Oregon Encyclopedia History Night at McMenamin's Video

On Tuesday, July 20 the Oregon Encyclopedia and McMenamin's hosted a Century of Action: Oregon Women Vote, 1912-2012. Here's a sampling of the presentation, with appreciation to videographer Todd Jarvis!

Early Oregon Women Physicians

I'm currently blogging about early Oregon women physicians at my author blog and invite you to visit.

Portland Medical Club 1901

Visit my author blog for information on a compelling meeting of the Portland Medical Club in 1901.

Sara Marquam Hill Presidential Address, Portland Medical Club, 1902

I've just posted the full text of the presidential address by Sara Marquam Hill, President of the Portland Medical Club in 1902 -- get it at my author blog.

Esther Pohl, M.D. addresses the National Woman Suffrage Association in Portland, 1905

I've just posted the full text of Esther Pohl's speech as president of the Portland Women's Medical Club to the National American Woman Suffrage Association annual meeting in Portland at the Lewis and Clark Exposition in 1905 at my author blog.

Esther Lovejoy and Woman Suffrage Presentation July 20

Esther Lovejoy was in the thick of things in the 1906 and 1912 campaigns for votes for women in Oregon. I'll be giving a presentation on the history of woman suffrage in Oregon, with Lovejoy and her "Everybody's Equal Suffrage League" included. Come join us at McMenamin's Cornelius Pass Roadhouse for the Oregon Encyclopedia History Night, also sponsored by McMenamins and Century of Action: Oregon Women Vote 1912-2012 on Tuesday, July 20.

Esther Clayson's Medical School 1890-1894 -- Obstetric Manikins

I've just posted information from Esther Lovejoy's memoir of her medical school years about lectures in obstetrics on my author blog.

Thank You Lucy Davis Phillips!

One of my heroines is Lucy Davis Phillips, registrar at the University of Oregon Medical School from 1918 until just before her death in 1943. She knew that women students were making history and wanted to record it. Thanks to her work of keeping track of women students and their work after graduation we have a great deal of information on early Oregon women medical students and physicians. Davis Phillips compiled a scrapbook with notes, newspaper articles and correspondence that comprises a vital source for the biographies of medical women. She also sent out a survey in the mid-1930s to all of the women graduates for whom she could find an address and compiled the data. These records comprise the treasure-filled Lucy I. Davis Phillips Collection on Oregon Women Medical School Graduates at the Historical Collections & Archives at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland. There are many Esther Lovejoy gems there and so much information about the careers of medical women graduates from Oregon.

She published a summary of her findings and a roster of graduates in Lucy I. Davis, “History of Women Graduates of Oregon Medical School,” Twenty-Fifth Annual Meeting and Directory of the Alumni Association, University of Oregon Medical School (Portland: University of Oregon Alumni Association, 1937), 17-20.

Marion Reed East, M.D.,writing for the Journal of the American Medical Women's Association in 1964, recalled that Davis Phillips was "loved and respected by students and faculty alike." In addition to her work to preserve information about the lives of women students and doctors, East noted that the registrar was a strong advocate for women students. "The first unit of the new medical school building (1920) had no provision for a room where the women medical students could rest or hold a 'buzz' session," East noted. So Davis Phillips worked with librarian Bertha Hallam to get them a room of their own on Marquam Hill.

So here's to your memory, Lucy Davis Phillips: registrar, historian, advocate. The history of women in Oregon is richer because of you.

See
Marion Reed East, M.D., "Branch Five Presents . . . Friends of the Medical Students," Journal of the American Medical Women's Association 19 no. 1 (March 1964): 235.

First Portland Women's Medical Society 1891-1892

Today I've posted a discussion of the regional and national context for the first Portland Women's Medical Society at my author blog.

Viola Coe, M.D. physician and suffragist

Just posted to my author blog, a biography of Viola Mae Coe, the last of the profiles of the five physicians in the first Portland Women's Medical Society 1891-1893.