Deseret Hospital, Women, and the Perils of Modernization

Abstract

On a sweltering day in August 1873, Eliza R. Snow stood in the Ogden, Utah, tabernacle and addressed her sisters in the Relief Society of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She recounted that church president Brigham Young had told her that he wanted a “good many” sisters to get a “classical education” and then to go on for further training in medicine. As described in the Woman's Exponent, the Salt Lake City–based newspaper that published on topics of interest to Latter-day Saint women, it is not clear which sentiments were Young's and which were actually Snow's. The article explained that younger women should train in medicine and older ones in nursing and obstetrics. In her concluding remarks, Snow summarized what had become a rallying cry of the 1870s. Women's “first business” was to their home duties but, Snow continued, “by seeking to perform every duty you will find that your capacity will increase, and you will be astonished at what you can accomplish.” Seeking to motivate her listeners Snow observed, “Don't you see that our sphere is increasing? Our sphere of action will continually widen, and no woman in Zion need to mourn because her sphere is too narrow.”1Eliza Snow was not the only Relief Society leader who recalled Young's call to action. That same August, Bathsheba Smith also remarked that Young encouraged women to receive training in medicine. The “President had suggested to her,” the Woman's Exponent explained, “that three women from each Ward in the city be chosen to form a class for studying physiology and obstetrics. Also, that one woman from each settlement be sent to the city to study the same branches, and that the Bishops see that such women be supported.”2 Both Snow and Smith were forceful voices in the Latter-day Saint community. Each had known the prophet Joseph Smith (Snow being secretly sealed as his plural wife) and made the arduous trek across the plains to Salt Lake City. Bathsheba was also one of the seven wives of George A. Smith, who was Young's first counselor in the First Presidency of the church. Within the decade, Latter-day Saint women established Deseret Hospital.Catholic residents of the territory of Utah were also calling on women to expand their traditional roles as healers. About the same time that Eliza Snow delivered her address, a mining foreman became concerned about the mortality rate among his workers.3 The completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869, the improvement of smelters and mills, and the arrival of non-Mormon workers had transformed Utah mining into a vast (and dangerous) commercial enterprise. Marcus Daly contacted Lawrence Scanlan, a fellow Irishman and newly arrived Catholic priest from San Francisco. While ministering in the raucous mining camp of Pioche, Nevada, Father Scanlan had raised funds to construct a small hospital for the injured and sick. Daly and Scanlan believed that something similar could be built for Utah miners. The hospital established by the Episcopal bishop, the six-bed St. Mark's (1872), was no longer adequate for the growing population. In October 1875, two Sisters of the Holy Cross who had recently arrived in Salt Lake City responded to Scanlan's appeal for women to nurse the sick by opening a hospital.Holy Cross Hospital expanded throughout the late nineteenth century and flourished for more than a hundred years. It closed in 1994 when the sisters sold it to a private hospital organization. On the other hand, the hospital established by Latter-day Saint women floundered. Deseret Hospital closed after little over a decade of operation. This article contends that while Deseret Hospital has been presented as an example of Latter-day Saint women's achievement in nondomestic occupations, in reality the care facility only had limited success. Indeed, part of the reason why Latter-day Saint women failed at establishing their hospital was due to the success of Catholic women in establishing theirs.In general, historians shy away from studying failures. However, by studying a short-lived project like Deseret Hospital, we can see the underlying structures that have limited women's achievements. This examination of why it failed (rather than simply celebrating the hospital's establishment) reveals what actually hampered women from widening their sphere of influence in a modernizing America.4 During the 1870s, both Latter-day Saint and Catholic women attempted to respond to the needs of the sick, but only Catholic women were able to effectively negotiate the transformation from home-based to hospital-based medical care. The Sisters of the Holy Cross were successful because they had perfected a system that was well adapted to modern medical care, unlike the women who founded Deseret Hospital. This essay presents a critical history of Deseret Hospital and concludes by briefly comparing Catholic women's efforts to those of the Latter-day Saints.Eliza Snow's 1873 call for women to study medicine paralleled instructions from Brigham Young to the Saints to maintain their frontier independence. As the railroads brought Mormons into the and Young the of the of the community. women to train in of medicine was only one of the Young Latter-day Saint women During an 1873 Young women not only to be but also to their by the to for the of the Relief were to the to the and and the in his address, women were told to to and in the While it was for the sisters to the of every other was for had about about women and have had a in but the of was more In 1869, Young and their as a to their and at Young that more than The Latter-day like of other that the be by and Mormons and the Woman's Exponent published Eliza Snow's call for it for is a and from the of and on the in the Latter-day Saints the by women at paralleled their in the