Sarah Read Adamson Dolley
Sarah Read Adamson Dolley
Introduction
Sarah Read Adamson Dolley (1829-1909) was Rochester's first female physician and one of the first women in America to receive a medical degree. The bulk of the correspondence in the Dolley collection extends from 1872 until the year of her death in 1909. The collection was purchased from the Old Hickory Bookshop (Brinklow, Maryland) in February 1972. It was re-processed in July 1987. The Dolley correspondence is contained in eleven document boxes, and occupies four and a half linear feet.
Biography
Sarah Read Adamson was born at Schuylkill Meeting, Chester County, Pennsylvania on 11 March 1829, the third of five children born to Charles and Mary (Corson) Adamson. She initially studied medicine under the preceptorship of her uncle, Hiram Corson, M.D., of Plymouth Meeting, Pa. In November 1849, she was admitted to the Central Medical College (eclectic) in Syracuse, N.Y., from which she received her medical degree on 20 February 1851. In May of that year she became the first female intern in the United States at the Blockley Hospital in Philadelphia. Dr. Dolley took post-graduate training in Paris during the winter of 1869-70, and again attended medical clinics in Europe in the spring and summer of 1875.
On 9 June 1852 Sarah Read Adamson married Lester Clinton Dolley, M.D., Professor of Anatomy & Surgery at the Central Medical College, which by this time had moved to Rochester. They had two children: Loilyn, who died in infancy, and Charles Sumner Dolley (b. 1856), the major correspondent in the collection.
SRAD practiced medicine in Rochester with her husband until his death in 1872, and later in partnership with Anna Searing, M.D. With the exception of a course of lectures on obstetrics delivered at the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania in the winter of 1873-74, Dr. Dolley spent her entire professional life in Rochester. In addition to her practice, she was active in the formation of the Provident Dispensary Association (established in 1886 by a group of Rochester women physicians "to provide free medical and surgical care for such women and children as shall need gratuitous services"); the Practitioners' Society (established in 1887, one of the earliest womens' medical societies in the United States); the Women's Medical Society of the State of New York; and the Rochester chapter of the Red Cross. The records of the first three organizations are included among the papers of Dr. Dolley's contemporary, Marion Craig Potter, M.D.
Sarah Read Adamson Dolley died at her home on East Avenue on 27 December 1909.
Organization of the Collection
The Dolley correspondence is divided into two series: letters written by SRAD (boxes 1-6, 1872-1909), and letters written to SRAD (boxes 7-10, 1863-1909). Almost the entirety of this abundant correspondence is between Dr. Dolley, her son, Charles Sumner Dolley (1856-1948), and her daughter-in-law Elizabeth (Gilman) Dolley. Very little of Dr. Dolley's correspondence pertains to her medical work, women in medicine, or her attitudes toward women's rights. In this regard, the most important letter in the entire correspondence is her description to her son dated 17 October 1904 of her medical education (box 6, folder 5). For the most part, however, Dr. Dolley's correspondence with her son is concerned with personal matters, family business, and her constant preoccupation with property and financial affairs.
In her biographical article on SRAD in NOTABLE AMERICAN WOMEN (I: 497-99), Genevieve Miller states, "Despite a close personal friendship with her fellow townswoman Susan B. Anthony, there is no evidence that Dr. Dolley was ever involved in the national struggle for women's political rights" (p.498). Although there are no Anthony letters in the Dolley correspondence, there are several references to "Susan" in SRAD's own correspondence. In a letter dated 11 January 1894, Dr. Dolley writes to her son about a suffrage meeting she attended in Rochester, "When Miss Anthony was getting out the call she made request that Dr. Searing & I should sign it because we were not publicly identified with the movement & last Sunday she was afraid there would be but few there, and sent word that we must sit on the platform. We did, but there was no lack of people or enthusiasm…" (box 3, folder 13).
Charles Sumner Dolley, the principal correspondent in the collection, was born on 16 June 1856 in Elyria, Ohio. He attended the Geneseo Academy, Geneseo, Livingston County, New York, and entered Syracuse University in 1878. In his third year he transferred to the University of Pennsylvania, where he received his medical degree in 1882. He did post-graduate work in comparative morphology at Johns Hopkins (1883-84), and was sent by the University of Pennsylvania to study marine biology at the University of Leipzig and at the zoological station in Naples in 1884-85. He taught biology at Swarthmore (1885-88), at the University of Pennsylvania (1885-92), and at the Central High School in Philadelphia (1892-1907). He later went into business as a consultant in applied biology and did work in sanitation and chemical engineering in Mexico City and the Bahamas.
