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R.N. Lambert Ledger, 1829-1834Finding AidFinding aid prepared by Lisa May.Encoding funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.2003
Administrative InformationAcquired from Charles Apfelbaum, 1987. Processed by Lisa May, July 1989. Preferred CitationCite as: R.N. Lambert Ledger (MS 256). Special Collections and University Archives, W.E.B. Du Bois Library, University of Massachusetts Amherst. The collection is open for research. Return to the Table of Contents Scope and Contents of the CollectionThis ledger documents the medical practice of Dr. R.N. Lambert in Upton, Massachusetts for the years 1829 to 1834. The length of each account entry varies, from a few lines to several pages. The accounts are two-column, with debits and credits probably carried from a daybook. Almost all were balanced and settled at some point. Lambert apparently preferred to settle in cash or promissory notes. A few entries listed goods or services. Credits included sewing, livery work, and payment in grains. The ledger contains a loose livery stable bill and some scraps of paper, but no personal notations (although one entry implies Lambert boarded with Harvey Bradish). Most of Lambert's entries were simply for "journey, visit, medicine." Other frequent entries include extraction of teeth, vaccination, venesection (bleeding), and childbirth. He prescribed a variety of medicines, from castor oil and camphor to opium and sulpher quinine. Lambert's accounts indicate he kept a busy family practice with members of the Bradish, Fisk, Putnam, and Rockwood families as regular patients. A separate account listed his work for Upton, presumably for the town's poor. In addition, many of his patients were women, with accounts listed under women's names directly (compared with married women whose accounts are listed among their husband's). Return to the Table of Contents Search TermsReturn to the Table of Contents |
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