Frances Van Gasken Explained

Frances Van Gasken
Birth Name:Frances Culbreth Van Gasken
Birth Date:May 24, 1860
Birth Place:Smyrna, Delaware, U.S.
Death Date:October 24, 1939 (age 79)
Death Place:Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, U.S.

Frances Culbreth Van Gasken (May 24, 1860 – October 24, 1939) was an American physician and suffragist, based in Philadelphia.

Early life and education

Van Gasken was born in Smyrna, Delaware,[1] the daughter of John Van Gasken and Harriet Van Gasken. Her mother died in 1863, and she was raised by her stepmother, Rachel English Van Gasken. She graduated from the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1890.[2] She later made postgraduate studies in Vienna. Her brother Joseph practiced medicine in Texas.[3]

Career

Van Gasken was one of the first women interns at Philadelphia General Hospital. In 1893 she was an inspector for the city's Bureau of Health,[4] and addressed the Civic Club of Philadelphia on health conditions in the city's tenement houses.[5] [6] She was resident physician at the College Settlement House in Philadelphia until 1896,[7] when she became physician for the women's department of the Philadelphia Municipal Court. She was removed as medical inspector by the mayor in 1899, sparking a protest from her colleagues.[8] She was a professor of clinical medicine at the Woman's Hospital of Philadelphia from 1918 until she resigned as part of a faculty protest over Alice Weld Tallant's dismissal in 1923.[9] [10]

Van Gasken was known to wear a "Votes for Women" pin while teaching, and in January 1915 she was part of a delegation of Pennsylvania suffragists who spoke on the subject at the White House with Woodrow Wilson.[11] [12] She exhorted women medical students in 1917 to take on professional responsibilities and join in the war effort,[13] saying "Who is there to fill these places but women? Is it not your day? Does opportunity not call to you?"[14] [15]

Personal life and legacy

Van Gasken died in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, in 1939, at the age of 79.[16] She left money to her sister and Camp Onawa in Piscataquis County, Maine, to her nephew;[17] her estate also funded a scholarship in her father's name, at a high school in her hometown.[18]

Notes and References

  1. News: 1939-10-25 . Native of Smyrna, Early Interne, Dies . 2024-04-17 . The Morning News . 1 . Newspapers.com.
  2. News: 1939-10-25 . Woman Doctor Died . 2024-04-17 . Standard-Speaker . 11 . Newspapers.com.
  3. September 1893 . Medical News and Miscellany . Texas Medical Journal . 9 . 3 . 140.
  4. Sutherland . John F. . 1975 . The Origins of Philadelphia's Octavia Hill Association: Social Reform in the "Contented" City . The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography . 99 . 1 . 24 . 20090920 . 0031-4587.
  5. Phillips . Harlan B. . 1952 . A War on Philadelphia's Slums: Walter Vrooman and the Conference of Moral Workers, 1893 . The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography . 76 . 1 . 47–62 . 20088325 . 0031-4587.
  6. Kahan . Michael B. . 2013-10-01 . The Risk of Cholera and The Reform of Urban Space: Philadelphia, 1893 . Geographical Review . en . 103 . 4 . 517–536 . 10.1111/j.1931-0846.2013.00018.x . 2013GeoRv.103..517K . 0016-7428.
  7. Book: College Settlements Association . Annual Report . 1892 . 36 . en.
  8. News: 1899-04-25 . Want Dr. Van Gasken Reappointed . 2024-04-17 . The Philadelphia Times . 3 . Newspapers.com.
  9. News: 1939-10-25 . Prominent Woman Doctor, Native of Smyrna, is Dead . 2024-04-17 . The News Journal . Newspapers.com. 1.
  10. Book: Peitzman, Steven Jay . A New and Untried Course: Woman's Medical College and Medical College of Pennsylvania, 1850-1998 . 2000 . Rutgers University Press . 978-0-8135-2816-8 . 133–134, 150 . en.
  11. News: 1915-01-09 . Dr. Van Gasken and Miss Paul Comment . 2024-04-17 . Maryland Suffrage News . 2 . Newspapers.com.
  12. News: 1915-01-04 . Democratic Women Will Ask President for Suffrage Help . 2024-04-17 . The Washington Herald . 6 . Newspapers.com.
  13. Jensen . Kimberly . 1993 . Uncle Sam's Loyal Nieces: American Medical Women, Citizenship, and War Service in World War I . Bulletin of the History of Medicine . 67 . 4 . 670–690 . 44445837 . 8312707 . 0007-5140.
  14. Web site: Not Waiting for the Call: American Women Physicians and World War I . 2024-04-17 . Falvey Library Exhibits.
  15. Web site: Mandell . Melissa . January 18, 2017 . The Hippocratic Vote . 2024-04-17 . The Smart Set . en-US.
  16. News: 1939-10-27 . A Worthy Woman . 2024-04-17 . The Morning News . 8 . Newspapers.com.
  17. News: 1939-11-04 . Sister Gets Bulk of $30,000 Estate . 2024-04-17 . The Philadelphia Inquirer . 11 . Newspapers.com.
  18. News: 1952-03-31 . Smyrna Club Picks Officers . 2024-04-17 . The News Journal . 10 . Newspapers.com.

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