The Stethoscope Sorority

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"'Stethoscope Sorority's' Growing Fast" The Boston Post
10 May 1956

It’s 1956 and the headline in the Boston Post reads “Stethoscope Sorority’s Growing Fast.” Eleanor Roberts, Women’s Editor reports, “The doctor is a lady!  Nothing strange about it, either.  Not after the first shock—when the white-capped surgeon turns out to be a living doll…” The article goes on to list all of the important positions held by women at the Boston area hospitals.  Despite the advances these and other women had made, during the first half of the 20th century, more than 50% of the medical schools in the United States did not accept women.
 
This newspaper article along with other materials from the Archives for Women in Medicine, are important documents for understanding the history of medicine in the United States.  The items currently on display provide not only a view into the personal lives of women in the field of medicine, but also a different angle from which to consider history.  Dr. Myrtelle Canavan’s response to interning at a Red Cross Hospital in France during World War I offers a personal example of the experience of women physicians during that time period.  Anna Freud’s 1940 letter to Dr. Lydia Dawes gives a first hand account of life in London during World War II air raids.  In addition, the American Medical Women’s Association pamphlets from the 1960s provide a historic perspective for ongoing issues  women in medicine face, such as balancing work and family.


The Stethoscope Sorority