Mandy Cooper has curated a new exhibit with the Rubenstein Library, highlighting the Rubenstein’s Benjamin and Julia Stockton Rush Papers, part of the History of Medicine Collection. The exhibit, Malignant Fever: Benjamin Rush and the 1793 Yellow Fever Epidemic in Philadelphia, highlights the effects of epidemic diseases on society by examining one of the most famous outbreaks in U.S. history – the 1793 yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia. Drawing chiefly on letters written by Dr. Benjamin Rush, an eighteenth-century physician and U.S. Founding Father, to his wife Julia Stockton Rush, the exhibit examines the timeline of the outbreak, early responses, stages and symptoms, and the “cure” for yellow fever that Rush developed. Finally, the exhibit looks at the anatomy of an epidemic, focusing on the social and psychological effects exemplified by Rush’s emotion-filled letters, as well as stories that emphasize the fear, panic, and mental anguish that accompany epidemic disease outbreaks even today.
The exhibit will be on display in the Mary Duke Biddle Room through March 11, 2016. Mandy will lead a gallery talk on February 26, 2016 at 2 pm in the Biddle Room. All are welcome to attend, and light refreshments will be served.
An online version of the exhibit can be viewed at http://exhibits.library.duke.edu/exhibits/show/fever/
History
