Call Number:

Rush

Repository:

Library Company of Philadelphia

Extent:

34.5 linear feet

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], Rush family papers, 1748-1876, Library Company of Philadelphia.

Date:

1748-1876 (inclusive)

Creator:

Rush, Benjamin, 1746-1813, Rush, James, 1786-1869, and Rush

Form:

Commonplace books, Correspondence, Diaries, Estate records, Family papers, Financial records, Lecture notes, Lectures, Manuscripts, Poems, Property records, and Textbooks

Abstract:

The Rush Family papers includes material from Benjamin Rush, physician, social activist, educator, writer and patriot; his brother Jacob Rush, lawyer, Supreme Court judge, and patriot; and Benjamin’s son James Rush, physician and Treasurer of the United States Mint. These American men were “strong characters, zealous patriots during the stirring period in which they lived, tenacious of their convictions and of the high standard of individual duty which they set for others, and typified in themselves,” (Richards, page 53). The bulk of the collection is the papers of Dr. Benjamin Rush and his son Dr. James Rush. Judge Jacob, John, Richard and William are represented, but to a much lesser degree. The other Rush family members are represented in a very limited manner. The collection contains correspondence; financial records; medical notes, lectures, and case histories; writings regarding medicine, politics, and the judicial system; and observations on colonial Philadelphia, the formation of the United States, and the new nation.

The Rush Family papers includes material from Benjamin Rush, physician, social activist, educator, writer and patriot; his brother Jacob Rush, lawyer, Supreme Court judge, and patriot; and Benjamin’s son James Rush, physician and Treasurer of the United States Mint. These American men were “strong characters, zealous patriots during the stirring period in which they lived, tenacious of their convictions and of the high standard of individual duty which they set for others, and typified in themselves,” (Richards, page 53).

Benjamin Rush

Benjamin Rush, a physician, social activist, educator, writer, and patriot, was born on December 24, 1745 at Byberry, Pennsylvania, the fourth child of John and Susanna (Hall) Rush. He was educated at the College of New Jersey, now called Princeton University, graduating at age 15; and the University of Edinburgh in Scotland where he earned his degree of Medical Doctor in June 1768. Prior to traveling to Scotland, Rush studied under Dr. John Redmond of Philadelphia and took classes at the College of Philadelphia, now called the University of Pennsylvania, taught by Dr. William Shippen, Jr. and Dr. John Morgan in 1754. He began practicing medicine when he returned to Philadelphia.

In 1775, Rush met and fell in love with Julia Stockton of Princeton, New Jersey and they were married in January 1776. They had thirteen children, four of whom died in infancy. Benjamin and Julia Rush’s children were: John, Anne Emily (1779-1850), Richard (1780-1859), Susannah (died in infancy), Elizabeth (died in infancy), Mary, James (1786-1869), William (died in infancy), Benjamin (died in infancy), Benjamin (1791-1824), Julia (1792-1860), Samuel (1795-1859), and William.

As a physician, the role for which Rush is best known, he was dedicated and untiring. He founded the Philadelphia Dispensary for the Relief of the Poor and through his “thirty years of service as a senior physician at the Pennsylvania Hospital,” the staff of which he joined in 1783, he instituted many “reforms … in the care of the mentally ill” (Princeton University). He is the author of Medical Inquiries and Observations upon the Diseases of the Mind. He wrote “prolifically on the subject of medicine and medical practice, developing a reputation as a man of literature as well as medicine,” (Dickinson College). His treatments of purging and bloodletting during the yellow fever epidemic of 1793 created great controversy. “In the devastating yellow fever epidemics which afflicted Philadelphia in the 1790s, Rush labored among the sick and dying, morning and night, was felled by the disease himself, and never doubted that his prescriptions of heroic purging and bleeding had saved hundreds of lives,” (Rush, page xvi). However, “it was said of him that his purges were meant for a horse, not a man, and that he had waded through the epidemic in a bath of his patients’ blood. He was even charged with murdering them by his excessive bloodletting,” (Binger, page 227). Soon after the epidemics, Rush sued William Cobbett, also known as “Peter Porcupine” for slander. Although Rush won this suit, many were not convinced and Cobbett continued his attacks on Rush, claiming “to have established mathematically that Rush had killed more patients than he cured,” (Binger, page 247). In the years following the epidemic, Rush’s prominence in the community outweighed the controversy and “in his later years, Benjamin Rush’s reputation and fame spread beyond the parochial confines of his native state and even across the Atlantic.” (Binger, page 284).

