March 20 – Celebrating Women’s History: Famous and infamous women who spent time on the Island

By admin

SPECIAL EDITION  MARCH 20, 2020

CELEBRATING

WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH 

This is the third in a series of historical
excerpts from the Archives of the RIHS

Ms. Agatha Zeh interview Continued

In yesterday’s edition we recounted an interview with Ms. Agatha Zeh, a nurse who served on Blackwell’s Island in 1920.  During that time, Ms. Zeh recalled that there was a female physician at City Hospital — a rare thing for that period.  Coincidentally, we remembered that in 2017 the RIHS acquired a Certificate from City Hospital for Edith L. Swartwout, MD for her completion of a one year residency at Metropolitan Hospital in August of 1924. Was Dr. Swartwout the person Ms. Zeh remembered?  Coincidence or true story?

Long Career and Life of HOPE CLARK REID, MD

Mrs. Timmerman remembers a child visiting her mother on the island (Hope Clark Reid) in the summer and living off island during the school year.  Hope Clark Reid came to the Welfare Island in 1926 to study nursing at the City Hospital School of Nursing, graduating in 1929. 

Over the years she earned a Certificate of Teaching Home Nursing from NYU, worked in Personnel Administration at NYU, received her Certificate in Midwifery for Registered Nurses and earned her Bachelors degree in Science in Nursing Education from Hunter College.

For eight years, she worked at City Hospital as a staff nurse, head nurse, Supervision and Assistant Superintendent of Nurses.  

In 1952 she was appointed the Superintendent of Nurses at the new Bird S. Coler Hospital. During those 5 years, she was also Chief Civil Defense Nurse for the City of New York.  Fascinatingly, she was also trained in the event of Atomic Disaster.

She retired from Coler in 1957 after seeing the opening of the hospital with a capacity of over 1,800 residents. From the information I received, it was clear Dr. Reid lived in the City Hospital Nurses residence. When the Central Nurses Residence opened, she lived there until retirement.

In 2000, Mrs. Timmerman visited the island and Coler. Most of her memories are faded but her joy of visiting the site where her mother spent her entire career was rewarding and allowed the RIHS to record and share another fascinating career medical professional’s life and story. 

Judith Berdy

Excerpt from the New York Times (c):
FEB. 29, 1929
“MISS EARHART TALKS TO ISLAND PRISONERS” 

Amelia Earhart, first woman to fly across the Atlantic became yesterday the first woman to address the Sunday afternoon lecture at the workhouse on Welfare Island.  Her listeners deluged her with the greatest number of questions yet asked in a series of talks that began last November. 

Miss Earhart was obliged to tell among other things whether gliders and autogiros were practical, why airplane radios seem to go out of commission more than others,  what air pockets were, whether a huge parachute attached to a plane would guarantee the safety of the occupants and what was the “safest” plane made.

In her first answer Miss Earhart explained that gliders were practical in “pointing” the way to make airplanes more efficient and that the autogiros would undoubtedly be more practical when their speed and carrying capacity were increased. The plane parachute was not yet a workable device.  The “more interesting” possibility she thought  was that the pilot sliding away the bottom of the plane, which overcame the difficulty of getting persons equipped with parachutes to jump by merely “bouncing them out.”

As for the “safest” plane, Miss Earhart said “I might get into difficulties with the manufacturers if I mentioned names , but the safest of all planes is undoubtedly the one that  will crash and let you get out and walk away from it.”

Everyone seemed to agree.

At the close of the forum the speaker and her husband, George Palmer Putnam were conducted around the island.

Emma Goldman
was an activist who spent a year at the Penitentiary on Blackwell’s Island.
Click here to read on about a chapter of her life on the Island from her autobiography, “Living My Life.”

Editorial

In this time of crisis and illness, my heart is torn by the conditions we are being put through.  I have lived on the island for 42 years.  In the 1960’s, I was a dental assisting student and was sent to Goldwater Hospital to have chairside experience.  From that time, the island fascinated me. The first persons I met here were the residents of Goldwater.  Coler and Goldwater have always had a soft spot in my heart.  

We live in a wonderful community with a history, no matter how sad and tragic, that has sheltered those in need.

Let us keep our hearts and home open to all in need and thank every medical worker weather doctor, nurse, aide, housekeeper or custodian in our thoughts.

Coler will welcome 350 new “islanders” this week. Let’s welcome them and those who tend to them in our best way.
Judith Berdy, Editor

Special thanks to Melanie Colter for her skills and helping publish this daily. She will teach me all of Mailchimp one day.