Subject: Yellow fever--Pennsylvania--Philadelphia - Philadelphia Area Archives Search Results

Start Over Subject Yellow fever--Pennsylvania--Philadelphia

Extent:: 1 folder
Abstract:: In 1793, the yellow fever epidemic gripped Philadelphia, followed by smaller outbreaks in 1794, 1797, and 1798. Over 5,000 residents died during the first outbreak. At this time, the nation's capital was located in Philadelphia. To avoid the "universal terror," George Washington and Congress fled the city for the outlying suburbs. However, most residents did not have the means to re-locate. Benjamin Rush (1746-1813), a Philadelphia physician, refused to abandon the city. Rush believed the outbreak stemmed from Philadelphia's unsanitary conditions and rotting vegetables. He performed bloodletting procedures on infected patients, curing about 6,000 people. While Rush was adamant that he had identified the origins of the disease and developed its panacea, it would be another century until the epidemic was linked to a mosquito bite, and a half-century more until a cure was developed. African Americans also played a vital role in attending to the sick. African Americans were believed...(see more)

Held at: Historical Medical Library of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia [Contact Us]

Extent:: 1.5 linear feet (; 4 boxes, 41 volumes)
Abstract:: 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. As a member of the famous merchant family, the Drinkers, she also came in contact with many other well-known families, including the Shippens, Whartons, and Rawles, and such encounters are often noted. The collection includes her original diaries, as well as typescripts of excerpts from them and photocopies of the diaries from the years 1797 to 1807.

Held at: Historical Society of Pennsylvania [Contact Us]

Extent:: 0.33 linear feet (; 2 volumes)
Abstract:: This collection contains the memoirs and autobiographical notes of Peter Adolph Grotjan, a German merchant who immigrated to Philadelphia in 1796 and became an important figure in area commerce and politics. He served as Philadelphia County Auditor twice (once from 1828 to 1836 and again from 1841 to 1844) and published a commercial newspaper, Grotjan's Philadelphia Public Sale Reports. Volume 1 of the collection is a bound book of "preparatory notes and memoranda" used in writing his memoir, which is Volume 2. The memoir is a detailed account of Grotjan's life to 1817, briefly covering his childhood in Germany and focusing on his adult life in and around Philadelphia. It provides a detailed description of the cholera and yellow fever epidemics in Philadelphia, Albert Gallatin's visit to Reading, Pennsylvania in 1798 and the ensuing riot, and encounters with political figures including Thomas Jefferson, Aaron Burr, and James Buchanan. There are also descriptions of...(see more)

Held at: Historical Society of Pennsylvania [Contact Us]

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