Artifacts & Documents: Manuscripts

Jacob Bigelow's Letter to Edward Hitchcock, April 22, 1817

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The Boston physician Jacob Bigelow describes a flower, adds to the list of plants he would like "Miss White" to paint for his upcoming Medical Botany, and provides a labeled sketch of a corn plant. His specific naming of plant parts shows the importance he placed on accurate depictions of plants to be used in medical compounds. As an unmarried woman of the middle class, it would not have been seemly for Orra to conduct business correspondence on her own. Had Edward Hitchcock not been around to do this, her father might have stepped in.

Creator:
Jacob Bigelow
Date:
April 22, 1817
Courtesy of:
Edward and Orra White Hitchcock Papers, Amherst College Archives and Special Collections, Amherst College Library