Susan Rishworth
I seek assistance from FHWIM with my work on Verina Morton Jones, MD. I have presented papers on Dr. Morton Jones at the American Association for the History of Medicine, the Society of American Archivists and at other academic conferences, have been invited to submit the biographical entry on her for the African American National Biography published by Oxford University Press, and am now working on plans for a book.

Because so many pieces of Dr. Morton Jones' story are still not, and may never be documented, her biography needs to be fleshed out with study of the people she knew, the places she lived, the environment in which she lived. Chapters on Ohio, South Carolina, Mississippi, Long Island and Philadelphia will all be part of her story. For the purposes of this grant, I want to explore the situation in Philadelphia and at the WMCP (Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania) from 1884-88, look at what it was like to be a young, affluent African American woman studying at the most prestigious medical school for women at the time-Where might she have lived? What was her relationship with her fellow students? Was she able to do clinical work as part of her studies? Who were her friends and confidants?