Guide to the Usher Parsons papers, 1812-1873

(bulk 1831-1873)


Brown University Library, Special Collections
Box A, John Hay Library
Providence, RI 02912
Tel: 401-863-2146
E-mail: hay@brown.edu

Published in 2009

Collection Overview

Title: Usher Parsons papers
Date range: 1812-1873, (bulk 1831-1873)
Creator: John Hay Library
Extent: 34 items
Abstract: Usher Parsons (1788-1868) was a professor of anatomy and surgery in Brown University's early medical school. Parson's medical experience is legendary in the annals of military surgery as he was the only surgeon at the Battle of Lake Erie on September 10, 1813. The collection contains diaries (1831-1866), surgical notes, travel journals, and account books.
Language of materials: English
Repository: Brown University Library, Special Collections
Collection number: Ms. 90.1

Scope & content

The collection contains diaries (1831-1866), surgical notes, travel journals, account books, etc. It also includes a few manuscripts of Charles William Parsons (physician son of Usher Parsons). Only items 29 and 34 are foldered manuscripts; remaining material consists of printed and codex items.

Access Points

Subject Names Subject Topics Geographical Names Subject Topics Document Types

Arrangement

The papers are arranged numerically by codex. Items 29 and 34 are in folders.

Biographical note

Usher Parsons (1788-1868), professor of anatomy and surgery in the early medical school, was born in Alfred, Maine, on August 18, 1788. He attended the village school and worked on his father’s farm, and in 1800 attended Berwick Academy for about a year. He worked in stores in Portland and Wells, and in 1807 began the study of medicine with Dr. Abel Hall of Alfred.

His studies did not progress as quickly as he wished, so he decided on a return to medicine and in or about July 1811 began his studies with Dr. John Warren of Boston. On February 7, 1812, he was licensed as a Practitioner of Medicine. In July 1812, through the good offices of Josiah Bartlett, congressman from New Hampshire, Parsons received a commission as surgeon’s mate in the navy. In the winter and spring of 1812-13, he found himself at Black Rock, near Buffalo, in charge of the sick and wounded, many of whom were felled by an epidemic of pleuro-pneumonia, about which he wrote an article for a Buffalo newspaper. He joined Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry’s expedition on Lake Erie, which met the enemy on September 10. On this occasion he acquired a great deal of medical experience, as the two other surgeons were confined by illness.

He was promoted to the rank of surgeon on April 15, 1814. During 1815 and 1816 he was attached to the frigate Java under Commodore Perry, which served in the Mediterranean, and returned to Newport in March 1817, bearing a new treaty with Algiers and eighteen mild cases of smallpox, which Parsons had induced through inoculation with the small pox virus to prevent more serious illness. In July 1817 Parsons came to Providence and boarded with Major Samuel McClellan. In November of that year he began attending lectures at the medical school in Boston, and in March 1818 he received an M.D. degree from Harvard, having written his dissertation on “the epidemic pneumonia of 1812-1813, as it appeared about Lake Erie.” His travels as surgeon of the frigate Guerrière took him to Russia and Italy, where he left the ship and went on to Paris and London to attend medical lectures and visit hospitals.

In 1820 Parsons was named professor of anatomy and surgery at Dartmouth, and lectured there for a year. Moving to Providence in April 1822, he entered into medical practice with Dr. Levi Wheaton and was appointed professor of anatomy and surgery at Brown. He lectured to both medical students and undergraduates at the college, but left as a result of President Wayland’s newly instituted requirement that all professors occupy rooms in the college during the hours of study. After the death of his wife in 1825, he boarded with McClellan until 1831. In 1832 he built an office on Waterman Street. For many years he took his meals at boarding houses and slept at the office. He had an extensive practice and wrote on medical subjects, and other diverse topics, such as the Battle of Lake Erie, early Rhode Island physicians, and Indian place names. He died in Providence on December 19, 1868.

Access & Use

Access to the collection: There are no restrictions on access, except that the collection can only be seen by prior appointment. Some materials may be stored off-site and cannot be produced on the same day on which they are requested.
Use of the materials: Although Brown University has physical ownership of the collection and the materials contained therein, it does not claim literary rights. Researchers should note that compliance with copyright law is their responsibility. Researchers must determine the owners of the literary rights and obtain any necessary permissions from them.
Preferred citation: Usher Parsons papers, Ms. 90.1, Brown University Library.
Contact information: Brown University Library, Special Collections
Box A, John Hay Library
Providence, RI 02912
Tel: 401-863-2146
E-mail: hay@brown.edu

Administrative Information

ABOUT THE COLLECTION  
Acquisition: Acquired prior to 1950.
ABOUT THE FINDING AID  
Author: Finding aid prepared by John Hay Library.
Encoding: Finding aid encoded by Reiko Davis 2009 March 10
Descriptive rules: Finding aid based on Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS)

Additional Information

Related material: Related collections or materials at other institutions include:Usher Parsons papers, MSS 604, Rhode Island Historical Society

Inventory

Codex 1 Surgical notes and observations made in different cities of Europe particularly in Paris and London.
Contents Note: Ten pages summarizing observations about hospitals in Italy during the first nine months of 1819. Ninety pages of journal entries in Paris, October 4 through November 26, about one-third describing hospitals, the remainder surgical notes. Sixteen pages of journal in London, December 10-22, five pages a list of lecturing physicians, the remainder surgical notes. 8vo leather blank book.