Benjamin Rush was also “a social activist, a prominent advocate for the abolition of slavery, an advocate for scientific education for the masses, including women, and for public clinics to treat the poor,” (U.S. History). Furthermore, he favored “universal education and health care; he advocated prison reform, the abolition of … capital punishment, temperance, and better treatment of mental illness” (Dickinson College). He served as a member of American Philosophical Society and as a member of the Sons of Liberty in Philadelphia. He helped organize the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery and the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage, serving, for a period of time, as president. He also became a member of the Philadelphia Society for Alleviating the Miseries of Public Prisons. As a Renaissance man, politics did not escape Rush’s notice. In 1776, Rush was elected to and represented Pennsylvania at the Continental Congress and he signed the Declaration of Independence. In 1777, he was appointed surgeon-general of the Continental Army, but quickly resigned because he “became outraged by the conditions he found in army hospitals and, failing to get the remedial action he sought from the director general, Dr. Shippen (his former teacher), he sent a protest to General Washington, accusing Dr. Shippen of maladministration,” (Princeton University). When Congress ruled in favor of Shippen, Rush’s military career ended. Rush supported a federal constitution and in 1787, he voiced his opinions “to advocate the ratification of the federal constitution; his actions let to an appointment to the ratifying convention for the state,” (Dickinson College). He was appointed treasurer of the United States Mint and served from 1797 until his death in 1813.

Education was also important to Rush. Appointed chair of Chemistry at the College of Philadelphia in 1769, Rush became “at the age of twenty-three the first professor of chemistry in America,” (Princeton University). He also served as professor of medical theory and clinical practice at the College of Pennsylvania, and “all told, he taught more than three thousand medical students, who carried his influence to every corner of the growing nation,” (Princeton University). In 1783, he founded Dickinson College, and “serv[ed] as one of the most influential trustees of the College from its founding until his death.” (Dickinson College). According to Carl Binger, “on September 9, 1783, six days after the peace treaty with England went into effect, the Legislature passed an act to establish the College at Carlisle in Cumberland County,” (Binger, page 166) making Dickinson College the first institution of higher education in the United States. He also served as a charter trustee of Franklin College, now Franklin and Marshall College, and as an incorporator of the Young Ladies Academy in Philadelphia.

Benjamin Rush died on April 19, 1813 at age 67. Despite disagreeing with some of Rush’s tactics, Thomas Jefferson, at the time of Rush’s death, wrote in a letter to John Adams, “a better man than Rush could not have left us, more benevolent, more learned, of finer genius or more honest,” (Binger, page 296). John Adams similarly honored Rush saying, “as a man of Science, Letters, Task, Sense, Phylosophy, Patriotism, Religion, Morality, Merit, Usefulness, taken all together, Rush has not left his equal in America, nor that I know of in the world,” (Binger, page 296).

Jacob Rush

Jacob Rush, brother of Benjamin Rush and son of John and Susan Harvey Rush, was born November 24, 1747 in Byberry Township, Philadelphia County. He obtained his education from Francis Allison at a school in New London, Chester County, the Academy at Nottingham, Cecil County, MD, and the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University), earning the degree of Doctor of Laws. He was admitted to the Philadelphia Bar on February 7, 1769 and to the Bar in Berks County on May 10, 1769.

