July 3, 2023 • 51 mins
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📱Social and other ways to explore Texas History
This episode comes from the Rosenberg Library Conversation series where J.R. Shaw sat down with historians to talk about some interesting historical events and people in Galveston and Texas history. Thanks to the Rosenberg Library for allowing Galveston Unscripted to hold live podcast conversations in the library. This conversation series was such a great experience and we captured some awesome interviews.
Dr. Paula Summerly is an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Pathology at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. Her primary appointment is as the manager of the Old Red Medical Museum, McGovern Academy, Office of the President (UTMB). Prior to holding these positions, she completed scholarships and fellowships at the Institute for Health Humanities (UTMB) the Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, and the Dittrick Medical History Center, Case Western Reserve University. She curated a permanent medical exhibition for the Hunterian Museum, University of Glasgow, Scotland (2005) and has served as a curatorial consultant both nationally and internationally including Visual Pathology, Galveston Arts Center (2018), the Wellcome Collection’s Forensics: Anatomy of Crime (2015), Dirt: The Filthy Reality of Everyday Life (2011), exhibited at the Wellcome Building, London, UK. Dr. Summerly is working as part of a team to establish a new medical museum in Old Red (the 1890 Ashbel Smith Building) at the heart of the UTMB Galveston campus.
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Dr. Paula Summerly (00:00):
We think it's the one that came from the
(00:02):
third pandemic which hit SanFrancisco from, China in 1894
through the trade ships.
And it's worked its way sort ofnatural fauna and flora down to
Galveston The story, of Bubonicplague in Galveston started to
expand.
So the flea itself, Regurgitatesor defecates, what a lovely
(00:22):
description into the littlepuncture wound that it makes in
your ankle.
And that's how you become sick.
J.R. (00:29):
Welcome to Galveston unscripted.
This episode comes from theRosenberg Library Conversation
series where I sat down with afew historians to talk about
some extremely interestinghistorical facts about Galveston
and Texas history.
I would like to personally thankthe Rosenberg Library for
allowing Galveston Unscripted tohold live podcast conversations
(00:50):
in the library.
This conversation series wassuch a great experience and I
really look forward to pickingit up again in the fall of 2023.
And a very huge thank you to ourguests.
J.R. (2) (01:02):
Check the link in the description for the direct links
to the books that our guest haswritten.
If this is your first timelistening to Galveston
Unscripted, be sure to subscribeto the podcast.
If you've listened or watchedbefore and you enjoy the content
we are putting out in audio andvideo, please make sure to like,
subscribe and review thepodcast.
(01:23):
Leave us a review, leave us arating.
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Your rating and review helpsother people find Galveston
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J.R. (01:42):
without further ado, let's hop into this episode with Dr.
Paula Summerly My name is JRShaw.
I started Galveston Unscripted apodcast back in July of 2021.
And it was always my dream to,have a live audience and
discussions in front of a liveaudience and, um, just further
education through.
In-person means and digitalmeans.
(02:04):
Um, so we're recording thisentire conversation.
It will be available on theRosenberg Library's website in a
few weeks, as well as my podcastfeed and YouTube.
alright, I want to dive rightinto this Dr.
Summerly but before we do, I'mgonna introduce you a little
bit.
You, have some pretty amazingaccolades, uh, but I'm gonna
read a little short bio here.
(02:25):
Dr.
Paula Summerly was born in thenorth of England.
Her academic background is inthe history of medicine, paleo
pathology, and fine artphotography.
She has researched and curatedmedical exhibitions in
Galveston, Cleveland, Chicago,Scotland, and London.
Her interests include, thehistory of anatomy, pathology,
(02:46):
and forensics.
Currently, Paula is the curatorof the Old Red Medical Museum at
the University of Texas MedicalBranch at Galveston.
The new museum will be housed inthe former dissection lab, which
we'll be discussing today on thetop floor of Old Red or the
Asheville Smith Building, it's agorgeous building if you haven't
been over there to see.
It's amazing.
(03:06):
The oldest surviving medicalschool building west of the
Mississippi River.
So pretty fascinating.
Um, office you have over there.
It's, it's quite nice.
Did I miss anything?
Dr. Paula Summerly (03:17):
No, that's very, very kind of you.
J.R. (03:19):
Could you tell us a little bit about where you're from and,
and how you ended up here inGalveston?
Dr. Paula Summerly (03:25):
Um, just a disclaimer, I have a secret
project called Galveston isPurgatory, and I think, I think,
uh, I was here in a former lifeand it's a kind of holding bay.
Um, I ended up in Galveston.
It's a really long story, butum, I was born in Wall's End,
which is, um, in the northeastof England.
(03:47):
It's famous for ship buildingand.
Sting, I guess is a local lad,and I was always interested in
history and, um, I, uh, didarcheology after I left high
school and, um, went to, um, adig and picked up an artifact,
(04:08):
which happened to be a piece of,um, bit from a Roman horses and
that just touching history.
I always knew I wanted to dealwith the past.
And, um, so yeah, I've, Istarted off in archeology and
I've always been interested indisease and human remains the
(04:28):
human story.
And also I have a, a love ofphotography.
So to cut along story short andmiss out multiple degrees, I can
emerge my interests.
When I did, uh, a doctorate atthe University of Glasgow, um,
on the history of clinicalphotography, and then I fell
into the world of medicalmuseums.
And I had various research jobsin the United States, first at
(04:52):
Case Western Reserve, and I kindof fell in love with America at
that point.
I loved Americans and the, Itook off my stiff British social
armor and became, and I justfell in love with the American
people and had several positionsin the United States.
And I came to Galveston to do,um, a visiting scholarship.
(05:15):
At the Institute for the MedicalHumanities and I curated an
exhibition called AbstractAnatomy.
And towards the end of that six,six month scholarship, um, the
head of the Institute forMedical Humanities mentioned
there was a museum task force.
They knew I'd developed amedical exhibition in Scotland
(05:36):
and would I'd be interested inmeeting the task force and so on
and so forth.
So that was 10 years ago,October the eighth.
It's when I came to Galveston.
So it's been a decade ofdeveloping a museum.
J.R. (05:51):
Well, that's, that's awesome.
That is great.
Um, and I'm really glad you madeit to America and Galveston.
Cause I, I think what you'redoing and your research is
definitely an asset to ourcommunity and our history.
Um, so let's dive into this.
So can you tell us a little bitabout, um, the founding of
U.T.M.B., why U.T.M.B.
Was founded here in Galveston?
Um, and then we'll get intodiseases.
Dr. Paula Summerly (06:13):
Sure.
Um, so the, the Galveston hasseveral medical schools, um,
prior to U.T.M.B., um, notablythe Galveston Medical College
founded by Greensville Dow inthe 1860s.
And then the Texas MedicalCollege, which was a precursor
(06:33):
to U.T.M.B., it was locatedalmost on the same site as, um,
Ashbel Smith building, um, oldRed on.
And 91 14 Strand Street.
Um, so the early medical schoolsare something that really
interests me.
I have to say wherever I go,local history is really
(06:53):
important to me when in Rome,you know, do what the Romans
did.
So, um, I like to start.