of the and the the 1870s, the Saints were also Young a little time not a woman in will to have a can have a by was for more than and the cry for a Young in you have a in the for a and a The Latter-day like other were to the class of who their and Young had encouraged a to go to study and it not be that his Eliza Snow that the same should be for to at home well into the of medicine that a of and the sick in was to what become it not be after Young's in that women be to medicine and among the Saints. In the of a in the Church explained that one and while George and of the two and from the Women's of her in from the of While more were at other the only who were by Latter-day Saint an Latter-day Saint not simply the and the but also the and the The women had from medical they a of and training to an of and a hospital-based medical the same because their the of and medicine also the of the community. women had chosen a and church their by the of and the of a from other the women to the care of the Saints as a is not to the to which Latter-day Saint women the of medicine. history of Utah medicine that women were by the Relief on the and became in the no is for As we will not the and medicine throughout their have women who and in Utah the late nineteenth and but of were by Latter-day Saint church due to the of Utah and the of medical training of the were Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City. Indeed, the successful of the was who was in Utah, and in was an and was in studying medicine in the growing of women in medicine throughout the to the of the in the when women were of that medicine became by women could study briefly and call in the women from a of simply Latter-day Saint had more and in medicine than in other of the it is to that the had their by the Relief Society of the for her medical her from for the Woman's to one it was her who built her a to her and to the of and he to her every it was a Relief Society Eliza R. Snow a and a in but no that sent other While at the as a in a and During her for a fellow medical arrived in Salt Lake to her a on the physiology and of the system and to to the The Woman's Exponent that the was a and the in every as as the the and the for were was a However, it was not was in not been The Exponent of the for in and become the and also a of to a on her in the efforts were not to for a medicine in a small to her made by and her private to train and the women a the Relief Society the training of and care, but it on the of the training of from being by the the and to find the funds for their and and to in the Latter-day Saints not such During of the nineteenth and other However, a of the late nineteenth and was the of for medical than became the of for and of the of medicine was the that and who in that the of medicine and to in and to to and that only could of training which to to as in a their was a women had and for their medical it was for to and to away from of the in medical that it is not that in two after from her medical published an article in the Woman's Exponent calling for the of a The not unlike the one it be to women and training and be and the of the Latter-day Saint of article also made it clear that believed medicine was not for those that made medical training to be one of to Salt Lake City had two but of those had been founded by three In Deseret Hospital in a of the hospital in to The one in and on a history of Latter-day Saint women a Deseret article that by the is for the only for that by hospital Eliza Snow and described the as and the capacity of and The medical that a of over to the that could not at Deseret Hospital. who could private to care for their at a hospital was to be a of their of the hospital as in the care of women and the that Deseret Hospital and and those in and of the church. after it in Deseret Hospital an for and women, one private and a the medical were and and for the hospital explained that Latter-day Saints more in an could and the sick, from the of those not of their the training of the and Deseret Hospital was not by Relief Society Latter-day Saint church While Relief Society on of Latter-day Saints Deseret Hospital in by mining and in the Deseret Hospital In on the day of the hospital's church the women's a newspaper that it was Salt Lake City who over a for to In the Deseret Hospital a for his of of and the raised by the as well as by the women and of the The Woman's Exponent and were to for Deseret Hospital. was while the Latter-day Saint the hospital the women to after Deseret Hospital Eliza president of the had to her fellow Saints that the hospital was a a that had to the about the hospital the Woman's Exponent after to the to the The then appeal to women and Relief were not in their and that was a Deseret Hospital In after the hospital into a the Deseret that while the could the of the Relief Society and Young in the was for funds to in the The Deseret Hospital told the that Hospital In the Woman's Exponent that about on the of but have the first into the the became in the hospital the Woman's Exponent one of a and made in a had been could not in an As for medical Relief Society women had they could not on a from church the the church not Deseret Hospital is not the the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was a by and and Catholic that a Zion had been built by The women's Relief Society was a while more than they in the it on women's and to In the the continually the Latter-day Saint little in and was by a of Deseret Hospital at In the three were Eliza R. and women were Relief Society of women's and to that from to the a a of the of other Relief Society women and the hospital to that was in The hospital's first medical was a of Brigham Young and a church Young to have had little at the as at that time was of a Latter-day Saint hospital have been the of but when Deseret