Published on Historical Society of Pennsylvania (https://hsp.org)


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Report on the Emergency Work of the National League for Woman's Services in the Recent Epidemic of Influenza

Details the work done by the National League for Woman's Services to combat the flu epidemic. 

20th century, Science and Medicine, Women
Report submitted to the Honorable J. Willis Martin, Chairman, Philadelphia Council of National Defense

Report submitted to the Honorable J.

20th century, World War I, Science and Medicine
Report of the Board of Health of the City and Port of Philadelphia for the Mayor for 1864

Cover of a report on health issues in the city of Philadelphia, including its port. 

19th century, Philadelphia, Science and Medicine
Elizabeth Sandwith Drinker Diary

The diaries of Elizabeth Sandwith Drinker highlight the life of a Quaker woman living in Philadelphia in the late 1700s and early 1800s. Between 1758 and 1807, Drinker fastidiously wrote in her journals, usually about her family and their health and well being. Occassionaly, she also detailed medical practices and her own moral standards. She discussed major events insofar as they affected her family, such as the Revolutionary War and the 1793 Yellow Fever outbreak.

18th century, Science and Medicine, Women
Emergency Aid of Pennsylvania headquarters interior and exterior photographs, circa 1914

The photographs depict interiors and exteriors of the Emergency Aid of Pennsylvania committee locations.

20th century, World War I, Science and Medicine
Society for Crippled Children photographs, 1944-1945

A selection of photographs from the Philadelphia Record newspaper depicting activites of the Philadelphia Society for Crippled Children, circa 1944-1945.

20th century, Science and Medicine
Committee to Attend to the Malignant Fever, minutes 1793-1794

From the title page: "Proceedings of the Committee, Appointed on the 14th of September, 1793, by the Citizens of Philadelphia, the Northern Liberties, and the District of Southwark to Attend to and Alleviate the Suffering of the Afflicted with the Malignant Fever Prevalent in the City and Its Vicinity with an Appendix."

18th century, Philadelphia, Science and Medicine
Bush Hill Mansion in 1737 watercolor

Bush Hill Mansion was built 1737 by William Hamilton Esquire.  After his death, it was the country seat of his son, James Hamilton.

18th century, Architecture, Philadelphia
Dead House on the Schuylkill During the Yellow Fever in Philadelphia in 1793

The Dead House, on the banks of the Schuylkill River, held boides of the deceased during the Yellow Fever epidemic of 1793

18th century, Philadelphia, Science and Medicine
“That Liberty Shall Not Perish From the Earth,” Fourth Liberty Loan poster, 1918

A large parade for the Fourth Liberty Loan in Philadelphia on September 28, 1918, was blamed for spreading influenza throughout the city and its environs, causing Philadelphia’s experience of the influenza epidemic to be uniquely catastrophic.

 

20th century, World War I, Philadelphia, Science and Medicine
Lazaretto Quarantine Station Glass Lantern Slide

A photograph featuring the entrance to Lazaretto Quarantine Station.

Immigration, Philadelphia
A Case of Infectious Fever

At the center of this 1820 cartoon, a man lying face-down on a bed vomits into a bucket, groaning "drunk drunk oh lord." He is surrounded by doctors and officials from the New York Board of Health, who are convinced that he has yellow fever and who ignore the African American servant woman, standing to the left of the bedside, who explains that the patient is merely drunk.

Science and Medicine
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