Charles Sumner Dolley married Elizabeth G. Gilman of Groveland, N.Y. in 1876. They had three children: Gilman Corson, Loilyn Carlotta, and Lester Adamson, all born in Rochester. C.S. Dolley died at Nassau, the Bahamas, B.W.I. on 10 July 1948.
Miscellaneous biographical and genealogical material on Sarah Read Adamson Dolley, Lester Clinton Dolley, and Charles Sumner Dolley is contained in box 10, folders 22-26.
Box One
Folder 1: Letters by SRAD, 1872.
Folder 2: Letters by SRAD, Jan-May 1873.
Folder 3: Letters by SRAD, Jun-Sep 1873.
Folder 4: Letters by SRAD, Oct-Dec 1873.
Folder 5: Letters by SRAD, Jan 1874.
Folder 6: Letters by SRAD, Feb 1874.
Folder 7: Letters by SRAD, Jun 1874.
Folder 8: Letters by SRAD, Sep-Dec 1874.
Folder 9: Letters by SRAD, Apr-Dec 1875.
Folder 10: Letters by SRAD, Jan-Mar 1876.
Folder 11: Letters by SRAD, Apr-Jul 1876.
Folder 12: Letters by SRAD, Aug-Dec 1876.
Folder 13: Letters by SRAD, Jan-Feb 1877.
Folder 14: Letters by SRAD, Apr-Oct 1877.
Folder 15: Letters by SRAD, Nov-Dec 1877.
Folder 16: Letters by SRAD, Jan-Feb 1878.
Folder 17: Letters by SRAD, Mar-Jun 1878.
Folder 18: Letters by SRAD, Jul 1878.
Folder 19: Letters by SRAD, Aug, Oct 1878.
Folder 20: Letters by SRAD, Apr-Oct 1879.
Folder 21: Letters by SRAD, Nov-Dec 1879.
Folder 22: Letters by SRAD, Jan-Feb 1880.
Folder 23: Letters by SRAD, Mar 1880.
Folder 24: Letters by SRAD, Apr 1880.
Folder 25: Letters by SRAD, May 1880.
Folder 26: Letters by SRAD, Jun-Jul 1880.
Folder 27: Letters by SRAD, Oct-Dec 1880.
Folder 28: Letters by SRAD, Jan 1881.
Folder 29: Letters by SRAD, Feb-Jul 1881.
Folder 30: Letters by SRAD, Aug 1881.
Folder 31: Letters by SRAD, Sep-Dec 1881.
Folder 32: Letters by SRAD, Jan-Mar 1881.
Folder 33: Letters by SRAD, Jun-Aug 1882.
Folder 34: Letters by SRAD, Nov-Dec 1882.
Box Two
Folder 1: Letters by SRAD, Aug-Dec 1883.
Folder 2: Letters by SRAD, Feb-Jun 1884.
Folder 3: Letters by SRAD, Aug-Nov 1884.
Folder 4: Letters by SRAD, Dec 1884.
Folder 5: Letters by SRAD, Jan-Feb 1885.
Folder 6: Letters by SRAD, Mar-Sep 1885.
Folder 7: Letters by SRAD, Oct-Nov 1885.
Folder 8: Letters by SRAD, Dec 1885.
Folder 9: Letters by SRAD, Jan-Feb 1886.
Folder 10: Letters by SRAD, Mar-Apr 1886.
Folder 11: Letters by SRAD, May-Jun 1886.
Folder 12: Letters by SRAD, Sep-Nov 1886.
Folder 13: Letters by SRAD, Dec 1886.
Folder 14: Letters by SRAD, Jan-Feb 1887.
Folder 15: Letters by SRAD, Mar-Apr 1887.
Folder 16: Letters by SRAD, May-Jun 1887.
Folder 17: Letters by SRAD, Jul-Sep 1887.
Folder 18: Letters by SRAD, Oct-Dec 1887.
Folder 19: Letters by SRAD, Jan-Feb 1888.
Folder 20: Letters by SRAD, Mar-Apr 1888.
Folder 21: Letters by SRAD, May-Aug 1888.
Folder 22: Letters by SRAD, Oct-Nov 1888.
Folder 23: Letters by SRAD, Dec 1888.