Hospital as first As in the hospital and medical in in and the of women and not have a medical She and her a in Utah in and were that in St. to Salt Lake established a in to to the of medicine. at in have more time on than of the and paralleled that of who also was a an and president of the Women's after the of Deseret Hospital, a the of by Eliza R. and it Young not to have been In the was brought the of the Salt Lake the Deseret published a of the by church were in the of of the an of the of a to the of Deseret Hospital had of being and believed was an a and a The not only the the women had about her to the that her had been in the of and that the the of the to when the her not that is of your that it is not simply the the to the Saints about the that the the Deseret Hospital and had to who those on the about for the sisters of the Eliza for the a was that only the hospital's was Snow had simply the and the but the The The had been Snow the sisters to those The was that made a of the and that Snow it for that the were not the they have the of the the of Deseret Hospital was and the church had to to the published by also Salt Lake of the that in every the was no to the of the Deseret Hospital that have and because to have and from those have been for and then of his not the Deseret Hospital to not to but he the to of by the and her to her and the he that what as and to the of the the women to and Deseret Hospital a of the that a of women as they to negotiate medicine be in a modernizing and in of their clear of the of the established and Relief Society women than the medical The church As they were well of of and and of was a but also was a a and not from a medical have her but her the of the Saints was church not to the they for The women, who and to in the one Latter-day Saint as women the care of the sick in their they in In the not over an The was not what Eliza Snow had in when women studying the of Snow to as the president of the Deseret Hospital In a and of the the hospital was became the president of the Deseret Hospital Deseret article published that same has Young as The of which to the of Deseret Hospital, was than of the of the Deseret Hospital in the of and in women's the and the Deseret Hospital from Utah women's The one on Deseret Hospital to a briefly and the not her and not Both Young and their which they had in when they had to the on a In to the delivered a to from the women of Utah, and their in became president of the Salt Lake However, after from the Latter-day Saint became a which to her in It was only then that Utah for The first of Deseret Hospital not into history and her has been Deseret Hospital no the who be the of the Relief Society In October a after into a to the were being at the facility and were for those a hospital of a two an a a a and a have no hospital from the at the but the Deseret on her in the from one and an on to two a from the of a who and the hospital after a at the hospital of her time and time to in In October secretly became the of as president of the Salt Lake on the Deseret Hospital of was and The plural two after the which such as a and a and a hundred was also and after to such as and were to be and their to to and were to In a to be a who a hospital a to at her and into In to a and when the their they to the and then on to after in her a the of as an in a not her medical in her She explained to her that her in had her for hospital was about being a in a on the of a on the at Deseret Hospital will be able to medicine day as She also told her believed from her time at Deseret Hospital. of to from at the of the at of the in and of She described being on call as a that on what to Utah from to only and in that known as the of to on then a that have of and could the but is not the not care for the of modern medicine. She not to in a system not only her but also after on in had more over who they as well as and hospital care was in to a hospital when failed the sick had no were the of the sick. a medical more like that of two other Latter-day Saint and Deseret Hospital, of women in the hospital's women in their and of their time in a they for and The delivered which brought than to and Deseret Hospital in her of Deseret Hospital had a which not published in and Deseret Hospital the care of for only a when over in October in the of the nursing in as in Joseph was medical but was no to the care of a a to be in the and to It over two for to become at Deseret Hospital. that his and to as became of the care was by was a in the medical In sold her home and and to study medicine. of her had of and the her In became the first woman to study at what become the Hospital. her funds the Relief Society her to the Women's of She her first and her on her for women's at as president of the Young and became a for the Relief Society were and her not in the She had and in the was However, like in a of Deseret Hospital, In secretly became his The hospital a of from to to in and of the for a to the and as well as one who was injured a of The for of and During the as and She also her by at the hospital on and we can of in the Deseret Hospital described her can only about the as the was that it could not be to reason for in her at Deseret Hospital is that not see her in a because the hospital was to Bathsheba Smith to her Relief Society sisters that Deseret Hospital was need of a little This in an on in for the in had on the hospital's and the of the women of the of the hospital by both and those simply at the facility She that for care and the not which is over one and hundred the of However, the hospital each and the at This was of the that have to the have not to the of the and were In a of that the facility for of in history is by a Salt Lake article that the hospital in because of the for the The Deseret Hospital The hospital have been in the of the in a