“No Small Part”: Utah Women in Medicine, Nursing, & Midwifery, 1873 – 1930

Harold B. Lee Library Third Floor Gallery, June 2023-May 2024

“These women physicians played no small part in the removing of prejudice against medicine in Utah.”

Morrell, J. (1955). Medicine of the pioneer period in Utah. Utah Historical Quarterly, 23(2), 127-144.

In territorial Utah, doctors were mistrusted. Medical treatments were based on incomplete understandings of the day, and the sick had little recourse but to wait and pray. Childbirth was dangerous, with high rates of maternal and infant mortality. In 1873, Eliza R. Snow gave an address in which she echoed Brigham Young’s call for LDS women to obtain medical education. Women answered this call, traveling east for their education and returning to Utah. In addition, several women completed their medical education before migrating to Utah. At one point, there were more women doctors in Utah than anywhere else in the world!

These medical women had a meaningful impact on healthcare as they provided direct patient care and educated others, both formally and informally. After their return from medical school in the east, the Relief Society recruited doctors such as Ellis Shipp and Romania Penrose to offer courses in midwifery and nursing. The Relief Society founded and ran the Deseret Hospital, which also offered training courses. In addition to formal classes, women doctors provided informal training for women on health-related topics in the form of articles, textbooks, and community-based lectures.

Women from rural communities were often called to serve as midwives by church leaders. In addition to delivering babies, rural midwives worked as the primary care providers of their communities: they sutured wounds, set broken bones, and treated illnesses. Indeed, these early women healthcare providers played “no small part” as they reduced mortality, increased trust, and administered expert healthcare for Utah residents.