Mary Wade Griscom

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Mary Wade Griscom
An older white woman, wearing pince-nez eyeglasses. Her hair is short and starting to grey at the temples. She is wearing a white blouse or dress with a wide collar.
Mary Wade Griscom, from a 1918 passport application.
BornAugust 24, 1866
Woodbury, New Jersey, US
DiedNovember 5, 1946
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US
OccupationPhysician
RelativesArthur Ernest Morgan (brother-in-law)

Mary Wade Griscom (August 24, 1866 – November 5, 1946) was an American physician and medical school professor in China, India, and Persia.

Early life[edit]

Griscom was born in Woodbury, New Jersey, the daughter of William Wade Griscom (1831–1895) and Sarah Middleton Cooper Griscom (1839–1895). Her family were prominent Quakers.[1] Her younger sister Lucy married engineer Arthur Ernest Morgan, first chair of the Tennessee Valley Authority.[2]

Griscom earned her medical degree from the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1891. She was an officer of the school's alumnae association in 1901 and 1902.[3] She pursued further studies in obstetrics at Vienna with the support of her mentor, Anna Elizabeth Broomall.[1][4]

Career[edit]

Griscom was chief of the obstetrics staff at the Woman's Hospital of Philadelphia from 1903 to 1913.[5] She retired from hospital work after a hand injury limited her surgical skills.[6] Instead, she went overseas,[7] traveled in Korea, and worked with Anna Sarah Kugler in Guntur. She taught at a women's medical college in Canton,[8][9] and at the Medical School for Women in Vellore. She collected Chinese art depicting Biblical stories, often made as interpretations of Christian missionary work.[10][11] She worked with the American-Persian Relief Committee on refugee assistance in Baghdad and Tehran in 1918 and 1919.[12] She went to Austria to provide relief work with the American Friends Service Committee in 1923 and 1924.[13]

Griscom embraced new technologies in her professional and personal lives. In 1910, she co-authored a paper on gynecological applications for Roentgen therapy (radiation), for example in the treatment of uterine tumors.[14] She was an early automobile enthusiast, and drove in an "electric vehicle pleasure run" sponsored by the Quaker City Motor Club in 1910, through the streets of Philadelphia.[15]

Personal life[edit]

Griscom's family was not universally supportive of her overseas work. Her older brother James C. Griscom's 1934 will specified that "none of his money be used for foreign missions, foreigners, or foreign countries".[16][17] Mary Wade Griscom died in 1946, aged 80 years, in Philadelphia.[1][6] Two friends and medical colleagues, Ann C. Arthurs[18] and Mary A. Hipple,[19] a niece Frances and a great-niece were her heirs, with large bequests left for the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania and the Woman's Hospital of Philadelphia.[20]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c "Dr. Mary Griscom Dies at Age of 80". The Philadelphia Inquirer. 1946-11-06. p. 39. Retrieved 2020-11-21 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ Clark, Mary Reid (1938-03-05). "Ancestral Home of Griscoms, Members of 8th Generation". Courier-Post. p. 3. Retrieved 2020-11-21 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ Pennsylvania, Woman's Medical College of (1902). Annual Announcement of the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania. Jas. B. Rodgers Company. p. 32.
  4. ^ Singer, Sandra L. (2003). Adventures Abroad: North American Women at German-speaking Universities, 1868-1915. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 43. ISBN 978-0-313-32371-3.
  5. ^ Griscom, Mary W. (January 2, 1904). "Report of the Maternity Hospital of the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania from January 1888 to May 1903". American Medicine. 7: 7.
  6. ^ a b "Dr. Mary W. Griscom; Philadelphia Physician Worked in China, Persia and India". The New York Times. 1946-11-06. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-11-21.
  7. ^ "Letter from Dr. Griscom". Lutheran Woman's Work. 6: 485–488. October 1913.
  8. ^ Griscom, Mary W. (February 14, 1914). "With the Medical Missionaries in China". Friends' Intelligencer. 71: 98–100.
  9. ^ Missions, Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A. Board of Home (1918). Home Missions ... Annual Report of the Presbyterian Board of Home Missions ... Mission Rooms. pp. 168–169.
  10. ^ Wheeler, Edward Jewitt; Funk, Isaac Kaufman; Woods, William Seaver (January 1, 1921). "Bible Stories Told in Christian Art". The Literary Digest. 68: 33.
  11. ^ "A Chinese Artist Put a Pigtail on the Prodigal Son". New-York Tribune. 1920-11-21. p. 78. Retrieved 2020-11-21 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ Griscom, Mary Wade, "A Medical Motor Trip Through Persia" Asia 21(March 1921): 233-240.
  13. ^ "Medical News". Journal of the American Medical Association. 82: 1130. April 5, 1924.
  14. ^ Griscom, Mary W.; Pfahler, George E. (June 25, 1910). "Roentgen Therapy in Gynecology". New York Medical Journal.
  15. ^ "Electric Cars in Road Run". The Automobile. 23: 824–825. November 17, 1910.
  16. ^ "$5000 Bequeathed to Benefit Charity". The Philadelphia Inquirer. 1935-02-20. p. 7. Retrieved 2020-11-21 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ^ "Woman Physician, 70, to Tour This Country". The Morning Call. 1934-03-08. p. 26. Retrieved 2020-11-21 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ^ "Dr. Ann C. Arthurs". The Baltimore Sun. 1980-12-03. p. 11. Retrieved 2020-11-21 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ^ "Dr. Mary A. Hippie". The Philadelphia Inquirer. 1980-12-20. p. 46. Retrieved 2020-11-21 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. ^ "College May Get Griscom Art". The Philadelphia Inquirer. 1946-11-14. p. 29. Retrieved 2020-11-21 – via Newspapers.com.
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