Rush was elected as a member of the Assembly from Philadelphia County in 1782 and served until his resignation on March 20, 1784 when he was appointed “by the Supreme Executive Council to the Supreme Bench, in the room of John Evans, deceased,” (Richards, page 56). After the judiciary system was changed by State constitution in 1790, Rush was commissioned President of the Third Circuit on August 17, 1791. According to Richards, Rush was a strong Federalist, believe in “the maintenance of social order by the literal and rigid enforcement of the Act of 1794, against vice and immorality—contemptuously referred to as the Blue Law—passed during his administration,” (Richards, page 66).

The judicial circuits were reorganized in 1806, and Rush was commissioned president of the district of the City and County of Philadelphia. Rush served on the Bench of the District Court of Philadelphia from 1811 until his death.

Rush had married Mary Rench in 1777. They had four daughters who survived both Rush and his wife who died on August 31, 1806. Rush died on January 5, 1820 at the age of 73. It was said that “his uprightness of conduct and unquestionable abilities always secured him the respect and confidence, if not the attachment of his associates, the members of the Bar and the entire community,” (Richards, page 60).

James Rush

James Rush, born March 1, 1786, was the seventh son of Dr. Benjamin Rush. He studied medicine at Princeton University and the University of Edinburgh. He also earned his medical degree at the University of Pennsylvania in 1809. He did not practice medicine regularly and in 1813 was appointed Treasurer of the United States Mint where he served until 1830.

James Rush married Phoebe Anne Ridgeway (1799-1857) a Philadelphia heiress and he inherited her fortune after her death in 1857. In his will, Rush left the bulk of his estate to the Library Company of Philadelphia for the building of the Ridgeway Branch. He was the author of The Philosophy of the Human Voice and “achieved a high reputation as a physician, but later in life secluded himself among his books,” (Scharf, page 1186).

Bibliography:

Binger, Carl, M.D. Revolutionary Doctor: Benjamin Rush, 1746-1813. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, Inc., 1996.

Dickinson College. Benjamin Rush (1745-1813). http://chronicles.dickinson.edu/encyclo/r/ed_rushB.html (accessed March 2, 2010).

Princeton University. Campus Companion. http://etcweb.princeton.edu/CampusWWW/Companion/rush_benjamin.html (accessed March 2, 2010).

Richards, Louis. “Honorable Jacob Rush of the Pennsylvania Judiciary,” The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography. Vol. 39, No. 1 (1915).

Rush, Benjamin. My Dearest Julia: the love letters of Dr. Benjamin Rush to Julia Stockton. New York: Neale Watson Academic Publications, Inc., 1979.

Sharf, J. Thomas and Thompson Westcott. History of Philadelphia, 1609-1884, Volume 2. Philadelphia: L.H. Everts & Co., 1884.

U.S. History. Biographical Sketch of Benjamin Rush. http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/signers/rush.htm (accessed March 2, 2010).

This collection contains papers of Dr. Benjamin Rush, Judge Jacob Rush, Dr. James Rush, John Rush, Richard Rush, William Rush, and small portions of materials from other Rush family members. The bulk of the collection is the papers of Dr. Benjamin Rush and his son Dr. James Rush. Judge Jacob, John, Richard and William are represented, but to a much lesser degree. The other Rush family members are represented in a very limited manner. The collection is arranged in four series: “Benjamin Rush papers,” “James Rush papers,” “Other Rush family papers,” and “Miscellaneous documents.” Researchers interested in the history of medical education will find this collection to be of great value.

Because segments of this collection were cataloged to the item level, catalog numbers, when known, are attached to the folder/volume information. These numbers should be used only when research begins with the card catalog.

The “Benjamin Rush papers” includes “Correspondence,” “Property and Land records,” “Financial records,” “Notes, thoughts, letters, diplomas and certificates,” “Medical research and notes,” “Writings by Benjamin Rush,” “Professorship at the University of Pennsylvania,” and “Collected Writings and notes by others.”

