Mercy in a Town Without: Catholic Nurses and their Medical Care in a Frontier Town
Author(s): Breanna M Wilbanks
Year: 2018
Summary
From Ireland to Fort Smith, the Sisters of Mercy parish was established by Bishop Andrew Byrne, along with five devout female recruits, to support the Church of Immaculate Conception which would be the first Catholic place of worship in what was considered the "wild" westernmost portion of the United States.The Sisters of Mercy site, (3SB1083) was occupied from its establishment in 1853 up to present day, where it hosts several schools, outbuildings, and a cathedral and acts still today as a place to provide medical care to those in need. Excavations occurred in 2004 by the Arkansas Archeological Survey, revealing a number of medicinal bottles, dating from the early 1800’s up to 1903. Immigrant women, who provided care to the destitute of an unruly city, used a variety of methods to cross both ethnic, religious, and gender lines in their effort to complete their "divine" mission.
Cite this Record
Mercy in a Town Without: Catholic Nurses and their Medical Care in a Frontier Town. Breanna M Wilbanks. Presented at Society for Historical Archaeology, New Orleans, Louisiana. 2018 ( tDAR id: 441645)
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Keywords
General
Arkansas
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Irish Catholic
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Medicine
Geographic Keywords
North America
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United States of America
Temporal Keywords
19th Century
Spatial Coverage
min long: -129.199; min lat: 24.495 ; max long: -66.973; max lat: 49.359 ;
Individual & Institutional Roles
Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology
Record Identifiers
PaperId(s): 723