Health and Medicine – Page 2 – The UncommonWealth

Archives

Not Black and White, But Different Shades of Gray

With examples dating back to the 1750s, Norfolk County chancery causes offer an interesting set of solutions to some of the myriad problems associated with…

Callie FreedJuly 22, 2015

Archives Manuscripts & Special Collections

There Are No Small Preventions, Only Smallpox

Before the Commonwealth of Virginia began officially recording vital statistics in 1853, many people recorded the births, deaths, and marriages in their families in the…

Tricia NoelApril 15, 2015

Archives

Hampton Coroner Records Reveal Social History

Dr. Paul Parker, medical examiner of Elizabeth City County, Virginia, wrapped up a 19 April 1935 coroner’s inquest by ruling that “Dorothy McGaha Reeves came…

Vince BrooksDecember 18, 2014

Archives

To Be Sold: Elizabeth’s Story

This is the second in a series of four blogs related to the “To Be Sold” exhibit which opens on October 27 at the Library…

Greg CrawfordOctober 8, 2014

Archives

A Different Kind of Local Record

Smallpox is an infectious disease caused by two variants of a virus—variola major and variola minor. Since smallpox was certified as eradicated by the World…

Callie FreedJuly 11, 2014

Newspapers

A Reliable Remedy–Medicinal Ads from Old Newspapers

Television and copy advertisements for prescription drugs are a common sight these days. But the obsession with finding the latest and greatest cure-all is nothing…

Kelley EwingJuly 5, 2012

Archives

Is There A Doctor in the (Court) House?: A Doctor’s Account Book as Public Record

Robert Davidson (R.D.) Hufford was born in Wythe County in 1850. He studied medicine at the Medical College of Virginia and established a practice in…

Greg CrawfordOctober 12, 2011