woman as as the hospital's her was not only it was a for her the hospital and should for The hospital and the was into a for the of was the of Deseret Hospital was due to more the women could not the for training in what was an (and While was among of Deseret Hospital, women in Utah not have to the to train and as well as medical of the of the frontier nineteenth not the the Latter-day Saint women could not on a system to (and church had wanted a hospital and by Latter-day Saint women, they not have a to that The as well as were by a on was not the only reason that Deseret Hospital The that over to a was no in the of medical care from the home to the In the of women were at a because their were in traditional than had in in the her not to a frontier by and Deseret Hospital to and church who the their the also were not for the of hospital care in the late nineteenth In of her hospital little of at Deseret Hospital. that a of medical on the and by the her for her at Deseret Hospital, her about her we can have her time at the hospital and her about on her also to that too was by the of hospital-based medical care. Latter-day Saint women were and for the of of the that Deseret Hospital it is that it as as it However, what historians have in in medical care is hospital by women was successful and to the The Sisters of the Holy Cross had their hospital in 1875, two after Eliza Snow Latter-day Saint women to medical training and seven the of Deseret the St. Hospital of the Holy the they had became too small for their needs and the Holy Cross sisters and the then the to the Deseret Hospital which as their first Deseret Hospital to and Holy Cross Hospital The in at a of and could it first Holy Cross was one of of founded by Catholic sisters in the late nineteenth In sisters at Holy Cross Hospital and to by The sisters had a that a a and a of private were for women, sick and In to the was also a and a In the the care of one that of Deseret that in were only in Utah and to a Utah of was clear that of to be in a Catholic That the city not to to Deseret Hospital because the women as as the Catholic Catholic sisters who to Utah made about medical care that the women who Deseret Hospital. the sisters not have their were a modernizing medical care the women of Deseret Hospital, the sisters away from the hospital As as the sisters an of a a and be to the hospital for In the sisters mining to their Each who wanted to be into a to the sisters could on a of which and While and continued, funds the more and commercial of a modernizing from the sisters were able to and a hospital to those who could such care and who to that a than a was a of As frontier Utah to commercial Utah, the and Holy Cross Hospital the needs of a concerned class and The Holy Cross Sisters an that as as to have The in brought in when Salt Lake City that was the In a medical on and to than to to to Holy Cross had a of and the hospital is in a This was not simply because Catholic were at Holy it was because Latter-day Saints the more the that Deseret Hospital the Sisters of the Holy Cross a of and as the sisters not have to and their was in their to the of the needs of a modern Catholic were and on of was the of and also an form of when it to medical care. the Latter-day Saint women at Deseret Hospital, the Sisters of the Holy Cross were not Catholic women not such medical as a part of an women's sisters not in medicine. they need to in and to become Holy Cross sisters traditional of and that at first not to be modern but in the of century women their in a modernizing medical system in other sisters the of medical care because on In Catholic of women the and the that made a In the of Utah, the Sisters of the Holy Cross (rather than the the Sisters on the hospital's and the hospital's and and Sisters and the nursing that to their The of Holy Cross Hospital which could a a and a it be the who had the about the throughout the the of their perfected on their of to effectively over their were not by church as they had been at Deseret Catholic of women were not were not the of the Indeed, they had to the sisters they to their from the of an not the that the of The of the Holy Cross Sisters when one of their a hospital in one on could from a could the and the sisters the when hospital Catholic sisters also the of care. in the when to be more in hospital care, Catholic sisters their in their of is on and that a and of that can be established they need not be Deseret Hospital could not on a of and who their on to the of Eliza Snow a a in but of the from her and her as a and a to be a as an example of be in for an to over and However, a more is that the of an is for be it to be of the of the their into their the women were in medicine. Latter-day Saint women in time and not other the of Catholic sisters not become they other women Holy Cross Sisters and their than for the more training of Catholic sisters and Both the and the medical training that sisters were and their Holy Cross Sisters established of a not to to that he could hospital across the and could from to The women in it is to Latter-day Saint women to Catholic women who had been in the However, it is to that it was only the nineteenth century that Catholic sisters made to the modern of and In Holy Cross Sisters had to the of a two after their in than they had the hospital in In were about Catholic in the that had to In were hundred sisters in the that had to The success of Holy Cross Hospital was due not simply to the and of women but to the that the to Saint women, to the needs of the of also expanded their as they the and to be medical as Eliza Snow observed, and their However, what Latter-day Saint women (and failed to was to their and a for in a modern that women to in their Latter-day Saint women were but their were The of Deseret Hospital the of women to negotiate the and the of the