Physicians

Business card of Dr. S. Adolphus Knopf listing his practice address in New York, New York.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-10-24

Speaker of the House Cannon may think President Roosevelt is the “horse-leech’s daughter” and that he will “keep saying give-give,” according to Roosevelt. However, the enclosed letter from a respected physician refers to a matter of grave consequence to the army, but comes at little expense and Roosevelt stresses his desire that the bill is passed.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-01-28

President Roosevelt has examined the papers related to Dr. Austin M. Curtis of Freedman’s Hospital and has a high opinion of Paul Laurence Dunbar. He would appreciate Secretary of the Interior Hitchcock looking into the case.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1901-10-01

Peabody Endicott agrees to send Quentin Roosevelt to the specialist in Boston, Massachusetts. Endicott will ask the doctor to write a report on Quentin’s foot and send it to Theodor Roosevelt. 

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-09-26

Civilian Conservation Corps camp doctor “Doc” Smith stands next to a camp building in the North Unit of the Roosevelt Recreation Demonstration Area. The photograph is part of a three-binder set of pictures taken by Chandler D. Fairbank, Civilian Conservation Corps North Unit foreman at the Roosevelt Recreation Demonstration Area, taken between 1936 and 1937.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt National Park

Creation Date

1936-1937

Theodore Roosevelt writes to his sister Anna about a letter received from Dr. Sherman, probably regarding their alcoholic brother Elliott. He wants Anna to show it to Elliott’s wife Anna Hall Roosevelt. He would like to get a second opinion from Dr. Lambert.

Collection

Harvard College Library

Creation Date

1891-10-26

Dr. Herbert C. Gifford’s business card contains his address and consultation hours. This card was sent with a letter from Gifford to President Roosevelt dated July 29, 1904.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904

A person labeled “Bossism” sits in a chair, with many bandages labeled “New York, New Jersey, Penn. [and] Ohio.” On the table next to him is a medicine bottle labeled “Cashtoria.” He is being attended to by a well-dressed man labeled “The Big Interests” pretending to be a doctor. Caption: Old Doctor Dough — Keep quiet a while longer and I’ll pull you through.

comments and context

Comments and Context

Cartoons like Keppler’s were cyclical — observing, or celebrating, the possible demise of bossism and political corruption — through the years, precisely because “reform” waves were likewise cyclical. In 1872 presidential candidate Horace Greeley railed against the corrupt administration of Ulysses S. Grant: “Throw the Rascals Out!” They were not thrown out.

James Rudolph Garfield, as a physician, administers a large dose labeled “Federal Franchise” to a bloated, elderly man labeled “The Trusts” sitting in a chair with his feet soaking in a tub labeled “Rough on Railroads.” On a table are various medicines named after states, and on the right, Uncle Sam, as a nurse, is standing in the background. Caption: Dr. Garfield — This may reduce your income, but it will steady your nerves.

comments and context

Comments and Context

One of Theodore Roosevelt’s many nicknames was “The Trust-Buster,” and with reason. Early in his presidency a federal suit was filed against the Northern Securities Company. It rattled Wall Street; Wall Street’s J. P. Morgan pleaded that Roosevelt could have sent “his man” to see Morgan’s “man” and settled whatever the problem was. But Roosevelt’s intention was not to tend to a mistake or minor detail; after decades of growing complaints about monopolies and the restraint of trade, the president had come to believe that trusts — powerful, colluding, sometimes secretive organizations — needed to be addressed.

A priest stands on the left holding a paper that states “The steady decline of womanhood from its old ideals.” Puck pulls back a curtain to reveal women in many roles in society, such as doctors, lawyers, school teachers, athletes, artists, nurses, secretaries, “Tenement House Inspectors,” and as members of such organizations as the “S.P.C.A.” Caption: Puck — Do you really think, my clerical friend, that the old ideals were better than these?

comments and context

Comments and Context

Through its life as a publication, Puck frequently found fault with clerics and traditional denominations, although not with the Bible itself. Sermons and messages that Puck criticized usually dealt with what it deemed to be excesses, foolish pronouncements, and hypocrisy.

A young man wearing a robe sits in a chair by a window, reading a book. A young woman nurse is attending to him and an old man, the doctor, has arrived for a check-up. There are medicines on a table in the foreground. Caption: The Nurse — The Doctor has come to take your temperature. / The Convalescent — I suppose it’s all I have left.

comments and context

Comments and Context

This cartoon’s joke has little to do with a pretty nurse or a handsome patient, as might be assumed from many themes of the day. Rather, “taking” all he has left is a critique on the cost of doctors’ care, evidenced by the account-book on the table in the foreground.

Former president Grover Cleveland is a doctor at a bedside, attending to a donkey labeled “Dem. Party” suffering from an undisclosed illness (Bryanism or the failure of the Democratic Party in the presidential election). On a table is a spoon and bowl labeled “First principles of Democracy.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

In his post-presidential years, Grover Cleveland was reluctant to speak or write on public subjects. Beginning in 1900, driven partly by financial considerations and by public entreaties, he selectively spoke and wrote on public issues. In 1901 he yielded to invitations to opine on the health and future of his Democratic Party, so brutalized after two unsuccessful presidential campaigns of William Jennings Bryan, and by the McKinley Prosperity that had eclipsed the Depression in Cleveland’s second term. This cartoon likely comments on Cleveland’s role as political oracle, commencing in a series of articles for The Saturday Evening Post.

Theodore Roosevelt’s secretary assures Montaville Flowers that Roosevelt does not use tobacco and uses very little alcohol. The secretary writes that if people knew Roosevelt better they would be aware of his lovable nature and fine qualities. At Roosevelt’s request, the secretary has enclosed two pertinent letters.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1912-09-10

James Rudolph Garfield writes to Walter F. Brown with details for Theodore Roosevelt’s planned campaign speaking tour in Ohio and Pennsylvania. Garfield asks Brown to arrange for a private rail car and for throat specialists to be available at each city on the tour.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1912-05-09

Theodore Roosevelt urges Peabody Endicott to send Quentin Roosevelt to see a doctor in Boston. Ethel Roosevelt had a similar issue in the past, and it left her bedridden for a long time. Roosevelt hopes to prevent this for Quentin so he can play football in the fall. Roosevelt’s chiropractor, Dr. McDonald, recommended a specialist for Quentin to see. 

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-09-26

Theodore Roosevelt was glad to keep the book. The surgeon’s name was Dr. Archibald E. Gunn. He is on the war front, but can be reached through the Booth Steamship Co., Ltd., in Liverpool, England.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1915-10-30

President Roosevelt writes to Elisabeth Marbury, providing a letter of introduction and commendation for Dr. Hervey. Roosevelt states that Hervey is a “fine fellow” and a “personal friend” and requests that Marbury consider his desire to join the Red Cross in Europe. Hervey will be sending his credentials along with this introduction.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1914-11-07

President Roosevelt is pleased about what Representative Bennet tells him, and is grateful to him for calling his attention to the work of Dr. William J. Manning in the Government Printing Office.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-12-20

President Roosevelt informs Mississippi Governor Noel that three surgeons have been ordered to inquire with him whether their services are needed. The National Red Cross Society will contact Noel to find out how many nurses are needed. (Mississippi had been hit with a tornado outbreak several days prior.)

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-04-27

President Roosevelt was pleased to hear from from his personal doctor Presley Marion Rixey, and was grateful for the information about California. He has been well taken care of by Dr. William C. Braisted and Dr. James C. Pryor. The Roosevelt children have gone to Oyster Bay, and Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt will follow soon. Roosevelt himself is not sure when he will go because of delays in Congress.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-06-11