Call Number:

0532

Repository:

Historical Society of Pennsylvania

Extent:

0.6 linear feet (; 2 boxes, 5 flat files)

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Cite as: [Indicate cited item or series here], Lavington Quick Papers (Collection 0532), The Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

Date:

1861-1865 (bulk) and 1847-1876, undated (inclusive)

Creator:

Quick, Lavington, 1819-1876.

Form:

Correspondence., Currency., and Photographs.

Abstract:

Lavington Quick (1819-1876) served as a U.S. Army Brigadier surgeon during the Civil War. The Lavington Quick Papers contain various documents pertaining to his medical career, as well as medicine and hospitals during the Civil War. The collection contains records of Quick's medical schooling, reports of inspections of soldiers, records of medical discharges, invoices for medical supplies received by Dr. Quick, mainly at the Army hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, special Army orders regarding Quick and others. There are a number of newspapers articles by Quick, that touch on the state of the Army and the hospitals but speak mostly to the political events and currents of the early 1860s. Additionally, there are other newspaper clippings, photographs, currency, and stock certificates. From the collection, one can gather a fair bit about the inner workings of the surgeon general's office during the Civil War, and of the state of medicine in wartime.

Lavington Quick (1819-1876) was born in England to Mary Ann and George Quick. Quick came to America sometime in his early life and attended medical school at both Jefferson Medical School, in Philadelphia, and London Hospital, between 1845 and 1850. He was commissioned into the United States Army at the start of the Civil War and became a brigadier surgeon soon after that. He served most of his time as the hospital director of McKims Mansion Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, and was appointed medical director of the Maryland Army Corps in 1865, shortly before the end of the war.

Before and after his time in the military, Dr. Quick lived in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, with his wife. He was a member of various civic organizations, including the Young Men's Literary Union of Phoenixville and the Freemasons. He died from a brain ailment in Phoenixville.

This small collection, which spans the years 1847-1876, contains primarily hospital records and inventory receipts from Dr. Quick's work as a brigadier surgeon and as the director of McKims Mansion Hospital in Baltimore. This collection was processed using the More Product, Less Process model, and is not arranged into series. Materials are arranged alphabetically by folder title, except in Box 2, where several oversized folders were placed in the back of the box in order to prevent blocking other folders from view.

The bulk of Quick's hospital records are medical inspection reports, consisting of lists of soldiers who were inspected and the reasons, if any, that they were medically discharged. Other forms list the amounts of various supplies that were used or delivered to the hospital. The collection also includes Dr. Quick's special Army orders, including orders concerning the staffing of Army hospitals. His transcripts and admission cards from his medical schools are also present, and a small amount of correspondence is primarily focused on medical topics.

The rest of the collection is a highly miscellaneous mix of materials. Quick saved assorted newspaper clippings, many of which were articles written by Quick about his time in the military and his positions on the politics of the Civil War. There is a collection of Civil War-era photographs, mainly of men in uniform, but not all images are identified.

The collection also contains a small amount of Confederate materials, including currency and a collection of bonds, most of which are blank. Box 2, Folder 3 contains correspondence from the Jefferson Davis, Confederate Surgeon General's Office, and others regarding a February 1863 cost estimate for purchasing hospital clothing and "alcoholic stimulants." It is unclear how Quick came to possess these materials.