The “Correspondence” section consists of 45 volumes of bound correspondence as well as 85 folders of loose correspondence. The bulk of the “Correspondence” section contains incoming correspondence [2,700 items in 26 volumes, alphabetically arranged] from doctors, patients, and students concerning medicine, giving case histories, and requesting advice on treatment. For the most part, Rush’s own thoughts are not reflected in this material, however Rush's response is sometimes noted on the letter. These letters reflect the scope of Rush’s influence, the many issues with which he was involved, and the issues in which he was most interested. Among the correspondents in this series are: Ashton Alexander, James M. Anderson, Jr., Dr. Charles Browne, William Engle, Edward Fisher, Henry Muhlenberg, Nathaniel Potter, Benjamin Vaughan, and John Vaughan.

It is important for a researcher to know, however, that strict attention to alphabetization was not attended during the binding of these volumes and therefore, perusal of the entire volume is recommended. Volumes 1 to 20 are general correspondence arranged alphabetically from A to Z. Volumes 21 to 26 are also general correspondence with four additional distinct sets of alphabetical arrangement. As a result, a researcher will need to consult at least five volumes to determine if the individual of interest is represented in the collection. Volumes 1, 2 and 2a were disbound and the letters were placed in folders with the volume number and page number on the folder.

Some of the letters were separated into special groups and are of a more personal nature, relating to private affairs and interests of Rush and his correspondents, and reform activities, as well as medicine. The major correspondents include Jeremy Belknap, Edward and Charles Dilly, Elizabeth Graeme Fergusson, James E. B. Finley, Thomas Hall, David Hosack, John Coakly Lettsom, Edward Miller, David Ramsay, Granville Sharp, and Noah Webster. Included are some of the Rush's own letter drafts.

Other volumes include topics such as Drs. Barton, Cox, Hosack, and Miller; Lettsom, Percival, Sharp, etc.; Controversial; the Yellow Fever Epidemics of 1793 and 1798; Elizabeth Graeme Fergusson letters and poems; Dickinson College; Rush family letters and land papers; and letters regarding nation building. Box 1 contains letters that were removed from bound volumes, probably for the purpose of exhibit. Because they cannot safely be re-inserted into bound volumes, they are stored and described separately. Finally, there are 85 folders of loose correspondence that seem to have been acquired separately or later and were not bound into the volumes. Again, these letters are stored and described separately.

Subject groupings include Dickinson College, consisting of Rush's correspondence with John Montgomery, Charles Nisbet, John Armstrong and others relating to the establishment and administration of the college; Northumberland County land papers containing Rush's letters to William Plunkett; Yellow Fever correspondence with letters from patients and reports from other doctors on the onset, progress, and cure of outbreaks outside of Philadelphia; and letters and papers relating to Rush's disputes with Elias Boudinot and others.

The Yellow Fever letters were very intentionally combined with the first page of the volume stating, “Notes and letters addressed to Benjamin Rush during the prevalence of the yellow fever in Philadelphia in the year 1793. Collected with the view of showing some of the symptoms of that disease and the great distress which at that time pervaded the city, and of the fear which prevailed throughout the country.”

On very few occasions, the correspondence is not directed to Dr. Benjamin Rush, but to his wife, Julia, or other doctors.

The “Property and Land records,” document land owned and sold by Benjamin Rush. According to Goodman, Rush speculated in land and purchased land in Lycoming, Northumberland, and Mifflin counties in central Pennsylvania. Indeed, in “1794-95, many land deals were executed [as] the Loyalsock district [Northumberland County] lured Joseph Priestly,” an area in which Rush owned approximately 3,100 acres. Records in this section include deeds and deed polls related to Joseph Priestley, some of which may, in fact, refer to a plan for “Englishmen to purchase land north of Northumberland, Pennsylvania, in the hopes of establishing a Dissenter Colony [which] never materialized,”(PA Dept. of General Services). Benjamin Rush’s connection to this plan is unclear beyond his friendship with Joseph Priestley.