Metaphor, metaphorically diggingfor stories.
Mm-hmm.
And obviously, old Red isreally, um, I call it an
enigmatic building.
I remember when I first saw it10 years ago, I thought, what is
that doing there?
(07:15):
And to cut a long story short,it was vaulted on by the people.
Ashbell Smith was a, who was.
Uh, on the Board of Regions atthe time in the 1830s, forties
was very pro having a, um, amedical school on the island cuz
he actually had a house here.
So it ended up here throughvarious supporters and I have to
(07:38):
give a shout out to the JohnSealy, um, school of Nursing,
which was, um, housed next doorto, um, old Red and that opened
in 1890, a year before theSchool of Medicine.
J.R. (07:52):
so Galveston, you know, when I think of Galveston and,
and the founding of thesemedical facilities and
universities, um, I guess it'sgalveston's the perfect place
because we have a port and wehave people coming here from all
over the world.
Um, and Galveston, before we getinto the bubonic plague, there
were plenty of diseases passingthrough Galveston and that
devastated the island.
(08:12):
Could you tell us a little bitabout the past diseases that I
guess the, uh, the universitieswere here to study and look at?
Dr. Paula Summerly (08:20):
Yeah.
Um, not just the climate, Iguess, in terms of history of
medicine.
Galveston is synonymous withyellow fever, dengue fever,
smallpox.
But you don't really hear muchabout bubonic plague, which I
think is rather interesting.
And it wasn't really on my radarand, uh, until I stumbled upon
something, which we'll talkabout later.
(08:41):
Um, also the positioning of thehospital and the medical school.
If you think about the port, um,trainee doctors and nurses would
be exposed to, um, trauma cases,railway injuries, and so on.
So that was another reason.
Um, you got a lot of, um, handson experience by dealing with a
(09:01):
whole range of illnesses and,um, trauma cases.
J.R. (09:07):
So growing up in, in Galveston, in the Galveston
area, I'd never heard of thebubonic plague in this area at
all.
I always thought that was a14th, 15th century problem in
Europe.
Um, how did you stumble into thebubonic plague?
Dr. Paula Summerly (09:25):
Um, so when I came to Galveston, um, 10
years ago, it was actually forone year position.
Um, U.T.M.B.
In its past had museums ofanatomy, pathology and surgical
pathology.
And when I was brought in, I wasbrought in to make an inventory
of those collections.
And then I thought I'd do that.
(09:46):
And now I'll be back on theother side of the pond before I
know it, before I know it.
And what I realized, it was likepainting a bridge.
You get around the collectiononce and then you've gotta go
around for another reason andanother reason and another
reason.
And it turns out thosecollections, anatomy, um, Human,
um, the structure and shape andform, um, different joints, uh,
(10:09):
pathology, diseased organs andtissues, um, which are acquired,
um, during autopsy or, um, aftersurgery.
And, um, the surge path arejust, um, removed during
surgery.
Those collections turned outwere really important to the
history of U.T.M.B..
(10:30):
Um, U.T.M.B.
Had an.
National reputation forexcellence in practical medical
education and those collectionsand those museums during the
1890s, early 20th century.
Um, were at the forefront ofattracting staff, faculty, and
students to U.T.M.B.
(10:50):
To study.
Um, those collections have had abit of a checkered history, um,
and during the 1940s andfifties, Um, the museums closed.
The specimens were eitherdestroyed or put out of sight,
and some are still out of sight,but it follows a well known
pattern of what happened toother medical museums in the
United States.
(11:11):
For example, the Warren Museumat Harvard.
So they're known patterns ofmuseums closing due to shifts in
the curriculum, introduction ofimaging.
It, social and ethical reasons.
There's a whole different, uh,there's a lot of complicated
reasons why, but U T M V fallsinto those patterns and those
collections are really importantto me and a lot of people who
(11:36):
know about their existence.
And we're hoping we will formthe core vision of the new
J.R. (11:40):
museum.
So, um, you're, you're dealingwith these, I guess, these
collections and.
You stumble upon something thatkind of triggers you to say,
Hey, I need to like look intothis a little bit more.
Dr. Paula Summerly (11:55):
Yeah.
So, um, I mentioned thecollections had a checkered
history.
Um, they obviously, uh, Survivedseveral storms and I'd like to
do a podcast with some of thosespecimens if I could.
I wanted to interview, interviewa brain preserved Dry since
1897.
I think it had an amazing story.
(12:16):
We also have, um, a littlefacial bone, um, which, um, is a
kind of mounted tiny little bonein, um, a little glass box on a
wooden base.
And when I was doing aninventory, literally my job was,
what do we have?
Put a label on it, give it anumber next, move along.
And I found this little box andI couldn't quite see what was in
(12:36):
it.
So I tried to remove some of thedust as I thought.
And her and I started to coughand splitter and I realized it
was Ike silt.
I'd heard all these stories ofHurricane Ike and the silt and
her, this was, this had gonethrough Hurricane Ike.
It was all water logged anddried out.
And I talked to one of thetechnicians and lo and behold,
yes.
Um, there was about six feet ofwater, um, in Old Red in the
(13:00):
basement, and that's where theystored the cadavers and some dry
specimens.
So, um, the technician broughtup some of the specimens, uh, to
dry out and then I stumbled uponone and I just thought this was
a really important story, thatthese tiny, little fragile jars
have survived so many naturaldisasters.
(13:23):
It's an amazing story.
So amongst the survey, uh, thepathology collection, I wasn't
here during Hurricane Ike, butit was housed in what I believe
was called the old microbuilding.
And I, that's being totaled now.
But, um, the building floodedand the pathology collection was
in there.
And I've heard stories of thetiny little jars floating off
(13:45):
the shelves because the jars arethis size, some other kind of
this size.
Um, So when I started, therewere, um, the collections had
been salvaged, um, by a companythat didn't specialize in human
remains, of course.
And the jarred specimens hadbeen put in black plastic drums
(14:05):
with sawdust, which was what wecall tombolas in the uk.
When you stick your hand in andpull something out, you get a
prize.
Well, it was very, it was verylike.
So, I was getting to the end ofthe inventory and I was hoping
to find something reallyinteresting and saw Tomball.
I pulled out a little jar, aspecimen of Bubonic Plague, and
(14:27):
I was so excited and I thought,I hope there's more than one.
And there wasn't.
There was just this tiny littlejar, not very aesthetically
pleasing unless you're apathologist.
Mm-hmm.
And I thought, I want to know alittle bit more about that.
And little did I realize theincredible story that jar.
Would un sort of reveal itselfand how that, the story from one
(14:51):
jar led to several otherstories.
J.R. (14:56):
So that leads us into you discovering the Bubonic Plague
outbreak, uh, in early or early1900 Galveston.
Um, so, before we hop into that,could you explain to us what the
Bubonic Plague is?
Yeah.
Dr. Paula Summerly (15:10):
So, um, bubonic Plague is, um, it's a
bacterial disease and.
Um, it's acquired through, um,actually cuts or abrasions in
the skin.
There's different forms ofbubonic, plague, pneumonic is
when you inhale the droplets.
