In honor of National Doctor’s Day, this talk offers an introduction to medical ideas and practices in late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Massachusetts, both among physicians like Francis Wicks, who lived and worked in Falmouth, as well as midwives, bonesetters, surgeons, and non-credentialed practitioners who made medicines at home. The Society owns the house where Wicks lived.

The talk will be given by Dr. Olivia Weisser is Associate Professor of History at the University of Massachusetts Boston. She has a Ph.D. in the History of Medicine from Johns Hopkins University and her research specialty is the history of health, healing, bodies, and disease. Her first book, Ill Composed (Yale University Press) is about patients’ perceptions of sickness in the 17th and 18th centuries. This book will be for sale from Eight Cousins Bookstore during the event and she will be able to sign copies. She is currently an NEH fellow and finishing up a new book on the history of venereal disease.

$20 Non-Members/ $10 Members. Includes appetizers and wine. Limited capacity. This event will be held at the Cultural Center at the Falmouth Museums on the Green.