 1819
Codex 2 Diary and cash account, January through December.
Contents Note: Very brief entries. 12mo leather diary in folding purse.

 1831
Codex 3 Diary, January through December.
Contents Note: 8vo diary.

 1835
Codex 4 Journal of trip to Illinois, September 16 to November 5.
Contents Note: Account of travel by rail, lakeboat and horseback. Includes descriptions of Detroit, Toledo, Chicago, Indianapolis, and Cincinnati. Extensive notes on land investing in Chicago. Five 8vo paper notebooks, approximately 100 pages of text.

 1836
Codex 5 Diary, January through December, except for period of Illinois trip.
Contents Note: Usual brief entries, with some detail of financial preparations for trip. 8vo leather blank book.

 1836
Codex 6 Diary, January through December
Contents Note: 8vo leather blank book.

 1837
Codex 7 Diary, January through October
Contents Note: 8vo leather blank book.

 1843
Codex 8 Journal of trip to Europe, November 1 to December 31
Contents Note: Account of ocean crossing and stay in Paris. Includes over 30 pages of surgical notes. 8vo leather covered notebook, 100 pages.

 1843
Codex 9, 10 Diary, January through December
Contents Note: Concludes European trip, arriving in Boston on April 21. Surgical notes from Paris, London, and Glasgow. Two 8vo blank books.

 1844
Codex 11 Diary, January through December
Contents Note: 8vo leather blank book.

 1845
Codex 12 Diary, January through December
Contents Note: 8vo leather blank book.

 1846
Codex 13 Diary, January 1847 through December 1848
Contents Note: 8vo leather blank book.

 1847-1848
Codex 14 Diary, January 1849 through December 1850
Contents Note: 8vo leather blank book.

 1849-1850
Codex 15 Diary, January through December
Contents Note: 8vo leather blank book.

 1851
Codex 16, 17 Journal of trip south, April 18 to May 14.
Contents Note: Fairly good detail on North Carolina and coastal Georgia countryside; some description of slave labor. Notes on AMA convention in Charleston. Some overlap with 1851 diary. 12mo paper-covered notebook, 24 pages; 8vo leather notebook, 18 pages.

 1851
Codex 18 Diary, January through December
Contents Note: 8vo disbound.

 1852
Codex 19 Diary, January through December
Contents Note: 8vo leather blank book.

 1853
Codex 20 Diary, January 1854 though December 1856
Contents Note: 8vo leather blank book.

 1854-1856
Codex 21 Account book
Contents Note: Two of three times a year Parsons took an account of his situation, sometimes financial, sometimes personal, sometimes both. Included are rather detailed net worth statements and reactions to current events such as the early years of the Civil War. There is an 83 item bibliography of his writing, including newspaper articles, legislative bills, apparently anything that was printed in any form. Large 8vo paper-covered notebook, 48 pages.

 1857-1863
Codex 22 Diary, January 1857 through December 1859
Contents Note: 8vo leather blank book.

 1857-1859
Codex 23 Diary, January through December
Contents Note: 8vo diary.

 1860
Codex 24 Diary and cash account, January through December
Contents Note: Includes reactions to Fort Sumter and early days of war. 8vo leather diary in folding purse.

 1861
Codex 25 Diary and cash account, January through December
Contents Note: 8vo leather diary in folding purse.

 1863
Codex 26 Diary and cash account, January through December
Contents Note: 8vo leather diary in folding purse.

 1864
Codex 27 Diary, January through December
Contents Note: Reaction to end of war and Lincoln's death are very brief. 8vo leather diary in folding purse.

 1865
Codex 28 Diary and cash account, January through December
Contents Note: 8vo leather diary in folding purse.

 1866
Box 1, Item 29 Modern manuscript copy of journal from September 24, 1812, to December 10, 1814, and letter to parents, September 13, 1813.
Contents Note: Covers service in War of 1812 including battle of Lake Erie. Inscription suggests this belonged to Henry Parsons. 126 legal size sheets.

 1812-1814
Codex 30 Indian Names of Places in Rhode-Island.
Contents Note: Providence, Knowles, Anthony & Co. 4to pamphlet, 32 pages.

 1861
Codex 31 Charles W. Parsons' manuscript account of a trip to Worcester, Springfield and Northampton, June 2-5.
Contents Note: Descriptions of Antiquarian Hall and insane asylum in Worcester, views of Berkshires and Connecticut Valley. Although not signed by Charles, opening statement, "Tuesday aftn, June 2nd, father & I rode to Woonsocket in the chaise," is corroborated in U.P.'s diary for 1846. 22 8vo pages, disbound.

 1846
Codex 32 Memoir of Usher Parsons, M.D., of Providence, R.I.
Contents Note: Written by Charles W. Parsons. Providence: Hammond, Angell & Co. 8vo clothbound, 72 pages.

 1870
Codex 33 Charles W. Parsons' manuscript notebook.
Contents Note: Record of a visit to the Temple, London, April 17. Account of battle with Indians (King Philip's War?) apparently copied verbatim from unnamed source. Other miscellaneous notes, some genealogical. Does not contain Charles' name, but appears to be same hand as 1846 MS. 8vo leather.

 1873
Box 1, Item 34 Autograph letter from G.W. Call (?) to Usher Parsons, August 3, 1835.
Contents Note: Offers Parsons a position in the medical department of the newly founded Willoughby University. Parsons notes receiving this letter on August 15.

 1835