Dr. Rachel Gleason
Dr. Rachel Brooks Gleason graduated from the Central Medical College in Rochester, New York in 1851. One year later, she and her husband, Dr. Silas O. Gleason, opened the Elmira Water Cure. This hydropathic health resort, where Dr. Rachel Gleason specialized in women’s health, catered to the upper classes.
The Gilded Ideal
While women of her class were expected to marry and remain in the home, Rachel Gleason demonstrated that it was possible to have both a family and a profession. She treated female patients at the Cure, while reaching a broader audience through her lectures and publications. Gleason was an activist who worked to change the medical profession’s treatment of women and encouraged women to advocate for their own health.
The Tarnished Ideal
Unlike hydropathy, mainstream medicine was less accepting of female physicians. Although Rachel Gleason’s specialty was perceived by many as insignificant, her contributions were responsible for a large portion of the Cure’s income and success. Many women’s health issues were dismissed by prominent male physicians as hysteria or nerves.