Folder 24: Letters by SRAD, Jan-Jun 1889.
Folder 25: Letters by SRAD, Jul-Dec 1889.
Folder 26: Letters by SRAD, Jan-Mar 1890.
Folder 27: Letters by SRAD, Apr-May 1890.
Folder 28: Letters by SRAD, Jun-Jul 1890.
Folder 29: Letters by SRAD, Oct 1890.
Folder 30: Letters by SRAD, Nov-Dec 1890.
Folder 31: Letters by SRAD, 1891.
Box Three
Folder 1: Letters by SRAD, Jan-Apr 1892.
Folder 2: Letters by SRAD, May-Jun 1892.
Folder 3: Letters by SRAD, Jul-Sep 1892.
Folder 4: Letters by SRAD, Oct-Nov 1892.
Folder 5: Letters by SRAD, Dec 1892.
Folder 6: Letters by SRAD, Jan 1893.
Folder 7: Letters by SRAD, Feb-Mar 1893.
Folder 8: Letters by SRAD, Apr 1893.
Folder 9: Letters by SRAD, May-Jun 1893.
Folder 10: Letters by SRAD, Jul-Aug 1893.
Folder 11: Letters by SRAD, Sep-Oct 1893.
Folder 12: Letters by SRAD, Nov-Dec 1893.
Folder 13: Letters by SRAD, Jan 1894.
Folder 14: Letters by SRAD, Feb 1894.
Folder 15: Letters by SRAD, Mar-Apr 1894.
Folder 16: Letters by SRAD, May-Jun 1894.
Folder 17: Letters by SRAD, Jul-Aug 1894.
Folder 18: Letters by SRAD, Sep-Oct 1894.
Folder 19: Letters by SRAD, Nov 1894.
Folder 20: Letters by SRAD, Dec 1894.
Folder 21: Letters by SRAD, Jan-Feb 1895.
Folder 22: Letters by SRAD, Mar 1895.
Folder 23: Letters by SRAD, Apr-Jun 1895.
Folder 24: Letters by SRAD, Jul 1895.
Folder 25: Letters by SRAD, Aug 1895.
Folder 26: Letters by SRAD, Sep 1895.
Folder 27: Letters by SRAD, Oct 1895.
Folder 28: Letters by SRAD, Nov 1895.
Folder 29: Letters by SRAD, Dec 1895.
Box Four
Folder 1: Letters by SRAD, Jan 1896.
Folder 2: Letters by SRAD, Feb-Mar 1896.
Folder 3: Letters by SRAD, Apr 1896.
Folder 4: Letters by SRAD, May 1896.
Folder 5: Letters by SRAD, Jun-Aug 1896.
Folder 6: Letters by SRAD, Sep-Oct 1896.
Folder 7: Letters by SRAD, Nov-Dec 1896.
Folder 8: Letters by SRAD, Jan-Feb 1897.
Folder 9: Letters by SRAD, Mar-Apr 1897.
Folder 10: Letters by SRAD, Jun-Dec 1897.
Folder 11: Letters by SRAD, Jan-Feb 1898.
Folder 12: Letters by SRAD, Mar-Apr 1898.
Folder 13: Letters by SRAD, May-Jun 1898.
Folder 14: Letters by SRAD, Jul 1898.
Folder 15: Letters by SRAD, Aug 1898.
Folder 16: Letters by SRAD, Sep 1898.
Folder 17: Letters by SRAD, Oct-Nov 1898.
Folder 18: Letters by SRAD, Dec 1898.
Folder 19: Letters by SRAD, Jan 1899.
Folder 20: Letters by SRAD, Feb-Apr 1899.
Folder 21: Letters by SRAD, May 1899.
Folder 22: Letters by SRAD, Jun 1899.
Folder 23: Letters by SRAD, Jul 1899.
Folder 24: Letters by SRAD, Aug 1899.
Folder 25: Letters by SRAD, Sep-Oct 1899.
Folder 26: Letters by SRAD, Nov 1899.
Folder 27: Letters by SRAD, Dec 1899.
Box Five
Folder 1: Letters by SRAD, Jan 1900.
Folder 2: Letters by SRAD, Feb-Apr 1900.
Folder 3: Letters by SRAD, May 1900.
Folder 4: Letters by SRAD, Jun-Jul 1900.
Folder 5: Letters by SRAD, Aug 1900.
Folder 6: Letters by SRAD, Sep 1900.
