The Baby in the Double Helix

Sunday Morning Medicine

The history of the wandering womb.
Presidential courtships throughout history.
What day of the week are you most likely to die in a hospital’s care?
Graphing every idea in history.
The history of the exclamation point!
Maps!
New documentary explores death and the Civil War.
Parents eat more fat.
Pubic hair exists for a reason, according to science.

People marching on the street, holding a sign of elephants in the womb

Paul Ryan? Really???

This morning Mitt Romney named Paul Ryan as his vice presidential running mate. Now, I find Paul Ryan objectionable in a number of ways – he has cited Ayn Rand as the “one person” who inspired his political career, for God’s sake, and never mind that she was a pro-choice atheist while he is an anti-choice Catholic – but we at Nursing Clio are particularly interested in issues of gender, sexuality, and medicine, and so I would like to take this opportunity to explain why Ryan poses a particular threat to women, gays, lesbians, and, well, anyone who cares at all about women, gays, and/or lesbians.

Adventures in the Archives: “Trust Me, You Won’t Feel a Thing”

Welcome to our new regular feature, “Adventures in the Archives!”

In this reoccurring series, Nursing Clio bloggers will share interesting finds in the archives and ask our readers for feedback, ideas, and analysis. It’s just like you’re sitting in the dusty archives with us!

Earlier this summer I was enjoying a productive day in the archives of the Dittrick Medical History Center in Cleveland, Ohio. After lunch, I decided to take a break from the materials I was focusing on (the institutional records of Women’s General Hospital, 1878-1984) and spend a little time skimming through an interesting journal titled “Record of Operations, Woman’s Hospital, September 1, 1920.” The volume looked like an old-fashioned hotel registration book. But the lines of each page were not filled with sloppy signatures and addresses. Instead, someone with very neat handwriting had been tasked with keeping a detailed accounting of every surgical procedure performed by the hospital’s staff.

A poster showing a group of women in vintage clothes, one woman standing in the center holding a white paper, singing, the other sitting down looking at her

See Sally Menstruate

Sunday Morning Medicine

Awesome Abe Lincoln.
Kids’ chemistry sets used to be way cooler (and way more dangerous)!
Revolutionary War tune found in the pages of a school boy’s math book.
Is the Komen Foundation misleading women?
The 1948 Olympics and the Flying Housewife.
Medical Muckraking .

A mural on the wall of a woman in light yellow shirt and black trousers, slogan by her side

“I’m Not a Feminist, But . . . I’m Taking This Class.”

I am currently teaching an upper-division undergraduate course on the history of women in the modern United States. Because I’ve been teaching for several years now, and because my courses have almost always included some kind of study of women and gender, I was not surprised when, during the very first class, one of my students raised her hand and began her response to one of my questions with that ubiquitous disclaimer: “I’m not a feminist, but . . .”