Conditions Governing Use

Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. For more information, please see the Permissions and Copyright page on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website.

Conditions Governing Access

The artifact in box 2 should only be handled while wearing gloves.

Preferred Citation

[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], John Chambers, Collector, Artifact and Books regarding Obstetrics, A&M 4427, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia.

Content Description

Items collected by Dr. John Chambers, a long-time practitioner of medicine in Charleston, West Virginia who specialized in obstetrics and gynecology. Includes four books and a receipt from a hospital stay (box 1); also includes an obstetrical instrument (box 2).

Two of the four books regard "midwifery", the then-current term for obstetrics; they include "A System of Midwifery" by William Leishman, M.D. (1879) and "The Principles and Practice of Midwifery" by Alexander Milne, M.D. (1884). The other two books are family heirlooms from Dr. Chambers' parents, one from his mother regarding recipes for persons suffering from illness (1882) and the other an arithmetic textbook used by his father (1877). The receipt was issued by Memorial Hospital of New York (1938).

The obstetrical instrument (undated) is one part of a pair of forceps, which were used to guide a baby's head during delivery; this artifact was given to Dr. Chambers in 1947 by another doctor. Notes from Dr. Chambers giving further information regarding the items in the collection can be found in box 1, folder 1.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Arithmetic -- Textbooks
• Charleston (W. Va.)
• Cooking for the sick
• Obstetricians
• Obstetrics

Unpublished Note

Original of hospital receipt moved to closed collections.