Women's Suffrage at MedChi

As part of our symposium earlier this month, Nicole Diehlmann discussed Women's Suffrage at MedChi. We wrote about her research here, she expanded on it for the group. Here's her "slide show."

Thanks again to Nicole for participating in the Women's History Month Symposium!

MedChi & The BSO Present: Raiders of the Lost Ark!

MedChi has secured 48 tickets to the sold-out movie “Raiders of the Lost Ark” with a live orchestra from our friends at the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra on Sunday afternoon, March 30, 2025, for a fundraiser for the MedChi Museum and Archives.

Start the afternoon with a visit to the MedChi Museum of Maryland Medical History, learn about our treasures which date back to the 1500s, tour the historic Osler Hall building, and then have a pre-movie snack. Walk across Cathedral Street to take in the sold-out movie, "Raiders of the Lost Ark" at the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, complete with live orchestrations. 

Experience the first on-screen adventure of everyone's favorite archaeologist/action hero like never before! Follow along with the adventures of Indiana Jones as he travels across the globe to secure the Ark of the Covenant, accompanied by endearing companions and facing notorious villains. The BSO performs John Williams’ legendary score live from stage while the full-length film plays on the big screen.

Reservations are $100, which includes one ticket to the movie, pre-movie snacks, a tour of the MedChi Museum, and a tax-deductible contribution to support MedChi's Museum and Archives. Unfortunately, there are no discounted tickets to this event, as the event is sold out, and this is a fundraiser for the Museum and Archives. To purchase tickets, please scan the QR code below.

Parking is available in MedChi's private lot at 1204 Maryland Avenue. Public transportation is also available. 

This event is brought to you by the MedChi Museum of Maryland Medical History and the Office of the History of Maryland Medicine and Archives.

Women in Medicine - A Brief History

As you may know, we hosted a Women's History Month Symposium on March 1. I am going to share each of the speakers' talks, starting with mine. 

In 1885, the Medical & Chirurgical Faculty of Maryland, now known as MedChi, changed its constitution from “gentlemen” members to “persons” because of the number of Blacks and women who were being nominated for membership.

Within 15 years, at least 13 women had become members. This pre-dated the admission of women to Johns Hopkins School of Medicine by seven years, to the AMA by almost 30 years, and to the University of Maryland’s School of Medicine by more than 35 years.

In 1886, MedChi welcomed its first woman member, Dr. Amanda Taylor Norris. In addition to being the first woman member, Dr. Norris was the first woman with a medical degree to practice in Baltimore.

She graduated in 1880 from the Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania and returned to Baltimore where she began her career. The Baltimore Medical College, a small school, offered her a faculty position as a demonstrator of anatomy, which she readily accepted.

As with most physicians of the day, Dr. Norris was a generalist. She taught materia medica, or the pharmaceutical aspects of medicine, practical obstetrics and gynecology, and throat and chest medicine. Dr. Norris was also the physician to several women’s clinics including the Female House of Refuge and the Evening Dispensary for Women and Girls, which I will talk about shortly.

Before 1911, there were eleven medical schools in Baltimore. That changed when the Flexner Report was published. This compared all medical schools in the US to Johns Hopkins, a new and well-funded medical school. Most other med schools were small and ill-funded and paled in comparison.

One of these smaller schools was the Women’s Medical College in Baltimore, founded in 1882. The two main founders, as well as the others, were all members of the Medical & Chirurgical Faculty of Maryland, known then as the Faculty, and at the time, 99% male. They wanted a medical school for women that was equal to that of other medical schools.

Originally located on Eutaw Street, the college moved several times in its nearly 30-year lifetime. It was one of the earliest schools to require either a college diploma or an entrance exam to attend. Because of the scarcity of women’s medical schools, women from around the world attended the college.

The most famous alumna was Claribel Cone, who, along with her sister, Etta, established what is now known as the Cone Collection of Modern Art, housed at the Baltimore Museum of Art, and worth more than one billion dollars.