“Financial records,” include daybooks; journals; ledgers; receipt, account and bank books; and estate records. The daybooks, journals and ledgers document Rush’s medical practice and need to be used in tandem. These volumes provide information on Rush as a doctor as well as a business man. Extensive patient information (including name, date, illness, treatment, residence, occupation and financial responsibilities for the medical treatment) is contained within these records and will prove valuable to researchers interested in the history of medicine and social history. Receipt, account and bank books and estate records include two receipt books, a bank book, and a family and private account book, as well as information regarding Benjamin Rush’s estate. It appears that Julia Rush continued to add to the receipt books following Rush’s death. The Daybooks range in date from 1772 to 1996, however, the years 1780 and 1786 to 1789 are not included. The volumes are arranged chronologically and the contents within each volume are arranged by date and list the patients seen each day. Entries include the name of the person treated and the treatment. The last daybook in the collection ends with 1796 and is almost illegible. With the exception of the inoculations, there is no further record of treatments given.

The ledgers, dating from 1769-1814, include the name of the person, who was treated (self, wife, child, or servant of a head of household), year and month of treatment, and reference to a page in the journal from which the information was taken. Each entry also includes the charge made, and the date, amount and method of payment.

Journal entries, dating from 1769 to 1815, are arranged by month and include name of the person, who was treated (self, wife, child, or servant of a head of household), treatment given, and charge for treatment. Under the heading “Cash,” researchers will find lists of payments made to Rush with references to the ledger entries. Journals A-E follow this model. Journal F begins in the same model as Journals A-E, but in August 1775, record keeping changes and includes references such as “sundries as per day book” with dates of treatment or later in 1795, simply “medicine and attendance.” Starting in January 1796, entries include the name of the person, who was treated (self, wife, child, or servant of head of household), ledger reference, amount of charge and a visit code. Journals G-H continue the visit code system begun in 1796 and do not include a record of treatment given (as do the Day Books).

Also included are three volumes entitled, “Index to Ledgers A-C: Alphabetical list of patients.” There is no indication as to when the index was made, but it was started in one hand and continued in other hands. It appears to refer only to Ledgers A-C and gives a ledger reference which in turn gives a journal reference. From the journal reference, it is possible to determine the date of treatment, at which point a researcher may access the day books. For patients appearing in Ledgers D-E, if the month of treatment is known, researchers are advised to begin with the journal of the proper date and search the month until the desired entry is found. The entry will then give a reference to the ledger. If the approximate time of treatment is unknown, researchers will need to search through both Ledgers D and E. The date given at the top of each page refers only to the year in which the account was begun. Although Ledger D was begun in 1795, it includes charges made as late as 1812 despite the fact that Ledger E was begun in 1806.

It is apparent that entries were made daily in the daybooks. At the end of each month or so, the daybook entries were summarized for the journals. The ledgers were probably compiled yearly, although records of payment must have been made as received. Evidently, the press of business in 1795 made such a complicated system too burdensome. Journal entries cease to include the treatment given and appear to have been made in greater haste and possibly more frequently. It is also possible that entries were made directly into journals as no daybooks exist after 1796. Researchers should be aware that information as to the residence, occupation or family relationship of a patient may appear in a daybook, ledger, journal or index and any one of the volumes may contain more complete information. In order to gain the most information regarding the patient—including residence, occupation, family relationship, illness, and treatment—it is necessary to use all relevant volumes.

In addition to the standard financial entries of the daybooks, ledgers, journals and indexes, the fronts and backs of both daybooks and journal contain miscellaneous information such as lists of apprentices and lists of people inoculated. In several volumes, Rush summarized his income for the year or for several years.

