McCauley Lecture: Medical practice in Washington County in the 1830s

The Western Maryland Room has an incomparable collection of medical practice ledgers that belonged to Dr. Augustin Asbury Biggs of Sharpsburg, Maryland. These original daybooks and ledgers cover his medical practice from 1838 to 1886. A.A. Biggs was born to John and Mary Biggs on Dec. 27, 1812, in Double Pipe Creek, MD, and attended Jefferson Medical College of Philadelphia before entering the practice of medicine in Sharpsburg during the 1830s. Dr. Biggs specialized in obstetrics, and helped deliver more than three thousand infants during his fifty-three-year career. His skills as a physician were used very differently following the Battle of Antietam on Sept. 17, 1862. This talk will explore the state of medical care through the entries in the Biggs ledgers. In addition, the speaker will discuss the entries of his great-great grandfather and his family during the years 1836-1842, adding a personal lens that he will use to encourage discussion and thoughtful comments on the times.