The Sappington Ledger

As I mentioned in my last post, I was looking to bid on some ephemera from Dr. Francis Brown Sappington, one of the Founders of MedChi in 1799.

We were lucky enough to win the one lot we were most interested in: a ledger dating from 1797 to 1803, the period during which the Medical & Chirurgical Faculty was being founded. 

I picked up the ledger from the auction house and was fascinated to page through it. Although the script is sometimes difficult to decipher, I am managing to read bits and pieces of it.

Dr. Sappington spent most of his life in and around Libertytown, Maryland. Records indicate that he was born in Annapolis in 1754, and he married Anne Ridgeley in 1783. He was active in the Revolutionary War and later moved to Libertytown. 

The ledger is a record of Dr. Sappington's patients, one patient per page, with the date of treatment, a list of maladies, and the cost of the treatment in pounds, shillings and pence!

There are bits and pieces interleaved in the pages of the ledger, including lists of sums, notes and more.

One page even has some small feathers where it looks like a bird crashed into the open book. 

There is also a child's letter to "dear, dear Santa" dating from Frederick in 1896. 

I found a few IOU notes within the pages, and it's amazing to me that they are still there. 

The portrait at the top of this post was also in the auction. It was part of a major art exhibition on the occasion of the 100th Anniversary of the founding of the Medical & Chirurgical Faculty. 

The portrait is by the artist Frederick Kemmelmeyer, a German-born painter who moved to the US before the Revolutionary War. This painting was also being auctioned and sold for $6,000. Another of Kemmelmeyer's paintings, owned by the Sappington Family, sold for $47,500. Another of his paintings sold at Christie's for $362,500!

Ephemera for Auction

I am a big fan of auctions, but I'm sad that few are being held in person these days. As I was perusing one of the local auction houses' catalogue, something caught my eye. The lot was titled "A Collection of Medical Diplomas and Other Documents." 

Of course, I had to click to take a look, and found this description: Including University of Pennsylvania, M.D., 1839; University of Maryland, M.D., 1843 and 1869; Maryland Med-Chi* faculty commission, 1864; Maryland physician's license, 1867; and Georgetown University, B.S., 1926; comprising about 12 items; together with a tin document holder.

With a little close looking, I found that the pieces belonged to members of the Sappington family, one of whom, Francis Brown Sappington, was a founder of the Faculty. 

If you look closely on what appears to be a University of Maryland diploma, you can make out the name Sappington,

and on the Baltimore City license, it's very clear that it's for Thomas Sappington.

I just can't figure our whether they are for the same person and I can't see the dates of the documents. 

There are several other medical lots from this family, including an original manuscript ledgers compiled by Dr. Francis B. Sappington, of Liberty Town, Maryland, during the course of his practice, listing patients, charges for services and medicines, and payments. The ledgers also contains some memoranda and recipes, together with waste-book entries. Folio; full suede leather ledger bindings.

There is also a medical student's notebook, possibly kept by Greenberry Sappington, Baltimore, circa 1830; quarter leather, block-printed boards; containing a carefully written summary of lessons on anatomy and pharmacy, with some literary commonplaces woven in.

There are several additional books and journals from various members of this family in this sale. Because we're well out of the HIPAA guidelines, there is not a problem with these documents being in the public domain. 

I might just have to go out and check out the documents in person. The bidding starts at $20.00 and the auction ends on February 3, 2021.  

*It looks like someone at the auction house knows our nickname, because we were only commonly known as MedChi beginning in the 1990's. In 1864, we were known at the Faculty. 

Happy 222nd Birthday to MedChi!

 Please join our first President, Upton Scott, and the entire MedChi Family in celebrating 222 years of service to Maryland.

Out With the Old! In With the New!

 If you're like absolutely everyone we know, you just can't wait for the end of 2020. 

Realistically, we know that things won't magically change when the clock strikes midnight turning into 2021,
but we won't be sad to see the last of 2020.

From Marcia and everyone here at MedChi, we wish you all of the very best in 2021. 

Out with the old and in with the new!

Upton Scott's House

I bought a book for a friend for Christmas entitled Colonial Mansions of Maryland & Delaware. The book was written by John Martin Hammond and published as a limited edition in 1914. There are 64 black-and-white photographs which illustrate the book.

Before I gave the book to my friend, I took scans of the pages pertaining to the Scott House, originally home to the Medical & Chirurgical Faculty's first president, Upton Scott. 

As I was searching for the publication information for this book, I found that the Hathi Trust has scanned the book and it's available in its entirety on-line. The link is here.

Here are the few pages about Scott House.

There were two images of the house, one of the front, and one of the main hallway. 

The house was designed by William Buckland, and still stands along the edge of Spa Creek in Annapolis. We also wrote about it here. 

Happy Holidays

 From Everyone at MedChi and the Center for a Healthy Maryland, 

Best Wishes for a Happy & Healthy Holiday Season!

Osler Menu for Auction

A menu from a dinner at the Maryland Club for Dr. William Osler is being offered this morning at Bonhams Auctions. It is from the collection of the medical library of James Tait Goodrich, who died of the novel Corona Virus earlier this year. Dr. Goodrich was a surgeon at Montefiore Hospital in New York and was most well-known for performing surgery on conjoined twins.

Dr. Goodrich's collection of medical ephemera was almost as well-known as the surgery. The collection includes works by Vesalius, ephemera from the 17th through the 20th century and an inquiry into smallpox by Edward Jenner. 

However, for me, the highlight is a menu from a dinner at the Maryland Club in honor of Dr. Osler held on May 15, 1903. It has been signed by Harvey Cushing, W.S. Thayer, Llewellys Barker, William Wood Russel, Egerton Davis, Jr. (Osler's alias), JMT Finney, and many more. 

The menu is printed with inspiring quotes, such as "promptness is the one quality of a physician necessary for success," and "The word of action is stronger than the word of speech." The latter is a "quote" from Egerton Yorrick Davis, Osler's alter-ego.

The actual menu is similar to many of the others of the same period, starting with olives, almonds and radishes, then little neck clams, soft shell crabs and cucumbers, saddle of lamb, Purée Mongole (a creamed split pea soup), Smithfield ham, lettuce and tomatoes, with strawberries and ice cream for dessert. Of course, all of the courses were accompanied by cocktails, sauternes, sherry, champagne and liqueurs.

In checking Harvey Cushing's "Life of Sir William Osler," it appears that the dinner was the night after the end of the American Physicians conference held in Washington, DC from May 12-15 under the presidency of his old Montreal friend, James Stewart. 

This makes a fascinating backstory to a wonderful piece of Osler ephemera. 

Update: The menu sold for $7,500, plus a 27.5% buyer's premium and applicable local taxes.