Quantity: | 1 box (0.25 cubic ft.) |
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Access: | Open to research |
Acquisition: | Purchase; Romaine, December 12, 1957 |
Processed By: | Nicholas Webb, Student Assistant, State University of New York at Albany, June 2008 |
Horace Tracy Hanks, a Civil War regimental surgeon who would go on to become one of America's pioneering gynecologists, was born on June 27, 1837, in East Randolph, Vt. He graduated from Albany Medical College in 1861.
In the summer of 1862 Hanks became acting assistant surgeon to the Thirtieth New York Volunteers and was assigned to duty at the Armory Square Hospital in Washington, D.C., where he treated soldiers who had been wounded at the Second Battle of Bull Run. In October he was ordered to Frederick, Md., where he served in a hospital camp, and from there he traveled with his regiment to Virginia, where they fought at the Battle of Fredericksburg. In the early months of 1863 he served briefly as surgeon to the 2nd U.S. Sharpshooters, but by May 1863 he had returned to the Thirtieth Volunteers, with whom he crossed the Rappahannock River when they attacked Fredericksburg a second time during the Battle of Chancellorsville.
In the summer of 1863 Hanks was honorably discharged from the army and returned to the full-time practice of medicine. In 1865, after a brief stint as a physician in Royalston, Mass., he moved to New York City, where he would live and practice for the rest of his life.
In 1864 Hanks married Martha L. ("Mattie") Fisk of East Bethel, Vt., with whom he had corresponded during his military service. She died in 1868; the couple's only child died in 1874. In 1872 he married Julia Dana Godfrey, a native of Keene, N.H., with whom he had three children.
Hanks chose gynecology as his surgical specialty and became a prominent physician in the field, writing several influential journal articles. In 1872 he was appointed attending physician and surgeon at the DeMilt Dispensary, where he served for ten years. In 1885 he was appointed Professor of the Diseases of Women at the Post-Graduate Medical School, and in 1889 he became chief surgeon at the Women's Hospital. He was a member of numerous medical organizations and served for two years as president of the New York County Medical Society. In addition, he was active in religious and philanthropic causes as a deacon of the Madison Avenue Baptist Church and as president of the Baptist Social Union. He died in New York City on November 19, 1900.
The papers of Horace Tracy Hanks relate chiefly to his service as a surgeon in the army during the Civil War. They include letters sent by Hanks to his future wife, Mattie Fiske, that describe the Northern Virginia campaigns of 1862-1863. The letters describe the Battles at Bull Run (2nd), Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville (during which Hanks's regiment was part of the second attack on Fredericksburg.) Many letters also describe his experience of working in an army hospital camp along with personal comments regarding the horrors of war.
These papers also contain other materials related to Hanks' service as an army surgeon, including rosters of wounded soldiers and their injuries and Hanks' various assignment orders.
A smaller assortment of papers documents Hanks's post-war career. These items include letters of recommendation, his 1876 letter of appointment as a deacon to Madison Avenue Baptist Church, numerous letters informing Hanks of his receipt of various professional honors (including the vice presidency of the New York Academy of Medicine), and an undated pamphlet by Hanks on the subject of using saline injections to prevent shock.
The collection also includes two Civil War-era letters from Mattie Fiske's brother, William L. Fiske, to his family in Vermont.
Box | Folder | Description |
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1 | 1 | Correspondence – 1861 (1 item) A.L.S., 6 July 1861, Richmond, Vermont, to Mattie Fiske. Personal letter. |
1 | 2 | Correspondence – 1862 (14 items)
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1 | 3 | Correspondence – 1863 (12 items)
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1 | 4 | Financial Correspondence – 1895, n.d. (2 items) |
1 | 5 | "Intravenous Injection of Normal Saline Solution" (Pamphlet, inscribed) – n.d. |
1 | 6 | Letter of Appointment as Deacon, Madison Avenue Baptist Church – 1876 (1 item) |
1 | 7 | Letters of Recommendation – 1863, 1870 (2 items) |
1 | 8 | Medical Honors – 1870-1894 |
1 | 9 | Military Hospital Records – 1862-1863 |
1 | 10 | Military Orders and Discharge Papers – 1862-1863 |
1 | 11 | South Royalston, Massachusetts, Correspondence – 1864, 1866 (2 items) |
1 | 12 | Transcribed Poem ("The Empty Sleeve"); woodcut-printed envelope fragment[?]; unidentified letter – n.d. |
1 | 13 | William L. Fiske – Correspondence – 1863, 1865 (2 items)
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