Page 6 - Wallingford Magazine Issue 53 Early Spring 2025

The Story of by Bobbie Borne

AN OLD DOCTOR’S BAG

From the Collection of the Wallingford Historic Preservation Trust

The Wallingford Historic Preservation Trust is fortunate to have many
devoted volunteers who, throughout the year, lead tours, plan and exe-
cute programs, serve at a Victorian tea, decorate the Royce House and
the Johnson Mansion for holidays and events, repair and maintain our
old houses, research and identify silver pieces, curate the collection, set
up exhibits, polish silver, maintain a database of the WHPT holdings, and
write articles for the Wallingford Magazine featuring items in our collec-
tion.

WHPT Archives scrapbooks, a silk top hat,
My volunteer job is to manage the vintage milk bottles from Fair-
WHPT archives, an unwieldy assortment view Dairy, and much more. I
of historic documents, information, and noticed a brown doctor’s bag
objects relating to local silver manufac- atop the tallest shelf. Pulling it
turing, the history of Wallingford and down, I attempted to undo the Crocodile Doctor Bag at Johnson House
its houses, with a focus on the c.1672 latch. The bag was obviously
Royce House and the 1866 Johnson old, made from reptile skin, probably son Mansion). During the Victorian pe-
Mansion. Tucked away on the 2nd floor crocodile, and fragile. I didn’t want to riod, doctors usually did not carry ban-
of the Johnson Mansion and Silver Mu- break the latch, but managed to care- dages as they were too bulky. Instead,
seum, surrounded by shelves, cartons, fully unsnap it. Later, Google and Jerry they depended on the patient’s family
and file cabinets, I sort through the piles Farrell, WHPT President, helped me pin to provide clean rags for this purpose.
of materials and donations waiting to down its time frame. The bag was Victo-
be classified and filed. This work is like rian, dating from the end of the 1800s Early Wallingford Doctors
a treasure hunt with all kinds of inter- to the early 1900s. Though its con- With an understanding of the medical
esting surprises and unexpected discov- tents were long gone, it prompted me instruments in use at this time, I began
eries relating to the history of our town. to imagine what medical equipment it contemplating who might have owned
might once have contained. this handsome bag—perhaps a local
physician practicing in Wallingford. With
Victorian Doctor’s Bags that possibility in mind, I began to delve
Medical historians describe the typical into old newspapers and books trying
equipment a doctor might have car- to identify the names of specific Wall-
ried at this time including: ear trumpet ingford practitioners of the period. I al-
(stethoscope); magnifying glass; lan- ready knew about two former doctors
cets; eye dropper; thermometer; scal- as I have written about them in past ar-
pels; forceps, tweezers, and scissors; ticles: Dr. Jared Potter and nephew Dr.
small sewing kit with catgut for sutures; Jared Potter Kirtland. But they practiced
syringes; speculum; “cupping” devic- in earlier times. The following Walling-
es; tourniquets; opiate and morphine ford physicians are listed in the 1912
based drugs; and small glass bottles and Connecticut State Medical Society Jour-
jars for elixirs, medicines and pills (see nal: William P. Wilson, David R. Lyman,
photo of bottles on display at the John- Irving E. Brainard, John H. Buffum, Car-
rie North, and James D. McGaughey, Jr.
Thinking their stories could be further
investigated, I stopped short when, lat-
Medicine Bottles at Johnson Mansion er that day, I came across the following
sentence in Tales of Old Wallingford by
On a recent Monday morning I was at Clarence Hale: “Dr. Carrie North, Wall-
my work table inspecting a small stack ingford’s first woman physician had her
of silver catalogues from the Wallace office in the ell of my home on the pres-
and International Silver companies. Tak- ent site of the Post Office.”
ing a breather, my gaze wandered up to
the shelves around me, crammed full Carrie North: Wallingford’s First Wom-
of books about silver, photo albums, an Doctor
Here was something new! Wallingford
Doctor Bag at Johnson House
6 Wallingford Magazine - Early Spring 2025