And essentially, um, the diseaseis carried by rats and spread by
(15:31):
fleas.
So I'm sure most of you havebeen bitten by fleas one time or
another, and you probably noticeas they go around your ankles
when they jump up on the floor.
And, um, so the flea itself, um,Regurgitates or defecates, what
a lovely description into thelittle wound, the little
puncture wound that it makes inyour ankle.
(15:52):
And that's how, um, you becomesick and the bacteria spreads
into your lymph system.
So you'll have huge swellings onyour neck or your groin.
And they were what are calledbubos.
I actually thought, where doesthe word bubo come from?
It's actually Greek for groin.
Mm.
I didn't, I didn't know thatuntil the day.
(16:13):
We all learn something.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Um, and so these swellings aresynonymous with bubonic plague
and black death comes from, soyou have hemorrhage in these
lymph nodes and they bleed.
And um, essentially you willdevelop gangrene.
Mm-hmm.
So if you google black death,you'll see gra gangrenous
(16:36):
extremities primarily at thebeginning.
And that's where kind of blackdeath is probably synonymous.
Or you're gonna have, I thinkthe Danish 16th century, um,
description of Black Deathactually meant that you are not
gonna have a cheery outcome.
Oh,
J.R. (16:55):
okay.
So you discover, um, youdiscover in this jar and you in
this body part that had thebubonic plague, um, and you
discovered the outbreak.
So can you tell us a little bitabout the bubonic plague
outbreak in Galveston in 1920?
Okay,
Dr. Paula Summerly (17:11):
so the, the little jar that I found, um, it
had, um, a number, um, etchedon, on the lid.
And that number, um, correspondsthrough an autopsy protocol, um,
or report, which gives detailsof the, the individual, um,
race, immigration status,sometimes occupation, all kinds
(17:33):
of data, which is reallyinteresting in terms of social
history.
Um, also the clinicaldescription of what happened to
the person.
Um, so using that information, Icould leap from, um, the jar to
an autopsy protocol.
And I knew the Moody MedicalLibrary, the Blocker Collections
had a plague laboratorynotebook.
(17:54):
I didn't have the name of theindividual at the time, but I
soon found out who it was.
I matched the dates of death andso on, and I thought, I know, I
know who this person was.
And then I researched where theylived on Google Maps.
Is the building still standing?
We found the grave marker.
And at that juncture I gave alittle presentation.
Um, and Dwayne Jones, thedirector of Galveston Historical
(18:16):
Foundation, attended and givenhe's a visionary, he said, I
wanna know more about thisPaula.
So we developed, we actuallyresearched more about the
outbreak of Bubonic Plague andthe, the people involved in the
outbreak.
And so that really is how thestory, of Bubonic plague in
Galveston, started to expand.
It's very much a sort ofcollaborative, Effort.
(18:38):
I was so enamored with my littlejar would, I've got beyond that
to the rest of the story.
I'm not wholly sure, but thattiny jar answered so many
amazing questions.
And Dr.
David Walker, who is um, uh, hewas the former chair of
pathology at U.T.M.B..
He's a world.
Renowned researcher.
(18:59):
He happened to have a set ofmicroscope slides in his office,
which he gave to, um, my mentor,Dr.
Judy Aronson.
And it turned, turned out we hadall the slides of, um, the
bubonic plague victims that wecould research
J.R. (19:14):
more about that later.
Yeah.
Well, let's, let's get into thevictim.
So, um, and, and kind of the,the outbreak itself, so you
could tell us.
The about the, the firstdiscovery was first discovered
in 1920, and kind of how itspread and, and what was going
on in the city.
Dr. Paula Summerly (19:31):
Okay.
So, um, when the first, um,person, um, he went to the John
Sealy Hospital, they didn'tactually know it was Bubonic
Plague.
It was, um, there's varioustechniques to, um, diagnose the,
the, the disease, which are kindof complex, but essentially you
stick, um, a needle and asyringe into the, the bubo.
(19:52):
And extract some fluid.
And then you can look atdifferent cells under the
microscope, but you also usesome of that juice, as they call
it, and inject it into a poorlittle Guinea pig.
And if the Guinea pig developsswollen lymph glands, you can be
pretty sure it's bubonic plague.
J.R. (20:11):
So, so this was the, the first victim of the plague.
Do they, do they know how he gotit?
Was it, um, like a rat or fleafrom a ship or anything like
that?
Dr. Paula Summerly (20:21):
He worked in a green store on 29th and Strand
Street.
Mm-hmm.
And so, kind of forensic mindedthey got, went to look to see
there were dead rats.
And you can imagine rats areattracted to grain, so there's
probably a lot of rats in thegreen store.
And so that's probably how hewas infected.
Um, and this young man, he died,I think it was during June.
(20:42):
June 17th, 1920.
And he died early evening andthe next day he was buried in
Lakeview Cemetery.
Uh, before the press got hold ofwhat was Bubonic Plague on the
island before they actually, um,you know, spread the word as it
were.
J.R. (21:00):
Was there, were there bubonic, plague, outbreaks,
anywhere else?
Um, in the, in that year oryears
Dr. Paula Summerly (21:05):
prior?
Um, around, around, uh, the sametime, um, port Arthur, um, also
Pensacola, Florida, um, newOrleans.
So this wasn't unique.
Um, the actual.
Origin of the plague Galveston,uh, was never, um, never
determined.
Um, there was never one, onesort of true source found.
(21:31):
They did map, uh, all of thevictims.
There were about 18 people who,um, Um, were diagnosed with
Bubonic Plague and their, theirstories have different outcomes.
The second person to actually,um, be, to be diagnosed with
Bubonic Plague was a colleagueof the first person to die.
Um, so obviously proximitythere, but I guess she was
(21:54):
working in a rat, you know, in arat infested, um, Store.
So no, no wonder.
Um, so they did map whereeverybody lived.
The streets that were involvedwent anything from, um, like
avenue 11th to 33rd.
Um, different age groups fromage three to 70.
Um, different ethnicities,occupation, anything from a
(22:17):
pathologist to longshoreman.
Um, and what's reallyinteresting in the summer of
1920, if you go through thenewspapers, it's um, It's very
Galveston esque.
Um, there was a longshoremanstrike that had been long
brewing, um, along harborside todo with trade unions, and there
were civil unrest and martiallaw.
(22:39):
Bit of bubonic plague around thestrand area.
And then the bathing beautyparades on, on the sea wall.
And, um, it's really fascinatingto, uh, you know, Charlie
Chaplin's movie was on at theTremont Theater.
It's like, nothing reallystopped.
J.R. (22:56):
That's my next question.
Um, there wasn't masspandemonium or, you know, once
this hit the news, were, werepeople really worried about it
or do
Dr. Paula Summerly (23:05):
you, do you know?
Uh, I don't.
I think the major changes wereprobably in terms of the
community was asked to reallyget involved in trapping rats,
and the city did employ rattrappers and, um, you were
encouraged to trap and kill yourrat and put a label on it and
drop it off at, um, a plaguelaboratory, which was set up
(23:28):
just a few weeks after the firstcase had been diagnosed.
Um, on 20th and a mechanic.