“Notes, thoughts, letters, diplomas and certificates,” reflects Benjamin Rush’s viewpoints on many topics of the day. In this section, researchers will find Rush’s notes for speeches and notes regarding the Continental Congress from 1777 to 1780 as well as notes, letters, facts, observations, and thoughts on, in his terminology, a “variety of subjects.” Both “Letters, facts and observations” and “Letters and Thoughts” contain a typed index of people and topics addressed in the volume, with coordinating page numbers. The notes on the Continental Congress include three volumes in one, and include Notes on Congress, Daybook and Journal, and Accounts on the Bank of North America, etc. These volumes also include a typed index of people and topics addressed in the volume, with coordinating page numbers. An address on education may prove interesting to those researching Rush’s founding of Dickinson College as well as other education reforms. Certificates and diplomas are also included in two oversized boxes.

“Medical research and notes,” contains Rush’s notes on medicine, in his own hand. Included are a quack recipe book from 1780 to 1812, three volumes entitled “Medical Notes,” covering the years 1789 to 1809, Rush’s accounts of epidemic diseases, in four volumes (volume two is not present), ranging from 1779 to 1813; and notes on patients older than 80 years. Rush’s accounts of epidemic diseases cover the time frame of the two most serious yellow fever outbreaks in Philadelphia, 1793 and 1798 and, in diary form, record the developments of epidemic diseases from 1779 to 1813. Within Rush’s “Quack recipe book” is a copy of a letter to Mr. Monroe (James Monroe, who served as Secretary of War under President James Madison during the War of 1812) with hints for keeping the American military healthy. These materials, unquestionably, will be of great value to any researcher interested in Rush as a physician as well as students of history of medicine.

“Writings by Benjamin Rush,” includes several volumes that may or may not have been intended for publication. None of the included volumes, however, were published, and it is important to note that Rush’s most well-known writing, Medical Inquiries and Observations upon the Diseases of the Mind, is not available in this collection. The bulk of this series includes Rush’s transcriptions of lectures from his education in medicine at the University of Edinburgh under the tutelage of William Cullen, M.D. Together, with Rush’s own lectures while a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, found in the next series, the history of medical education in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century is highly documented. Cullen’s lectures focus on the institutes of physic, chemistry, the practice of physic, clinical lectures, and the practice of medicine. Also in this series are “The Espousals of Plants or a Compendium of the Sexual or Linnean System of Botany,” “Work on Hygiene,” and a portion of Rush’s autobiography, in his own hand. The autobiography contains only pages 367 to 383, and is apparently volume nine of his complete autobiography, which is held by the American Philosophical Society.

Rush’s “Professorship at the University of Pennsylvania,” is documented through lists of students, lectures, and student work. The bulk of the series contains Rush’s lectures on medicine, in his own hand. The original arrangement of these lectures has been maintained—the lectures are arranged by the class being taught, followed by lectures which are not attributed to a specific class. Topics of Rush’s lectures include, but are not limited to, courses in the practice of medicine, physiology, pathology, and fevers. In conjunction with Rush’s transcriptions of Cullen’s lectures (in previous series), researchers will find extensive information on medical education in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. These lectures provide insight into Rush’s medical methodology as well as his teaching methodology. Also included are several thesis written by Rush’s students. Topics addressed include tetanus, dysentery, pneumonia biliosa, modus operand of cold, respiration, mania, and conception. Of note is a volume with drafts of "Lectures on Natural Philosophy, Chemistry, and Medicine for the Young Ladies Academy," dating from October 1787. Titles of lectures taken from the lecture envelopes may not always match that which is in the card catalog, and therefore, researchers who start with the card catalog should search the finding aid for the catalog number which is attached to each lecture in the guide.

“Collected Writings and notes by others” includes works by Charles Nisbit, who served as the first president of Dickinson college; Dr. Sayre; Moses Willard; James Woodhouse, a former student of Rush who succeeded him to the Chair of Chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania; Simon Williams; S. Mitchell; Dr. Thomas Bond, a founder and trustee of the University of Pennsylvania, a founder of the American Philosophical Society, and the founder of the Pennsylvania Hospital; David Watson; Reverend Dr. Samuel Davies, president of College of New Jersey (later Princeton University) from 1759-1761; General Edward Stevens; Thomas Hall; and Richard Nisbett, “an insane man in the Pennsylvania Hospital.” Writings include sermons, cases studies, medical treatises, an autobiography and poetry.

