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Letters from Elizabeth Stuart Phelps (Ward) to S. Weir Mitchell, M.D., 1884-1897
Within the stately College of Physicians of Philadelphia, at the top of the grand staircase leading to the library, the name of S. Weir Mitchell is carved in a large marble frieze. That Mitchell (1829-1914) would warrant such an exalted place at the college is not surprising: this member of the Philadelphia elite not only served two terms as its president, but also earned great renown as a doctor, nerve specialist, and writer. In contrast, tucked into box 9, series 4.3, folder 10 of Mitchell's papers, catalogued without ceremony under his "correspondence with literary figures" lie nine little-known letters from Elizabeth Stuart Phelps (Ward). As a minor correspondent, a life-long invalid, and a woman, Phelps likely would not expect to obtain any further distinction in this august institution. Yet Phelps (1844-1911) was an eminent figure in her own right, a prolific, bestselling author of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama -- some of which advanced compelling critiques of the medical profession and its treatment of women. Throughout her career she tirelessly advocated for women's rights, supporting women's entitlement to higher education, economic independence, and professional careers.(1) The letters printed here shed significant new light not only on Phelps's uses and views of medical discourse, but also on women's responses to Mitchell and his work.
Phelps begins her first letter by praising Mitchell's novel In War Time (1884), no small compliment given that, by 1884, Phelps had earned great popularity and authority as a writer -- certainly more so than Mitchell in his literary pursuits. Yet her ability to work was increasingly jeopardized by failing health, made worse after her brother's untimely death in 1883 and the strain of added responsibilities that followed it.(2) In her letters, Phelps negotiates her roles as professional writer and what she calls "professional invalid" (25 January 1884), along with late-nineteenth-century conventions of gender, in order to confront Mitchell on issues of great importance to her, particularly the "Great Medical Novel" and its portrayal of doctors and invalids (Thanksgiving Day 1884), the virtues of women physicians, the superiority of homeopathic medicine, as well as her own physical ailments.(3) Mitchell was not the first medical man to hear from Phelps about...