And that little laboratory isendlessly fascinating.
And, um, I'm think as a child myfavorite word was why I get one
piece of information and thenthe next one is already lined
up.
But why, where is it?
What?
Mm-hmm.
So the little politicallaboratory was, um, on 20th
(23:51):
mechanic and you take off, youdrop off your little disease rat
or the label, because they weretrying to find out the, the kind
of focus of where the infectionstarted.
J.R. (24:01):
What would they do to the rats when they received them in
this laboratory?
Dr. Paula Summerly (24:05):
Well, they were looking for signs, um, of
bubonic plague, um, rats, whichhad essentially swollen glands.
They also analyzed the fleas aswell.
I can imagine that in the summerof 1920 in a tiny little
makeshift laboratory.
Charming, no gloves, no nothing.
And between June and towards theend of 1920, I think the lab was
(24:32):
active probably to August orSeptember.
They examined 46,000 rats.
J.R. (24:40):
How many different doctors or assistants were working on
these rats?
Was it just a
Dr. Paula Summerly (24:44):
few?
Probably just a handful.
Um, Dr.
Mark Boyd, um, he was aprofessor at U.T.M.B..
He, um, led the lab.
And, um, there's lots ofwonderful photographs in local
archives and the Galveston TexasHistory Center, you can see some
of the activities of themexamining rats.
Um, this had the littlemakeshift postmortem autopsy
(25:08):
suite.
J.R. (25:10):
Can you imagine that dropping off your disease rat at
U.T.M.B.
Nowadays?
Dr. Paula Summerly (25:14):
Yeah, I can.
And what's really interesting isthe adverts, you know, um, the
Boy Scout movement would, um,Post flyers, um, telling people
to, you know, don't have trashand garbage as you know, don't
have harbor bridges that aregonna attract, um, vermin.
And so it was a real, um, kindof communal response.
Um, not just the experts, butum, the community really got
(25:37):
involved as well.
So
J.R. (25:39):
the, so when the city got involved besides, um, turning in
your rats, what were some otherprevention methods?
I know there, there was poisonused.
Um, what were some otherprevention methods they used?
Dr. Paula Summerly (25:50):
Um, fumigation of buildings.
There are images of, um, I thinkwe use cyanide.
Um, so they seal up buildings.
Um, they also, um, fumigated,um, cargos, you know, coming in
and out, um, of the, of theport.
This is really to ensure thatthere was no sort of official
(26:11):
quarantine.
Quarantine.
They didn't want to.
Damage the economy too much.
Um, rat proofing, we maybe goonto that.
Um, various ordinances werebrought in, um, and, um, corner
stores were required to have,um, several forms of, uh, rat
proofing, some of which stillsurvives to the present day.
(26:34):
Um, another thing that reallyfascinates me is I don't think
it happened in Galveston, butum, they also fumigate mail.
During various epidemics andpandemics.
So you'd open a letter and if,if, if the center had smallpox
and, um, so fumigate male isdifferent, they would actually
pierce the envelopes and so onand so forth.
It's a, postal history issomething that kind of
(26:55):
fascinates me.
Um, so yeah, fumigation,obviously, um, putting out
poison.
Um, also the seawall hadmessages painted on it about
that they actually put poison inthe rocks.
Um, on the sea wall and Ihappened to purchase, um, a tiny
photograph of two women inbathing suits perched on a rock,
(27:17):
and you can see this poisonbehind the do on the sea wall.
All those images have gone now,but there's some evidence of,
of, uh, the remnants of bubonicplague on the island.
J.R. (27:28):
How many people contracted the bubonic plague or confirmed
confirmed cases in Galveston?
Dr. Paula Summerly (27:35):
That's fine.
Um, 18.
So in terms of treatment, um,well, the first young man who
was 17, um, he didn't have achance.
Um, he had terrible fevers andpains, swollen bubo.
They weren't exactly sure, butthe second person who was, um,
diagnosed the following day, um,received, um, there was a, a
(27:58):
Milford's, um, anti plague serumas it was called, and um, that
was shipped supplies.
The city actually had somesupplies and then the um,
Pastoral Institute.
Sent some supplies over toGalveston as well, um, from
Paris.
So there was also somethingcalled, um, Half Keen's vaccine.
(28:20):
Um, but some of these werereally powerful drugs, and I
know at least one person whoreceived, um, the serum died of
anaphylactic shock.
J.R. (28:31):
Oh my gosh.
Yeah.
So what was the, uh, death ratelike?
I mean, how many people weredying when they would get.
The bubonic plague.
Dr. Paula Summerly (28:40):
Um, there were, so there were about 12
deaths.
Mm.
Okay.
But those who, who actuallyreceived some, um, vaccine did,
did survive.
J.R. (28:54):
So could you, could you tell us and understand there was
a doctor who worked at U.T.M.B.
Who actually contracted it.
Could you tell us that
Dr. Paula Summerly (29:00):
story?
Yeah, so one of the victims of,uh, bubonic Plague, I mentioned
those different longshoremen,um, a housekeeper.
Um, one was a pathologist.
Um, Dr.
Anna Mary Bowie, she graduatedfrom, um, U.T.M.B.
In the summer of 1920.
Um, she was from Tennessee.
(29:22):
And when she graduated, um, shegot a job as a pathologist
assistant and she was doingautopsies.
And in August she did an autopsyon one of the plague victims.
And when she was finishing theautopsy and sewing up the scalp
of the, of the woman, um, whohad died, she accidentally
(29:44):
pricked her left index fingerand she was wearing her gloves.
Um, and she knew.
Exactly what to do.
Um, she kind of washed the, thewound and then cauterized it and
then got on her way, merry way.
And of course then later shestart to develop a fever and she
knew exactly what it was, um,swollen, lymph glands, all all
(30:06):
the things.
So she knew she had bubonicplague, and she, um,
self-injected both, um, thevaccine on the serum.
I think, um, she was just abrave pathologist, that's all.
And she was off work for acouple of months and then went
back, um, to work.
And the first person she did inAutopsy on was another victim of
(30:29):
Bubonic Plague.
Oh my goodness.
And Anna, as I call her Dr.
Bowie or Bowie, um, as ahistorian, I thought, what an
incredible woman.
To be a pathologist.
The first woman to graduate fromthe School of Medicine was Marie
Delandra Dietzel in 1897.
So U.T.M.B.
(30:49):
Is a history of, um, um, earlymedical, you know, pioneers in
medicine.
And I, I consider Anna to be oneof those.
And I couldn't find anythingabout her after right, 1924.
And to cut a long story short, Ifound her an address for her.
And she's a member of a medicalsociety and it listed her
(31:11):
address in Tennessee.
So I, I was probably searchingBowie, Galveston or whatever,
and I could find nothing.
And a couple of little internetsearches later, um, I found, um,
a website called The Friends ofthe Bowie Nature Park, and lo
and behold, there's a picture ofAnna and that led to a whole
other story of Anna and hersiblings.
(31:33):
And they bought land inFairview, Tennessee, which is.
Was is now actually a park, theBowie Nature Park, and they had
Anna's archive.
We have nothing about Anna atU.T.M.B..