The “James Rush papers” consists of diaries, commonplace books on a variety of topics, writings by Dr. James Rush, correspondence, medical practice material, records of Rush as a student and a lecturer, and financial records. These materials demonstrate Rush’s role in his world as a doctor, author, lecturer and philanthropist. According to Goodman, Phoebe Ridgway Rush, when she married Dr. James Rush, was “the belle of Philadelphia society,” evidence of which is contained within the “Correspondence” series where Dr. James and Mrs. Phoebe Rush's invitations, acceptances and rejections of social events are extensive.

James Rush’s “Diaries” run from 1809 to 1810 and from 1830 to 1847. During the period of 1809 to 1810, Rush was studying in Scotland. From 1845 to 1847, Rush was traveling through Europe. The diaries are arranged in chronological order.

Rush’s “Commonplace books” contain notes on medicine, the United States Mint, fine art, literature, and memos for construction of his Chestnut St. house. The volume on his Chestnut Street house includes architectural sketches of ideas for the home. For related records, see the account book for the House on Chestnut Street which is contained in James Rush’s “Financial records.” The commonplace books are arranged alphabetically.

“Writings by Dr. James Rush,” includes notes, drafts, and printer's copies for James Rush's published works as well as writings that were not published. Rush’s writings are arranged chronologically. Included in the non-published material is a valedictory address, an oration, a composition, “College Tune,” “A Short Account of Gothic Architecture,” “Notes on the Nature of Sheridan,” “Hints for a New System of Medicine,” anecdotes, facts, thoughts, verses, and manuscripts. Of note in this series is a manuscript of a biographical sketch of Dr. Benjamin Rush. In regards to published works, Rush was the author of The Philosophy of the Human Voice, 1827; Hamlet, A Prelude in Five Acts, 1834; Brief Outline of an Analysis of the Human Intellect, 1865; and Rhymes and Contrast on Wisdom and Folly, 1869.

The “Correspondence” series includes general correspondence in bound volumes, general correspondence (unbound), and Dr. James and Mrs. Phoebe Rush’s invitations, acceptances and rejections of social events. The general correspondence in bound volumes consists of incoming correspondence [900 items in 6 volumes], alphabetically arranged by sender, and is a miscellany of letters from friends, orators and elocutionists, patients, and people (often family) requesting money. There is also a small selection of James Rush’s own letters in a volume of first copies of letters, 1835-1843. The general correspondence (unbound) contains the same type of letters as the bound volumes. These letters are arranged alphabetically by sender. Included in this grouping are six folders of letters from Dr. Benjamin and six folders of letters from Dr. Benjamin and Mrs. Julia Rush to James Rush. The last grouping of correspondence contains Dr. James and Mrs. Phoebe Rush’s invitations, acceptances and rejections of social events. This group of letters is extensive, but contains very little content: full names are rarely recorded and dates are incomplete. An example of the bulk of this material is: “Dr. Jacob Rush regrets that he will be unable to accept Mrs. Rush’s polite invitation for Friday, the 14th.” Included are a fair number of invitations to funerals, which generally, but not always, include the date of the person’s death, family members of the deceased, and a location for interment. This group of material is indicative of the Rush’s place in society and their relationship with many of Philadelphia’s prominent residents.

James Rush’s “Medical Practice” is documented by six volumes including a record of deaths of patients of James Rush, a practical register, notes on nosological or observatory medicine, information on his dispute with the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, medical notes, and St. George’s Hospital Cases, etc. Of interest in these volumes are Rush’s notes on his patients which indicate his methodology as a physician.

