Collection context
Summary
- Creator:
- Breed, Cephas
- Abstract:
- This collection contains the papers of Cephas Breed, who graduated from Geneva Medical College in 1850. The collection has two series: Writings and Correspondence.
- Extent:
- .21 linear feet
- Language:
- Collection materials are in English .
- Preferred citation:
Preferred citation for this material is as follows:
The Cephas Breed MD Papers, Archives and Special Collections in the Health Sciences Library, SUNY Upstate Medical University
Background
- Scope and Content:
This collection contains the papers of Cephas Breed, who graduated from Geneva Medical College in 1850. There are two series in this collection.
Writings: this series contains 180 bound manuscript pages with extracts and transcripts written in approximately 1910 from Dr. Breed’s diary in 1845 to 1858.
Correspondence: these materials include letters between Dr. Breed, his niece Cornelia E. Madden, his cousin Lucy, Albert G. Mayfield, and unidentified correspondents from the 1850s and 1890s.
- Biographical / Historical:
Cephas Breed (1820-1917) was from western New York and enrolled as an adult in Geneva Medical College in 1847 and graduated in 1850. He traveled widely in the west and south in search of a suitable place to practice medicine or teach school. Among his stops were Richland, Illinois; St. Louis, Missouri; Alexandria and Shreveport, Louisiana; Cincinnati, Ohio; Harrison, Indiana; and many more. In Paw Paw, Michigan, he found work at a pharmacy: "I made a mistake and dealt out tartar emetic for cream of tartar. . . . They mad some biscuits with it for supper. All 8 in number who ate supper . . . were immediately taken very sick with vomiting and purging" (30 September 1851). In St. Joseph, Michigan, he attempted to replace a recently deceased doctor, but struggled in his work: "Attempted to pull a tooth with forceps for a girl and failed" (8 November 1851). Breed's career never properly launched, and he was not married, so he eventually lived on his brother's farm in Big Flats, New York near Elmira.
- Acquisition information:
Purchase, 2017.
Gift of April Calvin, 2022.
- Arrangement:
The Cephas Breed MD Papers have been arranged into two series.
Indexed Terms
Online content
Access
- RESTRICTIONS:
-
There are no access restrictions on this material.
- TERMS OF ACCESS:
-
Written permission must be obtained from the Archives and Special Collections of the SUNY Upstate Health Sciences Library and all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from any materials in this collection.
- PREFERRED CITATION:
-
Preferred citation for this material is as follows:
The Cephas Breed MD Papers, Archives and Special Collections in the Health Sciences Library, SUNY Upstate Medical University
- LOCATION OF THIS COLLECTION:
- CONTACT:
-
history@upstate.edu