They even have a picture of Annaon the steps of Old Red and
probably just as a medicalstudent, which they gave me a
copy of.
So, um, Anna's story is actuallyin the Handbook of Texas
(31:56):
Medicine.
J.R. (31:57):
Okay, so let's take it back a little bit.
So there's Anna Bowie, which isa fascinating story.
Did, did, when she moved toTennessee, did she like live the
the rest of her life saying, oh,I survived the bubonic plague?
Dr. Paula Summerly (32:07):
No, Anna was a bit of a trailblazer, I think.
Um, you know, being a Brit stiffupper lip, nothing compared to
Anna Bowie.
She never mentioned it.
Um, she, um, Um, taught atPeabody, uh, medical College,
and she, um, she was fired fromthat job eventually.
(32:27):
I think she's a bit of a, aradical in many ways, so ahead
of her time.
And then she set up a, um, aprivate practice and, um, She
was interviewed partly to dowith the, the purchase of land
with her siblings.
And she said, oh yeah,I hadBubonic Plague?
She just mentioned it inpassing.
And then when I met the friendsof the Bowie Nature Park, they
said, is it true?
(32:48):
And I'm like, yeah, it's true.
And you know, Anna, um, receiveda, a 50 years of service, um,
certificate from U.T.M.B., andshe died in 1980, age 90.
And I would've done anything tomeet her.
I think she was such anincredible.
Incredible woman.
J.R. (33:07):
I mean, I can't imagine living to age 90 after surviving
the bubonic plague.
Right?
It's just, that is insane.
Yeah.
So as, so what was the timeframeof this outbreak?
Was it only in 1920?
Was it kind of quelled towardsthe end of that year?
Or did it did, uh, turnover into20 or 1921?
Dr. Paula Summerly (33:25):
Um, there were one or two cases in 1921,
but I think, um, the huge effortin terms of trapping rats and
the fumigation, all thosethings, Really kind of quelled
the outbreak.
So in terms of the damage, yes,people losing their lives is,
um, is very tragic, but it couldhave been a lot worse.
(33:46):
Mm-hmm.
Um, for sure.
And, um, so, um, the outbreakitself, um, San Francisco, um,
had an outbreak in 1900 andthere's was much more
devastating.
So some of the protocols thatthey utilized were, um, Followed
by Galveston.
So, um, in terms of the rattrapping et cetera.
(34:09):
So they learned from othercities.
J.R. (34:11):
So trailblazing, yeah, there it goes.
Galveston again, trailblazingand another thing.
Right.
Um, at the time, in 1920, was itunderstood that the fleas were
carrying the bubonic plague orwas it just the rats?
Was it, was that understood
Dr. Paula Summerly (34:26):
thoroughly?
Um, I think so by the, themedical fraternity for sure.
Yeah.
So, um, And I guess, you know,trying to deal with fleas is one
thing, but it's, it's the, therodents that are carrying the
fleas.
So, um, it'd be very difficultto swat fleas.
Mm-hmm.
Um, so yeah, I think it wasunderstood.
(34:48):
And obviously the vaccinedevelopment, um, in the 1890s,
it's telling us they have a,have a lot of information on how
to deal with this.
So
J.R. (34:57):
you mentioned, uh, pneumonic Plague as well.
Was that, was that a.
Potential issue, like being nearsomebody with the bubonic
plague, you could easily, itcould easily transfer.
Dr. Paula Summerly (35:07):
Yeah.
So the different ways of, um,um, being infected, um, are
actually sort of, um, abrasionsin the skin or droplet
inhalation, so if I cough orsneeze on you.
And I've got bubonic plague,then you are gonna get it.
Um, so they're differentmethods, but they're, they're
(35:28):
the main ones.
And Anna, obviously, her classicneedlestick injury was direct,
um, into her Mm, into her
J.R. (35:35):
system.
I don't imagine many peoplewearing masks back in
1920.
Dr. Paula Summerly (35:39):
No masks.
Mm-hmm.
Um, but Anna wore gloves.
Mm-hmm.
But you'll see when they're inthe, in the rat dissecting lab,
no gloves.
Oh,
J.R. (35:49):
that is insane.
Hopefully we have a photo ofthat.
I hope we do.
And there are gloves.
Dr. Paula Summerly (35:52):
Yeah, because archivists,
J.R. (35:54):
wear gloves.
Um, so I kinda wanna transitionover to Old Red.
So Old Red, of course.
This amazing building down therein the middle of U.T.M.B's
campus.
Um, I know they, they set up aseparate lab elsewhere.
Was Old Red used for any ofthese, um, dissections after
the, uh, somebody died ofBubonic Plague.
Dr. Paula Summerly (36:14):
Um, so the autopsies during, uh, um,
bubonic Plague would've takenplace in the hospital.
Okay.
The John Sealy, not in Old Red.
Okay.
Old Red was really, um, sort ofadministration and, um,
teaching, but all the surgicalprocedures and all the autopsies
would've been in the old JohnSealy.
Mm-hmm.
J.R. (36:35):
So, I know you have a love for Old Red.
It's an amazing building.
Um, could you tell us.
Uh, I guess transitioning alittle bit away from the bubonic
plague, but could you tell us alittle bit about the early
history of, uh, old Red and how,how fast the fascinating story
behind that building?
Dr. Paula Summerly (36:51):
Yeah, so, uh, um, I'm sure many people
will know it's, um, it wasdesigned by architect Nicholas
Clayton, the jewel and his crownfor sure.
Um, uh, Old Red.
Um, I'm really interested in theearly days of the medical school
and, um, if I could be a fly onthe wall and, um, go back to the
(37:13):
early days.
What was really interesting wasthe first faculty, um, who
applied for jobs, the job, jobwas actually posted in the
British Medical Journal and, uh,it um, promised that this new
medical school would be fullyequipped, um, you know, top of
the range in terms of, um,acoustics.
They have amphitheater's,wonderful sound.
(37:34):
And when you read the papers ofWilliam Keeler, utm b's, first
Anatomist, Alan John Smith, UTMB'S first pathologist, and James
Edwin Thompson, first professorof surgery.
There, there was nothing.
It was an empty building.
There were planks on the floor.
And the blocker collectionshave, it was filed under
(37:55):
miscellaneous.
They had a ledger.
And of course, you know, I, I'mvery nosy and I want to know
everything and see everything.
And this ledger turned out to bethe record of what the first
faculty were buying to set upall the laboratories, the books
that they were buying for thefirst library.
All of these things were set upactually in inside Old Red.
So, um, I do tours of Old Red.
(38:18):
So I'm so semi-retired fromdoing that.
Um, tours of Old Red and I wannaknow what was where in the early
days and what I discovered.
Um, the newspapers, um, arereally a great source of
information.
Um, early x-ray experiments wereconducted in what they call the
basement.
Um, of Old Red in 1897 in acloset in the basement.
(38:41):
And I'm one of those people,like, I wanna knock on the
walls.
What's the real wall?
What's the false wall?
And do a tour.
Mm-hmm.
So each floor has its own, um,history.
Um, the building had threeamphitheaters when you have one
left.
Um, the administratoradministration was on the first
floor.