Throughout his life, James Rush was a student and a lecturer. His notes as a student represent his medical education at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland in 1809. After his father’s death until at least 1818, James Rush read his father’s lectures to students. He appears to have written his own introductory lecture which probably preceded the reading of Dr. Benjamin Rush’s lectures. One lecture on Asiastic Spasmodic Cholera is dated 1832, and it is unknown to whom this lecture was addressed. Another lecture on Materia Medica is not dated and is attributed to James Rush. These lectures are arranged chronologically.

James Rush’s “Financial records” include accounts for his house on Chestnut Street, financial and other memoranda, marketting [sic] accounts, and the catalogue of his library which was given to the Library Company of Philadelphia upon his death in 1869. James Rush’s home on Chestnut Street was built for him and these accounts describe the cost of building a home in the mid 1800s. The marketting [sic] accounts document the food and household purchases of the Rush family from 1857 to 1867.

The series, “Other Rush family papers” includes the papers of Judge Jacob Rush, John Rush, Richard Rush, and William Rush, in addition to correspondence, diaries, genealogies, and diplomas of many Rushes.

The Judge Jacob Rush papers document, to a small degree, Benjamin Rush’s brother’s career as judge. Included are nine volumes of Charges to the Grand Jury which Judge Rush, “delivered … to the grand jury, in the fashion of the times, upon topics of the most general character, these deliverances being in substance lectures upon the various duties and obligations of the citizen in law and morals,” (Historical Society of Berks County, page 37).

The John Rush papers include letters from John Rush to his father, Dr. Benjamin Rush, as well other documents, particularly on land purchases. John Rush earned his degree in medicine from the University of Pennsylvania (diploma included) in 1804 and served in the United States Navy in 1802 and again from 1805 to 1808, when he commanded gunboats in Boston and New Orleans. According to Binger, “on October 1, 1807, he fought a duel with Lieutenant Benjamin Taylor, in command of Gunboat No. 15 at the New Orleans Station [and] Taylor was killed,” (Binger, page 282). Apparently, Taylor had been a good friend of Rush’s and after a brief arrest, he was able to return to duty, however, he continued to run into trouble and eventually, in 1810, he tried to commit suicide, was described as “insane,” and was “brought home in February 1810 in a state of deep melancholy,” (Binger, page 282). He was treated by his father in the Pennsylvania Hospital until Dr. Benjamin Rush’s death in 1813, and remained in the Pennsylvania Hospital until his own death in 1837.

The Richard Rush papers include letters from much of Richard’s professional life from 1801 to 1849. One volume of letters documents Richard’s auspicious career as Attorney General of Pennsylvania during the year 1811. His papers also contain a manuscript for the book, Residence at the Court of London, which was published in 1872 and describes Richard’s experiences as Minister from the United States from 1817 to 1825.

The William Rush papers consists of four folders of letters from William to his mother Julia Rush from 1823 to 1832 and one volume, Examinations on Materia Medica in the Philadelphia School of Medicine, given by him as lecturer on materia medica and therapeutics at the Philadelphia School of Medicine, in 1832.

Correspondence, diaries, genealogies and diplomas consist of material created by various Rush family members. These materials are arranged chronologically. Included are Cassie Murray Rush’s diary from 1876 in which she describes a visit to the Centennial; Phoebe Anne Rush's music book presented to her in 1820 by Frank Johnson, a black Philadelphia musician; The “Miscellaneous documents” series contains materials that cannot be attributed to any one member of the Rush family. Materials include letters, poems, tickets, manuscripts, and the size of G. Colburn’s head. These materials are largely undated and are not addressed to anyone.

Bibliography:

Binger, Carl, M.D. "Revolutionary Doctor, Benjamin Rush, 1746-1813". W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.: New York, 1966.

Goodman, Nathan G. Benjamin Rush: Physician and Citizen, 1746-1813. University of Pennsylvania Press: Philadelphia, 1934.

Historical Society of Berks County. Transactions of the Historical Society of Berks County, Volume I. B.F. Owen & Co.: Reading, PA, 1904.

Pennsylvania. Department of General Services. http://www.dgs.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/gateway/PTARGS_6_2_36586_4287_472644_43/