Folder 7: Letters by SRAD, Oct 1900.
Folder 8: Letters by SRAD, Nov 1900.
Folder 9: Letters by SRAD, Dec 1900.
Folder 10: Letters by SRAD, Jan 1901.
Folder 11: Letters by SRAD, Feb 1901.
Folder 12: Letters by SRAD, Mar 1901.
Folder 13: Letters by SRAD, Apr 1901.
Folder 14: Letters by SRAD, May 1901.
Folder 15: Letters by SRAD, Jun-Jul 1901.
Folder 16: Letters by SRAD, Aug-Sep 1901.
Folder 17: Letters by SRAD, Oct 1901.
Folder 18: Letters by SRAD, Nov-Dec 1901.
Folder 19: Letters by SRAD, Jan-Feb 1902.
Folder 20: Letters by SRAD, Mar 1902.
Folder 21: Letters by SRAD, Apr 1902.
Folder 22: Letters by SRAD, May 1902.
Folder 23: Letters by SRAD, Jun 1902.
Folder 24: Letters by SRAD, Jul 1902.
Folder 25: Letters by SRAD, Aug-Sep 1902.
Folder 26: Letters by SRAD, Oct 1902.
Folder 27: Letters by SRAD, Nov 1902.
Folder 28: Letters by SRAD, Dec 1902.
Box Six
Folder 1: Letters by SRAD, Jan-Feb 1903.
Folder 2: Letters by SRAD, Mar 1903.
Folder 3: Letters by SRAD, Apr-May 1903.
Folder 4: Letters by SRAD, Feb-Sep 1904.
Folder 5: Letters by SRAD, Oct 1-17, 1904.
Folder 6: Letters by SRAD, Oct 18-26, 1904.
Folder 7: Letters by SRAD, Nov-Dec 1904.
Folder 8: Letters by SRAD, 1905, 1907.
Folder 9: Letters by SRAD, 1908.
Folder 10: Letters by SRAD, 1909.
Folder 11: Letters by SRAD, undated.
Box Seven
Folder 1: Letters to SRAD, 1863-1874.
Folder 2: Letters to SRAD, Jan-Jun 1876.
Folder 3: Letters to SRAD, Jul-Dec 1876.
Folder 4: Letters to SRAD, Jan-Mar 1878.
Folder 5: Letters to SRAD, Apr-Jun 1878.
Folder 6: Letters to SRAD, Jul-Aug 1878.
Folder 7: Letters to SRAD, Sep-Dec 1878.
Folder 8: Letters to SRAD, 1879.
Folder 9: Letters to SRAD, Jan-Feb 1880.
Folder 10: Letters to SRAD, Mar-Apr 1880.
Folder 11: Letters to SRAD, May-Jun 1880.
Folder 12: Letters to SRAD, Nov-Dec 1880.
Folder 13: Letters to SRAD, Jan 1881.
Folder 14: Letters to SRAD, Feb 1881.
Folder 15: Letters to SRAD, Apr-Dec 1881.
Folder 16: Letters to SRAD, 1882.
Folder 17: Letters to SRAD, 1883.
Folder 18: Letters to SRAD, Jan-May 1884.
Folder 19: Letters to SRAD, Jun-Sep 1884.
Folder 20: Letters to SRAD, Oct-Nov 1884.
Folder 21: Letters to SRAD, Dec 1884.
Folder 22: Letters to SRAD, Jan-Feb 1885.
Folder 23: Letters to SRAD, Mar-Apr 1885.
Folder 24: Letters to SRAD, May 1885.
Folder 25: Letters to SRAD, Jun-Jul 1885.
Folder 26: Letters to SRAD, Sep-Oct 1885.
Folder 27: Letters to SRAD, Nov-Dec 1885.
Box Eight
Folder 1: Letters to SRAD, Jan-Feb 1886.
Folder 2: Letters to SRAD, Mar-Apr 1886.
Folder 3: Letters to SRAD, May-Aug 1886.
Folder 4: Letters to SRAD, Sep-Dec 1886.
Folder 5: Letters to SRAD, Jan-Mar 1887.
Folder 6: Letters to SRAD, Apr-May 1887.
Folder 7: Letters to SRAD, Jun-Sep 1887.
Folder 8: Letters to SRAD, Oct-Dec 1887.
Folder 9: Letters to SRAD, Jan-Mar 1888.
Folder 10: Letters to SRAD, Apr-Jun 1888.