Um, there was a medical museumoverlooking the bay, um, for a
(39:04):
decade.
Um, from 1891, our first librarywas on the first floor, second
floor, all the laboratories,embryology, histology,
pathology, anatomy, top floor,um, dissection lab, the finest
dissection hall in America atone point.
J.R. (39:22):
So before I ask you, well, kind of what you're working on
now, is there anything you wouldlike to conclude?
The bubonic plagues.
We're running short on timehere.
Okay.
To conclude the bubonic plague,anything I.
Missed to ask you.
Definitely something that youdefinitely wanna tell the
Dr. Paula Summerly (39:35):
people.
I think it was, um, it was akind of unknown story, um, until
I'm sure if you were here in1920, you knew all about it, but
you know how things go.
Things are lost to time.
And I think if it hadn't beenfor that tiny little jar, I
don't think we would've thoughtabout it too much.
And what was interesting is, um,the historical foundation had
(39:56):
been involved in restoring manybuildings and they'd encountered
these strange concretestructures and they didn't know
what they were.
And it turned out it was ratproofing.
So that tiny little jar.
Several steps removed, answereda architectural conundrum, which
I think is amazing.
Um, also there's been variousacademic projects as we know.
(40:17):
Um, Leonard Wang published a, apaper recently, so there's
various academic spinoffs andinterest in the story, which can
be nothing but great andhopefully foster some future
historians and pathologists.
J.R. (40:31):
I love that.
I love that you never knowwhat's hiding in the archive.
Somewhere that could spur offanother story that you can find
so much history about, you know,something else.
It's, it's fascinating.
Yeah.
So what, I know you're workingon some pretty fascinating, um,
history projects now.
Can you tell us some, a littlebit about what you've got going
on?
Dr. Paula Summerly (40:49):
Yeah.
Um, one that I, I've kind ofjust completed, um, is a story I
love.
Um, I think I do biographiesrather than do like
institutional histories.
Um, I discovered anotherincredible woman, um, Mary Susan
Moore, who is, is known of.
Um, she is a black physician whocame to Galveston in the 1890s
(41:10):
and founded the HubbardSanitarium on Avenue N.
And she had all kinds ofproblems.
Um the local community were justnot for her setting up a
sanitarium.
And I've kind of researched herlife and the entries pending in
the Handbook of Texas Medicineand the, um, Texas State
Historical Association.
(41:30):
So hopefully in the next fewweeks you'll be to read
something of, uh, Mary SusanMoore, who also happened to be a
member of the Lone Star StateMedical Association, um, which
was set up by black physicians.
They had their first meeting in,uh, the shop now, um, which
houses?
Rene Wiley's Gallery.
(41:50):
They had a meeting there in1886.
So I think there needs to be astate marker put up there.
And the other little side storyI'm working on is, um, I
mentioned I was obsessed withpostal history.
I've been buying, um, historicalletters, um, from well-known
auction site, um, which, um,mentioned different epidemics.
(42:13):
So my, the working title of mylittle exhibition in my brain is
called Letters from an Epidemic.
I've been searching the, the,the senders and the recipients
and, um, just the, the kindastories of these random letters
because people don't writeletters anymore.
So I've got some amazing lettersthat I'm researching.
J.R. (42:33):
I can only imagine how much insight you can get from
two doctors going back and forthtalking about the different
epidemics and outbreaks.
For instance, Philadelphia toGalveston.
In the late 18 hundreds or early19 hundreds.
And how fascinating that must beto be able to take a peek at
what they were
Dr. Paula Summerly (42:47):
discussing.
Yeah.
And there's all kinds of, youknow, extraneous information,
you know, like Bonham andBailey.
I'm going to see that.
But careful as Bubonic Plague orwhatever happens to be,
nothing's changed, has it?
No.
J.R. (42:59):
Um, so we've entered the, uh, section of this presentation
where we will start taking somequestions from the audience.
So enter the Q&A section.
Does anyone have any questionsat all?
I know we kind of, it's hard tocover, uh, an entire year of
bubonic plague in 45 minutes,yes.
Ruth (43:17):
Are there any instances of other animals getting the
bubonic plague?
And and how did that kindaaffect the town?
Dr. Paula Summerly (43:22):
Well, you know, bubonic Plague isn't
medieval, it's actually still inthe United States and every
year, um, several states,including Colorado and Arizona,
they have one or two cases ofBubonic Plague, I think the CDC
say between one and 17 cases peryear.
And they're now treated byantibiotics.
So basically, I dunno if youlove rodents as much as I do, if
(43:46):
you, if you, you get too closeto a dead rodent, uh, prairie
dogs and squirrels, um, thefleas may jump onto you and then
you could get bubonic plague.
Um, so they're all other, um,animals involved.
Yeah, for sure.
All the ones that I really like.
Oh my God.
Emily (44:05):
what are some examples of precautions they made in the
1920s that remain here today?
Dr. Paula Summerly (44:10):
Well rock proofing for sure.
Corner stores.
Um, I guess the history isprobably in the newspaper
archives and, um, and in thewonderful, uh, Galveston, Texas
History Center, which, uh, Seanwill share with us.
Um, there were other bits andpieces, but rat proofing is
probably the main one, um, thatI can think of.
J.R. (44:33):
Um, so if someone gets the plague today, what are the
options?
Is there a vaccine for it
Dr. Paula Summerly (44:38):
today?
Um, but antibiotics, that's it.
Okay.
Yes.
But the sooner the better.
J.R. (44:44):
That makes sense.
Dr. Paula Summerly (44:47):
You can see why I'm not a doctor or a nurse
Quite, I don't think my bedsidemanner would be, uh,
J.R. (44:53):
well, I know, I know on the ships, even today, if you go
out to the port and look at theships and you look at the
mooring lines, They actuallyhave these covers that go over
the mooring lines to keep ratsfrom climbing up the those
ropes, which I find absolutelyfascinating and I, I don't know
when that started, but I wouldimagine people understood that
rats carry diseases.
Dr. Paula Summerly (45:13):
Yeah.
Um, that, that's a great point.
Um, yeah, the stopping the ratscoming.
The other thing that I haven'tmentioned is that the story of
the first person and the jar,the narrative might not be over.
We've discussed sampling.
Um, from that specimen becausewe don't know which strain of
bubonic plague came to theisland in the summer of 1920.
(45:35):
We think it's the one that came,um, from the third pandemic, um,
which hit San Francisco.
It came from, China in 1894through the trade ships.
And it's worked its way, um,throughout the sort of natural
fauna and flora down toGalveston.
Um, but we don't know.
And given we know the date andtime of death of the first
(45:56):
person to die, you'd be onlyplay.
We can map it onto the knownsort of genomic sequence, but
obviously the ethical and legalreasons, if we're gonna sample,
cause we're gonna have familialdna.
But from what I gather, the um,the process of selecting
different cells, et cetera, arereally precise now.
So you could avoid familial dna.
So the story of the first personmight not be over.
J.R. (46:19):
Wow.
So, so technology as, as it isnow or as it progresses, there
may be a way where, um, even ifit's not in Galveston, if it's
another location where you couldactually do the same style of
testing and figure out, do this,uh, you know, 123 years later,
figure out really what was goingon.
