Women in Medicine E. C. Houston’s Courtship Letter to Woman Physician Lydia Bailey 1895

Woman Doctor 1895 Women In Medicine Women In Science

Manuscripts & Autographs

Houston, E. C. Autograph letter signed to Dr. Lydia Bailey, 1895, documents a male physician deliberately seeking a woman physician as a prospective wife and the personal scrutiny directed toward a professionally educated woman in late nineteenth-century courtship. Writing from Memphis, Tennessee, to Bailey in Philadelphia, Houston addresses her professionally as “Dear Doctor” and explains that he wishes to correspond with a “lady physician” with marriage in mind. His stated preference is explicitly tied to professional education: he seeks a woman “educated in the same profession” because he believes he “could love her better” than a wife who did not share his medical background. The letter acknowledges Bailey first as a physician while simultaneously subjecting a prospective professional equal to detailed questions about marriage, biography, and physical appearance.
Houston, E. C. 1895. Autograph letter signed to Dr. Lydia Bailey, Philadelphia. Six pages, 7¾ x 5 inches. Houston supplies information about himself and asks Bailey to reciprocate with particulars about her background. His inquiries extend to her physical measurements, including “height, weight, and measurement around hips, waist & chest,” placing unusually specific questions about her body alongside his expressed interest in her medical education. Accompanying the letter are the original envelope, Houston’s calling card identifying him as a medical doctor, and a blank prescription sheet bearing his medical credentials. These supporting pieces substantiate the professional identity from which Houston writes and preserve the medical stationery associated with his Memphis practice.

By 1895, women had established a sustained presence in American medical education and practice, but they remained a small minority of physicians and continued to encounter institutional and social barriers within the profession. Houston’s letter records one consequence of that changing professional landscape at the level of private correspondence: the possibility that a male physician might seek a spouse specifically because she possessed the same professional training. His language also shows how recognition of a woman’s medical status could coexist with conventional expectations surrounding marriage and female appearance. Two worn horizontal mailing folds, with separation beginning along fold edges; minor tape repairs to sheets two and three and light handling soil, while the handwriting remains clean and legible. Original envelope, calling card, and prescription sheet present; very good condition. A direct record of professional status, courtship, and gender expectations addressed to an American woman physician in 1895.

Item #16209

Price: $225.00