Women Physicians in Early Texas Medicine

The exhibit Women Physicians in Early Texas Medicine features women physician pioneers in the state of Texas. They registered with the Texas State Board of Medical Examiners, supplying information on their education as well as a photograph. See May Turner Stout for a link to her Application for Reciprocal Endorsement to the Texas State Board of Medical Examiners. The earliest exhibited physician's birthdate is 1852.

The exhibit features early physicians of various ethnicities, as well as a sample Board application. Women Physicians in Early Texas Medicine is a companion exhibit to the national traveling exhibit Changing the Face of Medicine: Celebrating America's Women Physicians. The exhibits will be on display at the Houston Academy of Medicine-Texas Medical Center Library during the spring and summer of 2008.

Images

Luba Esthera Anigstein 1891-1957 Galveston	Emma Beck 1888-1964 Fredericksburg	Edna Whitcomb Brown 1873-1951 Freeport	Petra Bonilla Toral de Colunga 1866-1955 Dallas	Martha Marilla Crofut 1859-1919 Denton
Caroline Crowell 1893-1972 Austin	Helen Emily Gray 1896-1969 Junction	Mildred Voleta Hanna 1900-1957 Glen Rose	Nell Maudena Carney Hester 1891-1963 Buffalo	Carolyn Jeanne Long 1927-1960 Austin
Blanche Uranie McCown 1919-1952 Burnet	Mary Sinthmayd McKay 1866-1928 Harlingen	Clara DeGress McKinney 1852-? Houston	Dorcas Fidelia Merriman Meadows 1876-1925 Waco	Hattie Frank Love Rankin 1884-1955 Odessa
Nina Turner Rowland 1870-1934 San Benito	Emma Miller Sherrill 1878-1935 Laredo	S. Ella Spiller 1875-1938 Houston	Edith Isabel Stevenson 1893-1943 McAllen	May Turner Stout 1888-1946 Galveston Application to Medical Examiners(10.7MB)
Carrie Jane Sutton 1899-1964 San Antonio	Cora White Trevitt 1867-1943 San Antonio	Henriette Hanna Voet 1908-1963 Borger	Inez Rouse Waters 1863-? Houston

Houston Women Physicians

Ruth Hartgraves, MD

Ruth Hartgraves, MD, a Houston obstetrician and gynecologist who delivered more than 3,000 Houstonians and pioneered the trail for women in medicine during the span of her 50 year career, died October 17, 1995, at the age of 93. A native Texan, Dr. Hartgraves was born October 24, 1901 and moved to the Houston area during the 1930s to attend the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) in Galveston. She graduated from UTMB's School of Medicine in 1932, and thereafter completed an internship at the New England Hospital for Women and Children in Boston, and a residency at the New York Infirmary for Women and Children.

Dr. Hartgraves began her career in Houston in 1935 and held appointments at Methodist, Hermann, Memorial, St. Luke's and Jefferson Davis Hospitals before retiring from practice in 1987. She was also a faculty member of Baylor College of Medicine for almost 30 years.

Dr. Hartgraves was the recipient of the 1992 Distinguished Professional Women's Award which is presented by the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. This award was presented in recognition of Dr. Hartgraves' outstanding achievements in Texas and the nation, for the significant contributions she made to her professional discipline, and for her pioneering spirit to mentor women and to provide a positive role model.

In 1985, she was awarded the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Hartgraves was also the recipient of the 1980 Ashbel Smith Distinguished Alumnus Award granted by the UTMB School of Medicine alumni to graduates who have made significant contributions to the medical profession and to mankind.

She served as an organizer and the first President of the Houston branch of the American Medical Women's Association (AMWA), as well as President of the national AMWA organization. In 1975, her efforts earned her the AMWA's highest honor, the Elizabeth Blackwell Award, presented annually to a person making an outstanding contribution to the cause of women in medicine. Dr. Hartgraves was the first Texas physician to be so recognized.

Adapted from Houston Chronicle, Thursday, October 19, 1995.

A Guide to the Papers of Ruth Hartgraves, MD is available online here.

Violet Hannah Keiller, MD

Dr. Keiller was born in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1887. Her family moved to Texas in 1890, where her father was hired at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. She graduated in 1914 from the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston and became a professor of surgical pathology at her alma mater.

In 1927, shortly after Hermann Hospital opened, Dr. Keiller was hired as a pathologist. She was certified by the American Board of Pathologists in 1937. As chief pathologist, she worked at Hermann for more than twenty years. She also consulted at M.D. Anderson Hospital and Tumor Institute.

Dr. Keiller was much respected by other pathologists and her reputation was such that she was elected President of the Texas Society of Pathologists in 1930. She was also the only woman member of the Texas Surgical Society during its first fifty years.

Dr. Keiller continued to act as a consultant for both Hermann Hospital and M.D. Anderson Hospital and Tumor Institute until 1954. She died in 1958.

Ray Karchmer Daily, MD

Ray Karchmer Daily, MD was born in 1891 in Vilna, Lithuania. During her childhood, her family moved to Denison, Texas. Later, she attended the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, graduating in 1913.

The Dailys moved to Houston in 1914 where she practiced ophthalmology with her husband, Louis Daily, also from Vilna. Their son Louis Daily later joined the practice. Dr. Daily was also on the faculty at Baylor College of Medicine. She published a number of papers, in addition to being an able translator of papers on opthalmological subjects in Russian, Spanish, French, and German.

In 1959, Dr. Daily was one of two members of the American College of Surgeons to be named "Medical Woman of the Year". She was an officer of the American Academy of Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology. She was also past president of the Houston Eye, Ear, Nose, and Throat Society.

Dr. Daily died November 28, 1975.