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Clymer's presence demonstrates the increasing technical advancements within nursing and medicine, her placement in the scene is a nod to the contributions to sanitation and organization that nurses brought to the operating room. Clymer may not look down at the female figure in sympathy but with the cool attention of a trained operating room nurse, one who closely monitors her patient's status and anticipates the needs of the surgical team. From the standpoint of medical history, the realist painting demonstrates the increasing dependence of surgery on professional nursing.
473:
446:, to a prominent Civil War veteran. At the age of 28, Clymer enrolled in the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania Training School for Nurses. Graduating in 1889 at the top of her class, Clymer was among the first graduates of HUP's nurse training school, which was established in 1886. Clymer was the recipient of the Nightingale Award for her exceptional patient care and scholarship. Fittingly, Clymer missed her graduation ceremony from the Training School because she was providing emergency care to victims of the 1889
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518:; Clymer wrote that, when preparing a patient for operation, one must cover the healthy breast and reveal the affected breast; this is confirmed in Agnew's own writings. Eakins' choice to leave the patient nude may have been for shock value, to clarify the nature of the depicted procedure, or to simply fulfill the artist's desire to portray a nude female figure.
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feminine in the academic medical hierarchy. Central to the medical care of the patient yet separate in her femininity stands the woman in white—the nurse, Mary Clymer, who serves as the surgeon Agnew's "structural counterpart" in the composition of the painting, the only other figure on the same level as the surgeon.
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Beginning in 1888, Mary Clymer kept diaries that included clinical and lecture notes, now preserved through the
Barbara Bates Center for the Study of the History of Nursing archives. Clymer's diaries reveal daily nursing tasks, practical knowledge learned, and the occasional student's gripe—"Learned
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Some art historians read Clymer's presence in the painting as sympathetic to the female patient: Clymer looks down at the objectified female figure and feels connection with another body separate from the male-dominated hospital hierarchy. Others argue that Clymer's presence challenges this dynamic:
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After graduation, Clymer worked as a private nurse up until 1900, and was praised by patients and doctors. In 1893 she established the
Alumnae Organization of the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania training school. Upon her marriage in 1901 she retired from nursing, but she remained active
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are portrayed as the audience for the surgery—as historian Amanda
Mahoney points out, all individuals depicted in the work can be identified by name, except for the patient—and this audience of male medical students creates a composition that highlights power dynamics between the masculine and the
491:. Historians note the significance of Clymer being the only female subject in the painting, apart from the patient, and the only member of the surgical staff whose attention is directed toward the patient's face, rather than the incision. Students of the medical class of 1889 who commissioned
416:), she kept a detailed journal of her experiences in hospital ward settings and later established the school's alumni organization and wrote its constitution. She is remembered today for her detailed diary, maintained as
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Not only do the diaries of Mary V. Clymer reveal information regarding operating room etiquette that has been used to help understand The Agnew Clinic, they also detail common practices and
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nothing new, and everything seemed to go wrong. M.V.C." These diaries have been described as a "vivid glimpse into the past" and an invaluable primary source on
American nursing history.
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by the
University of Pennsylvania, which served as an important primary source for nursing practices and daily lives of nurses in the late nineteenth century, and for her portrayal in the
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413:
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Mages, Keith C.; Fairman, Julie A. (2007). "Chapter 9: Working with
Primary Sources: An Overview". In Lewenson, Sandra B.; Herrmann, Eleanor Krohn (eds.).
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Credited by the
Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) as the first trained operating room nurse in Philadelphia, Clymer was born in 1861 in the
860:
Wall, Rosemary; Hallett, Christine E. (2018). "Nursing and
Surgery: Professionalisation, Education, and Innovation". In Schlich, Thomas (ed.).
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of the topic and provide significant coverage of it beyond a mere trivial mention. If notability cannot be shown, the article is likely to be
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in the affairs of the organization and the nursing school until her death. She died in
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for burns and blisters, camphorated oil to prevent bedsores, and wound dressings with "lead water and laudanum" for amputations.
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for cleaning newborn infants, cotton "once dipped in bichlor" for cleaning skin during labor/delivery.
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employed at HUP during her time there. These medicines and practices include but are not limited to:
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lists her death date as
September 28, 1942, but some sources instead cite September 9 of that year.
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Athens, Elizabeth (July 2006). "Knowledge and Authority and Thormas Eakin's 'The Agnew Clinic'".
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Archives of the Barbara Bates Center for the History of Nursing, University of Pennsylvania
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Clymer's notes reveal Eakins' artistic license in the depiction of the mastectomy in
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Clymer may be best known for her appearance in the Thomas Eakins work
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Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania Training School for Nurses
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Capturing Nursing History: A Guide to Historical Methods in Research
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The Clymer Diaries – Barbara Bates Center for the History of Nursing
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Please help to demonstrate the notability of the topic by citing
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The Barbara Bates Center for The Study of the History of Nursing
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The Barbara Bates Center for The Study of the History of Nursing
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Barbara Bates Center for The Study of The History of Nursing
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Capturing Nursing History: A Guide to Historical Research
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People from Hamilton Township, Mercer County, New Jersey
404:(January 8, 1861 – September 28, 1942) was an American
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Lewenson, Sandra B.; Herrmann, Eleanor Krohn (2007).
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University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing alumni
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862:The Palgrave Handbook of the History of Surgery
808:The Female Body: Figures, Styles, Speculations
811:. University of Michigan Press. p. 237.
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658:University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing
444:Hamilton Township, Mercer County, New Jersey
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731:. Springer Publishing Co. pp. xvi.
864:. Palgrave McMillan. pp. 159–160.
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1034:"The Clymer Diaries Volume 2"
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956:"The Clymer Diaries Volume 1"
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204:secondary or tertiary sources
1008:"Lecture Notes c. 1887–1889"
790:Lewenson & Herrmann 2007
533:General medicine: Beef tea,
605:Obstetrics and gynecology:
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410:University of Pennsylvania
86:reliable secondary sources
75:The topic of this article
598:for cough, hot brandy or
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339:Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
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1044:December 1,
637:pilocarpine
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1174:Categories
681:References
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539:turpentine
364:Profession
312:1861-01-08
226:newspapers
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987:ISBN
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