Mary Pauline Root papers
Scope and Contents
This collection was compiled chiefly by Root's niece Dorthea L Smith (DLS), with contributing information from Root’s half-sister Mary Elizabeth Root (MER). Users of the collection will notice traces of "dls" and "MER" in notes, transcriptions and summaries of information. The collection contains both written and photographic material.
The written material (folders #1-9) includes information concerning Root's work for the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs and her medical missionary work for the American Bureau of Commissioners for Foreign Missions in India, as well as some correspondence both directly to/from Root and also concerning Root's life. The photographic material (folders #10-13) includes a number of photos from Root's travels to Native American communities and schools throughout the United States for the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs, some personal photos/portraits, and an album of photos from Root's time as a missionary in India.
Folder #7 of the collection consists of photocopied material and photographs from Smith College Archives; included is some meager information concerning and reflecting Root's position and time there, from 1906-1909.
Root's notes on her travels and lecturing for the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs in Indian Government Schools (folder #2), provide the most extensive information on Root's day-to-day life during this time. The folder contains first a small handwritten notebook (ordered geographically/alphabetically by location) which details trip, school and personal information pertaining to the different places she went from 1919-1920. Secondly, there is another set of handwritten notes on loose leaf paper, thought to be written by Root's half sister Mary Elizabeth Root, containing extracts of Root's own account(s). Thirdly, there is a typed copy of notes, extracts containing short descriptions of Root's travels from 1919-20, with a short description attached of the contents of the packet and the context and details of Root’s work. Some of the personal correspondence, directly from Root to her family members (folders #3, 4), during this time may also shed some light on Root’s personal experience of her work.
There is some descriptive and timeline information on her medical missionary work in India (folders #1, #5), with scant information on patient care. The majority of the information on her work in Madura is from or concerning the ABCFM and her church in Providence, and emphasizes the Christian mission message. There is an absence of substantial information concerning Root's medical work at the women’s hospital in Madura.
In a second box, there are a number of Root's diplomas and certificates from her medical work.
There are gaps in the collection with little documentations from 1896-1906, 1909-1919, and from 1922-1944. The collection contains no substantial information on what Root was doing professionally or personally during these time periods.
There is no elaboration on the content of Dr. Root’s lectures concerning “hygiene” and “social hygiene” that she delivered at the Native American Boarding Schools, though this connects Root to the social hygiene movement of the late 19th-early 20th centuries. For further education on Native American Boarding Schools, please see the Education page from the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition: https://boardingschoolhealing.org/education/
Dates
- 1883 - 1985
Biographical / Historical
Dr. (Mary) Pauline Root was born May 22, 1859 in Providence, Rhode Island. She graduated from the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1883 as a Doctor of Medicine, and was the first female doctor to test for and receive an internship at Blockley Hospital in Philadelphia. After her 18 month internship, Root was sent by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) on a mission trip to Madurai, in Southern India, to create a Women’s Hospital in the community. She was the first female doctor to be sent on a mission by the ABCFM, and worked for the Board from 1885-1896. Root arrived in India in October 1885, and after receiving some education in Tamil, was placed in charge of all medical work at the mission in January 1888. She returned to Providence in 1891 on "furlough status" to aid and support her family, and in the same year traveled to other missions (ie. in Japan, China, California) also. Root announced her leave from the Madurai mission in July 1893 after the new building of the women’s hospital she fought for was opened to the public. Afterward, she traveled around the United States lecturing on her medical missionary work and the importance of missionary service for the ABCFM and was officially released from service in 1896.
Though there is a gap in explanatory documentation of Root’s life from 1896-1906, she accomplished some post-graduate work during this time – according to information from Smith College archives, Root was involved with the "…Cornell Medical School, Post Graduate Medical School, [and] Manhattan Eye and Ear Hospital, [from] 1904-1906…" and received a license to practice medicine and surgery in New York state in January 1906. After gaining the same license in Massachusetts in March 1906, Root was employed as the resident physician at Smith College until 1909. She was both the head of Tenney House, a co-op self-help student house on campus, and taught two "hygiene" courses: entitled "Hygiene" and "Problems of Family Physiology and Hygiene".
Following another undocumented gap, Root worked for the National Young Women’s Christian Association's Social Hygiene department during World War I and then the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) from 1919-21. She traveled around the United States and visited American Indian communities and Indian Government Schools teaching "social hygiene". From September-December 1920, Root taught in Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Nebraska, North and South Dakota. From December-June 1921, Root lectured in Kansas, New Mexico, Arizona, Oklahoma, Nevada, California, and Oregon.
There’s no information in the collection to support any medical work after her teaching position with the BIA. She became an official member of the Beneficent Congregational Church in Providence, RI in May 1922 and was an active participant in the Church community as a bible study teacher. Pauline Root died July 10, 1944, in her summer home on Lady Birch Island in Christmas Cove, Maine.
Extent
0.4 linear feet (1 document box)
Language of Materials
English
Overview
Dr. (Mary) Pauline Root (b. 1859, d.1944) was a graduate of Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1883. She was the first female doctor to receive an internship at Blockley Hospital in Philadelphia, and was reportedly the first female doctor to be sent on a mission by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM). She carried out medical missionary work from 1885-1893 at a women's hospital in Madurai, India. Root completed post-graduate work at the Manhattan Eye and Ear Hospital before she was employed as the resident physician at Smith College from 1906-1909, where she taught courses on "hygiene". From 1919-1921, Root traveled around the United States teaching "social hygiene" in Native American communities and Indian Government Schools for the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs. This collection contains both written and photographic material, spanning the years 1883-1985. The materials concerning missionary work in this collection are more focused on the Christian mission than on the medical work performed.
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Eva Whittaker
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Revision Statements
- April 6, 2023: This finding aid was reviewed and updated by Caitlin Abadir-Mullally in April of 2023 as part of the Legacy Center’s reparative description efforts. This collection contains materials that reflect colonial ideals, imperialist ideologies and the genocide of Indigenous American culture in the early 20th century through the Native American boarding school system. For further education on Native American Boarding Schools, please see the Education page from the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition: https://boardingschoolhealing.org/education/
Repository Details
Part of the Drexel University: College of Medicine Legacy Center Repository