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

Recruiting Female Doctors

In 1873 Eliza R. Snow, who had been called by Brigham Young to establish ward Relief Societies in the Utah Territory, delivered an address in the Ogden Tabernacle expressing a need for women to study medicine. She shared President Brigham Young’s request that the Relief Society recruit women to get medical degrees.

“He wants a good many to get a classical education, and then get a degree of medicine. So far as getting the degree is concerned...the female practitioner stands on the same grounds a man does.”

Several women responded to this invitation. Among the first were Romania B. Pratt (later Penrose) and Ellis Reynolds Shipp.

During her tenure as general president of the Relief Society (1880-1887), Eliza R. Snow encouraged women to participate in civic activities and to pursue education inside and outside of the domestic sphere. She led the Relief Society in raising funds to open Salt Lake City’s Deseret Hospital in 1882. In this address, she encourages the women to consider pursuing medical degrees.

The Woman's Exponent

One of the earliest serial publications for women in the United States, the Woman’s Exponent was a newspaper published in Salt Lake City from 1872 to 1914. Precise circulation numbers are difficult to pinpoint, but some estimates are as high as 4,000 (Pacific States Newspaper Directory, 1888). In addition, local Relief Societies often read and discussed excerpts from the paper.

In its 42 years of publication, the 8-page Woman’s Exponent had just two editors: Louisa Lula Greene Richards (1872-1877) and Emmeline B. Wells (1877-1914). In the June 1, 1872, inaugural issue, Lula Greene wrote:

"We are of the people of Utah, and for them; we are of the women of Utah, and proud to be so recognized; and our object is to sustain truth, spread a knowledge of correct principles and labor to do good."

The Woman’s Exponent published articles of local interest, stories, poetry, and editorials. It was a natural outlet for profiling Utah’s prominent physicians, as Annie Wells Cannon did in her article “Women in Medicine,” published on September 1, 1888 issue (p. 1 – 2). The Exponent was also a good venue for advertising classes obstetrics and nursing, as seen in the September 15, 1885 issue (p. 8).

To explore a complete digital collection of the Woman’s Exponent, visit the Woman’s Exponent collection available at Utah Digital Newspapers.