Folder 11: Letters to SRAD, Jul-Aug 1888.
Folder 12: Letters to SRAD, Sep-Oct 1888.
Folder 13: Letters to SRAD, Nov-Dec 1888.
Folder 14: Letters to SRAD, Jan-Feb 1889.
Folder 15: Letters to SRAD, Mar-Apr 1889.
Folder 16: Letters to SRAD, May-Jul 1889.
Folder 17: Letters to SRAD, Aug-Oct 1889.
Folder 18: Letters to SRAD, Nov-Dec 1889.
Folder 19: Letters to SRAD, Jan-Jun 1890.
Folder 20: Letters to SRAD, Aug-Dec 1890.
Folder 21: Letters to SRAD, Jan-Mar 1891.
Folder 22: Letters to SRAD, Apr-Aug 1891.
Folder 23: Letters to SRAD, Sep-Oct 1891.
Folder 24: Letters to SRAD, Nov-Dec 1891.
Box Nine
Folder 1: Letters to SRAD, Jan-Mar 1892.
Folder 2: Letters to SRAD, Apr-Jun 1892.
Folder 3: Letters to SRAD, Jul-Sep 1892.
Folder 4: Letters to SRAD, Oct 1892.
Folder 5: Letters to SRAD, Nov-Dec 1892.
Folder 6: Letters to SRAD, Jan-Mar 1893.
Folder 7: Letters to SRAD, Apr-May 1893.
Folder 8: Letters to SRAD, Jun-Jul 1893.
Folder 9: Letters to SRAD, Aug-Sep 1893.
Folder 10: Letters to SRAD, Oct-Nov 1893.
Folder 11: Letters to SRAD, Dec 1893.
Folder 12: Letters to SRAD, Jan-May 1894.
Folder 13: Letters to SRAD, Jun-Aug 1894.
Folder 14: Letters to SRAD, Sep 1894.
Folder 15: Letters to SRAD, Oct-Nov 1894.
Folder 16: Letters to SRAD, Dec 1894.
Folder 17: Letters to SRAD, Jan 1895.
Folder 18: Letters to SRAD, Feb 1895.
Folder 19: Letters to SRAD, Mar-Apr 1895.
Folder 20: Letters to SRAD, May-Jun 1895.
Folder 21: Letters to SRAD, Jul-Aug 1895.
Folder 22: Letters to SRAD, Sep 1895.
Folder 23: Letters to SRAD, Oct 1895.
Folder 24: Letters to SRAD, Nov 1895.
Folder 25: Letters to SRAD, Dec 1895.
Box Ten
Folder 1: Letters to SRAD, Jan-Mar 1896.
Folder 2: Letters to SRAD, Apr-May 1896.
Folder 3: Letters to SRAD, Jun-Jul 1896.
Folder 4: Letters to SRAD, Aug-Sep 1896.
Folder 5: Letters to SRAD, Oct-Nov 1896.
Folder 6: Letters to SRAD, Dec 1896.
Folder 7: Letters to SRAD, Jan-Feb 1897.
Folder 8: Letters to SRAD, Mar-Jun 1897.
Folder 9: Letters to SRAD, Jul-Aug 1897.
Folder 10: Letters to SRAD, Sep-Oct 1897.
Folder 11: Letters to SRAD, Nov-Dec 1897.
Folder 12: Letters to SRAD, Feb-Mar 1898.
Folder 13: Letters to SRAD, Apr-Jul 1898.
Folder 14: Letters to SRAD, Aug-Dec 1898.
Folder 15: Letters to SRAD, 1899.
Folder 16: Letters to SRAD, Jan-Jun 1900.
Folder 17: Letters to SRAD, Jul-Dec 1900.
Folder 18: Letters to SRAD, Jan-Mar 1901.
Folder 19: Letters to SRAD, Apr-May 1901.
Folder 20: Letters to SRAD, 1904-1908.
Folder 21: Letters to SRAD, undated.
Folder 22: SRAD biographical material.
Folder 23: Fragments of manuscript biographical account of the life of Lester C.
Dolley, M.D., undated.
Folder 24: C.S. Dolley biographical material.
Folder 25: Dolley family genealogy.
Folder 26: Corson family biographical material.
Box Eleven
Folder 1: SRAD miscellaneous financial & legal documents.
Folder 2: C.S. Dolley miscellaneous financial & legal documents.
C.S.Dolley Letter Copy Book, 1895-1901.