Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

See the University of Virginia Library’s use policy.

Preferred Citation

Letters to Dr. George Byrd Harrison, Accession #12106 , Special Collections Dept., University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.

Acquisition Information

These letters were purchased by the University of Virginia Library from Tim Bakken, Southern Cross Books, Clarendon Hills, Illinois, on November 8, 2001.

Biographical/Historical Information

Harrison was a University of Virginia medical school graduate in 1879 and treasurer of the Washington Gynecological and Obstetrician Society.

Scope and Content Information

This collection consists of twenty-two family and professional letters written to Dr. George B. Harrison, of Washington, D.C., all written in 1885.

Several of the letters are from patients and are concerned with their care, including C. Chittenden (October 2, 1885); Mary Murphy (November 2, 7, & 13); Walter Potts (November 10, 1885); and Harrison's niece, Lucie (December 25, 1885).

Also present are letters from other doctors, Dr. Henry Davidson Fry (October 8, 1885); Dr. Howard Hines Barker (October 26, 1885); Dr. Edward E. Feild, who mentions: working side by side with Harrison in the lecture rooms at the University of Virginia, Dr. Meade C. Kemper's recent move to a practice near him in Norfolk, Virginia, and other fellow University of Virginia graduates from the medical school, including James Duncan Gatewood, and Douglas Tardy (October 4, 1885); and Dr. John Fitzhugh May (October 9, 1885). Drs. Feild and May graduated with Harrison from the University of Virginia in 1879.

Family letters include three from his brother, Randolph Harrison, who was Commissioner, Department of Agriculture, for the state of Virginia in 1885. Randolph Harrison mentions missing an invitation from General [Fitzhugh?] Lee and his intention to visit the Rockbridge Alum Springs which was ordered for his health by Dr. Crenshaw (September 17, 1885). He also refers to the visit of Jeanne Harrison and children to the Rockbridge Baths to enjoy the mountain air (August 24, 1885). His third letter describes his "rapid retreat" from the Rockbridge Alum Springs to Richmond due to being very sick with dysentery and a fever, and his fear at being stuck there (October 2, 1885). The same letter also describes his attendance at an [Agricultural ?] Fair, where he spoke.

Other family letters include six from his wife, Jeanne, chiefly while she was away with the children at the Rockbridge Baths in August 1885, describing her journey to the baths by train and then riding in a carriage with Miss Morrison, presumably the daughter of Dr. Samuel Brown Morrison who operated the sanitarium. She also mentions the activities of the children, William Evelyn and Margaret, and other family members, and the injuries of their son's foot and eye (August 21, 23, Sep 12, 14, & 15, 1885).