Dr. Paula Summerly (46:39):
Yeah.
The Mutter museum at theCollege, college of Physicians
of Philadelphia worked withMcMaster in Canada, and they
actually sampled smallpox from.
Um, blades, um, little, um,little blades that were used to,
um, take samples, vaccineblades, et et et cetera.
But, um, so they've actually gotreading.
(47:02):
So they've also done research oncholera specimens as well.
So these historical antiquities,their stories might not be over
yet, which is endlesslyfascinating, don't you think?
And can breathe new life notreally meant as a pun, to these
collections that are at risk interms of conservation or need to
(47:22):
be rehoused or they're not beingactively used for teaching
research.
So to utilize some of thosecollections for contemporary
research working with, um,colleagues in the Galveston
National Lab.
Couldn't he be a positive, Ifeel for the collections?
J.R. (47:38):
So these collections, I know it's, it's.
A topic that is, has a checkeredhistory, as you say, the
collections, um, for context fortheir, their body parts that
were dissected at some point,right.
Dr. Paula Summerly (47:50):
Um, the anatomical, yes.
Okay.
Um, and the others are removedduring autopsy mm-hmm.
And kept for the, theydemonstrated tumors or so other
people could use them for, um,teaching, uh, purposes.
Really?
Mm-hmm.
Okay.
J.R. (48:06):
All right.
Henry (48:07):
I was curious.
You have a personal interest inpostal history..
and now we find out as well thatyou have a collection.
Is there any really interestingfact In terms of that postal
history here within the US oreven abroad..
That you think is worth sharing?
Dr. Paula Summerly (48:20):
Well, what I discovered are that there are
actually experts on um, fumigatemail.
Um, and I'm really interested,and also if you think about dna,
you know, now if, if you lick anenvelope, not that many people
do, but then your DNA is in thesealant, isn't it?
Mm-hmm.
I mean, there's potentialspinoff here.
Um, I think I'm interested inletters because nobody writes
(48:43):
them anymore.
Um, I'm interested in this insocial history, but setting that
disease within a social contextand how people kind of just got
on with everyday life, eventhough there was.
Influenza or whatever happenedto be.
And then I'm always interestedin the people and I like things
that are very challenging.
How am I gonna find out who theyare?
(49:04):
What kind of data can I get?
And I have managed to find some,but it's a, it's a long
laborious process of trying tore-identify, um, mail senders
and recipients, you know, fromthe 1880s onwards.
But, um, I think it's just thehuman story that really
interests me, but it has to belong gone.
(49:25):
Did that answer it?
Did that answer your question?
Thank you.
So,
J.R. (49:29):
so during your, uh, research process in the bubonic
plague, what is the most, whatwas the most difficult part?
Um, I know you, you probablycame here to the Galveston,
Texas History Center.
Um, you, you have plenty ofrecords at U.T.M.B.
As well.
What was the most difficultthing to tie together?
Dr. Paula Summerly (49:46):
Well, I think, um, finding Anna's story,
um, some of the houses that thepeople lived in still stand.
I, I kind of look for evidencewhat is left.
So some of the houses that thepeople lived in, um, some of the
doctor's houses are still, um,it's almost a kind of
reconstruction in my brain.
And if I could go into, into alittle time machine and go and
(50:07):
fly through Old Red or somethinglike that in the early days, I'd
just be a little.
Little fly on the wall and seewhat was going on.
I think it's almost, that's, um,it's something that's always,
it's kind of, you need animagination.
Mm-hmm.
Um, to think about the past.
And I know not everyone thinksabout the past, but I don't, I,
(50:29):
I could not fathom a lifewithout the past.
J.R. (50:33):
I love that.
Well, Dr.
Summerly thank you so much forjoining me here at the Rosenberg
Library.
I really, really appreciate you.
This episode comes from theRosenberg Library Conversation
series where I sat down with afew historians to talk about
some extremely interestinghistorical facts about Galveston
and Texas history.
I would like to personally thankthe Rosenberg Library for
(50:55):
allowing Galveston Unscripted tohold live podcast conversations
in the library.
J.R. (2) (51:00):
If this is your first time listening to Galveston
Unscripted, be sure to subscribeto the podcast.
If you've listened or watchedbefore and you enjoy the content
we are putting out in audio andvideo, please make sure to like,
subscribe and review thepodcast.
Leave us a review, leave us arating.
It really helps other peoplefind what we are doing here at
(51:21):
Galveston Unscripted.
Your rating and review helpsother people find Galveston
Unscripted and discover theamazing history of our little
island.
And be sure to follow us onFacebook, Instagram, TikTok, all
those social media platforms.
Dr. Paula Summerly (51:34):
I have a secret project called Galveston
is Purgatory,
We think it's the one that came from the
(00:02):
third pandemic which hit SanFrancisco from, China in 1894
through the trade ships.
And it's worked its way sort ofnatural fauna and flora down to
Galveston The story, of Bubonicplague in Galveston started to
expand.
So the flea itself, Regurgitatesor defecates, what a lovely
(00:22):
description into the littlepuncture wound that it makes in
your ankle.
And that's how you become sick.
J.R. (00:29):
Welcome to Galveston unscripted.
This episode comes from theRosenberg Library Conversation
series where I sat down with afew historians to talk about
some extremely interestinghistorical facts about Galveston
and Texas history.
I would like to personally thankthe Rosenberg Library for
allowing Galveston Unscripted tohold live podcast conversations
(00:50):
in the library.
This conversation series wassuch a great experience and I
really look forward to pickingit up again in the fall of 2023.
And a very huge thank you to ourguests.
J.R. (2) (01:02):
Check the link in the description for the direct links
to the books that our guest haswritten.
If this is your first timelistening to Galveston
Unscripted, be sure to subscribeto the podcast.
If you've listened or watchedbefore and you enjoy the content
we are putting out in audio andvideo, please make sure to like,
subscribe and review thepodcast.
(01:23):
Leave us a review, leave us arating.
It really helps other peoplefind what we are doing here at
Galveston Unscripted.
Your rating and review helpsother people find Galveston
Unscripted and discover theamazing history of our little
island.
And be sure to follow us onFacebook, Instagram, TikTok, all
those social media platforms.
J.R. (01:42):
without further ado, let's hop into this episode with Dr.
Paula Summerly My name is JRShaw.
I started Galveston Unscripted apodcast back in July of 2021.
And it was always my dream to,have a live audience and
discussions in front of a liveaudience and, um, just further
education through.
In-person means and digitalmeans.
(02:04):
Um, so we're recording thisentire conversation.
It will be available on theRosenberg Library's website in a
few weeks, as well as my podcastfeed and YouTube.
alright, I want to dive rightinto this Dr.
Summerly but before we do, I'mgonna introduce you a little
bit.
You, have some pretty amazingaccolades, uh, but I'm gonna
read a little short bio here.
(02:25):
Dr.
Paula Summerly was born in thenorth of England.
Her academic background is inthe history of medicine, paleo
pathology, and fine artphotography.