The Women’s Medical College closed in 1910, mainly due to lack of an endowment to keep it going. In the Flexner report, it was stated that the laboratories were scrupulously well-kept and showed a desire to do the best possible with meager resources. It also mentions the Women’s Dispensary at the College. The College would probably have closed regardless, due to paring down of medical schools after the Flexner report.

From the beginning, women were admitted to the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. The men at Hopkins hated the fact that women were students, but since philanthropist,

Mary Garrett had given the school the funds to open, but with the provision that women had to be admitted, there was no choice.

The most well-known early female student was Gertrude Stein, who actually never graduated. The prevailing thought process at the time was that women would take up space at the school, only to leave and get married, and never practice.

The first woman to graduate from Hopkins was Mary Packard, who had two other women in her class, neither of whom graduated. To add insult to injury, she was left out of the class photo!

The University of Maryland’s School of Medicine did not admit women until 1919, just before women received the right to vote. There had been a shortage of physicians for a few years due to World War One, and so it was more of a necessity that women were admitted to medical schools.

As I mentioned, The Evening Dispensary for Working Women and Girls provided outpatient medical care and advice to women, and was almost exclusively staffed by women physicians. The idea for a women’s dispensary originated at the Women’s Medical College of Philadelphia. The Dispensary was especially important for two reasons: women could not leave work in the daytime to go to a doctor’s appointment; and many women disliked having a male physician.

The Dispensary also provided an opportunity for female medical students to gain practical experience.

In addition to providing free care for poor women, it also provided a clean milk distribution system for sick babies, social services, a visiting nurse program, and public baths.

The women who founded the Baltimore’s Evening Dispensary were mainly graduates of the Women’s Medical College, both here in Baltimore and in Philadelphia. Many of them were also among the Faculty’s earliest female members.

Dr. Lillian Welsh and Dr. Mary Sherwood, both on the faculty of Goucher College, were two of the most well-known members. Contemporary accounts note that these early physicians were friends with the Suffragettes and were proponents of women on bicycles.

In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, there were a number of hospitals for women and children.

The ones for women in the late stages of pregnancy were called “lying-in” hospitals.

The Maryland Nursery & Child’s Hospital was also for foundlings.

Some of the hospitals had very descriptive names, including this one: St. Vincent’s Infant Asylum for Unfortunate Women Needing Reformatory Influences and the Care of a Lying-in Hospital. At the time, asylum had a different meaning than it does now. It was a benevolent institution affording shelter and support to the afflicted, the unfortunate, or destitute. 

There one additional woman I’d like to briefly talk about: Marcia Crocker Noyes.

She was not a physician, but the librarian at MedChi for 50 years. She was recruited by Dr. William Osler, one of the “Big Four” at Hopkins in 1896.

She was required to live in the building, so that she could find books for physicians at any hour of the day or night. She and Dr. Osler founded the Medical Library Association and its highest award is given in her name.

In 1904, Marcia became the Executive Secretary of the “Faculty” and oversaw all of the numerous activities in the buildings and for the members. She was highly respected by the physicians of the day.

She owned her own car in the mid 19-teens, and was a member of the suffrage movement, which you just learned about.

She traveled extensively in the US and abroad. She owned a “Camp” in the Adirondacks and would sail to England to visit her friend, now-Sir William Osler.

In 1946, Marcia became ill, so the physicians advanced her 50th anniversary party by a few months.

She died just a few days after her 50th anniversary in November of 1946 and is buried at Greenmount Cemetery.

She remains here in the building as our friend and sometime companion.

Thank you so much. 

We Celebrate Black Medical Pioneers (Part 3)

For our penultimate post for Black History Month, here are the most recent biographies! 

The MedChi Museum & Archives YouTube Page

I've just uploaded some short videos on our YouTube Page: MedChi Museum and Archives. Most of these are less than a minute-and-a-half long, and are also being published on our Instagram page. 

I hope that you will spend three or four minutes watching them. Here is the LINK.

We Celebrate Black Medical Pioneers (Part 2)

The Center for a Healthy Maryland is publishing a series of brief biographies of medical pioneers on their Instagram account this month, and I will be sharing some of them here.  

Stay tuned for more!