Dr. Hall’s records are quite clear, readable and contain more information than the city records.  For instance, Dr. Hall noted the ages of both father and mother, as well as whether the mother had other children.

Tracking down vital record information is one of the first tasks family history researchers tackle when they add a new name to their tree.  If one is lucky, a birth or death record rich with useful information exists.  More often, a researcher is faced with the daunting task of piecing together information from multiple sources.  Each clue provides the researcher with a bit more information, sometimes corroborating another record and sometimes providing new material. Dr. Hall’s notebooks are fine examples of supplemental resources filling in the gaps of the official records on file. As an added bonus, the researcher can also catch a glimpse of what visiting a physician in Kentucky might have been like, prior to the advent of modern medicine.

free sample just need to keep in mind that the that nil will transform.