She has researched and curatedmedical exhibitions in
Galveston, Cleveland, Chicago,Scotland, and London.
Her interests include, thehistory of anatomy, pathology,
(02:46):
and forensics.
Currently, Paula is the curatorof the Old Red Medical Museum at
the University of Texas MedicalBranch at Galveston.
The new museum will be housed inthe former dissection lab, which
we'll be discussing today on thetop floor of Old Red or the
Asheville Smith Building, it's agorgeous building if you haven't
been over there to see.
It's amazing.
(03:06):
The oldest surviving medicalschool building west of the
Mississippi River.
So pretty fascinating.
Um, office you have over there.
It's, it's quite nice.
Did I miss anything?
Dr. Paula Summerly (03:17):
No, that's very, very kind of you.
J.R. (03:19):
Could you tell us a little bit about where you're from and,
and how you ended up here inGalveston?
Dr. Paula Summerly (03:25):
Um, just a disclaimer, I have a secret
project called Galveston isPurgatory, and I think, I think,
uh, I was here in a former lifeand it's a kind of holding bay.
Um, I ended up in Galveston.
It's a really long story, butum, I was born in Wall's End,
which is, um, in the northeastof England.
(03:47):
It's famous for ship buildingand.
Sting, I guess is a local lad,and I was always interested in
history and, um, I, uh, didarcheology after I left high
school and, um, went to, um, adig and picked up an artifact,
(04:08):
which happened to be a piece of,um, bit from a Roman horses and
that just touching history.
I always knew I wanted to dealwith the past.
And, um, so yeah, I've, Istarted off in archeology and
I've always been interested indisease and human remains the
(04:28):
human story.
And also I have a, a love ofphotography.
So to cut along story short andmiss out multiple degrees, I can
emerge my interests.
When I did, uh, a doctorate atthe University of Glasgow, um,
on the history of clinicalphotography, and then I fell
into the world of medicalmuseums.
And I had various research jobsin the United States, first at
(04:52):
Case Western Reserve, and I kindof fell in love with America at
that point.
I loved Americans and the, Itook off my stiff British social
armor and became, and I justfell in love with the American
people and had several positionsin the United States.
And I came to Galveston to do,um, a visiting scholarship.
(05:15):
At the Institute for the MedicalHumanities and I curated an
exhibition called AbstractAnatomy.
And towards the end of that six,six month scholarship, um, the
head of the Institute forMedical Humanities mentioned
there was a museum task force.
They knew I'd developed amedical exhibition in Scotland
(05:36):
and would I'd be interested inmeeting the task force and so on
and so forth.
So that was 10 years ago,October the eighth.
It's when I came to Galveston.
So it's been a decade ofdeveloping a museum.
J.R. (05:51):
Well, that's, that's awesome.
That is great.
Um, and I'm really glad you madeit to America and Galveston.
Cause I, I think what you'redoing and your research is
definitely an asset to ourcommunity and our history.
Um, so let's dive into this.
So can you tell us a little bitabout, um, the founding of
U.T.M.B., why U.T.M.B.
Was founded here in Galveston?
Um, and then we'll get intodiseases.
Dr. Paula Summerly (06:13):
Sure.
Um, so the, the Galveston hasseveral medical schools, um,
prior to U.T.M.B., um, notablythe Galveston Medical College
founded by Greensville Dow inthe 1860s.
And then the Texas MedicalCollege, which was a precursor
(06:33):
to U.T.M.B., it was locatedalmost on the same site as, um,
Ashbel Smith building, um, oldRed on.
And 91 14 Strand Street.
Um, so the early medical schoolsare something that really
interests me.
I have to say wherever I go,local history is really
(06:53):
important to me when in Rome,you know, do what the Romans
did.
So, um, I like to start.
Metaphor, metaphorically diggingfor stories.
Mm-hmm.
And obviously, old Red isreally, um, I call it an
enigmatic building.
I remember when I first saw it10 years ago, I thought, what is
that doing there?
(07:15):
And to cut a long story short,it was vaulted on by the people.
Ashbell Smith was a, who was.
Uh, on the Board of Regions atthe time in the 1830s, forties
was very pro having a, um, amedical school on the island cuz
he actually had a house here.
So it ended up here throughvarious supporters and I have to
(07:38):
give a shout out to the JohnSealy, um, school of Nursing,
which was, um, housed next doorto, um, old Red and that opened
in 1890, a year before theSchool of Medicine.
J.R. (07:52):
so Galveston, you know, when I think of Galveston and,
and the founding of thesemedical facilities and
universities, um, I guess it'sgalveston's the perfect place
because we have a port and wehave people coming here from all
over the world.
Um, and Galveston, before we getinto the bubonic plague, there
were plenty of diseases passingthrough Galveston and that
devastated the island.
(08:12):
Could you tell us a little bitabout the past diseases that I
guess the, uh, the universitieswere here to study and look at?
Dr. Paula Summerly (08:20):
Yeah.
Um, not just the climate, Iguess, in terms of history of
medicine.
Galveston is synonymous withyellow fever, dengue fever,
smallpox.
But you don't really hear muchabout bubonic plague, which I
think is rather interesting.
And it wasn't really on my radarand, uh, until I stumbled upon
something, which we'll talkabout later.
(08:41):
Um, also the positioning of thehospital and the medical school.
If you think about the port, um,trainee doctors and nurses would
be exposed to, um, trauma cases,railway injuries, and so on.
So that was another reason.
Um, you got a lot of, um, handson experience by dealing with a
(09:01):
whole range of illnesses and,um, trauma cases.
J.R. (09:07):
So growing up in, in Galveston, in the Galveston
area, I'd never heard of thebubonic plague in this area at
all.
I always thought that was a14th, 15th century problem in
Europe.
Um, how did you stumble into thebubonic plague?
Dr. Paula Summerly (09:25):
Um, so when I came to Galveston, um, 10
years ago, it was actually forone year position.
Um, U.T.M.B.
In its past had museums ofanatomy, pathology and surgical
pathology.
And when I was brought in, I wasbrought in to make an inventory
of those collections.
And then I thought I'd do that.
(09:46):
And now I'll be back on theother side of the pond before I
know it, before I know it.
And what I realized, it was likepainting a bridge.
You get around the collectiononce and then you've gotta go
around for another reason andanother reason and another
reason.
And it turns out thosecollections, anatomy, um, Human,
um, the structure and shape andform, um, different joints, uh,
(10:09):
pathology, diseased organs andtissues, um, which are acquired,
um, during autopsy or, um, aftersurgery.
And, um, the surge path arejust, um, removed during
surgery.
Those collections turned outwere really important to the
history of U.T.M.B..
(10:30):
Um, U.T.M.B.
Had an.
National reputation forexcellence in practical medical
education and those collectionsand those museums during the
1890s, early 20th century.
Um, were at the forefront ofattracting staff, faculty, and
students to U.T.M.B.
(10:50):
To study.
Um, those collections have had abit of a checkered history, um,
and during the 1940s andfifties, Um, the museums closed.
The specimens were eitherdestroyed or put out of sight,
and some are still out of sight,but it follows a well known
pattern of what happened toother medical museums in the
United States.
(11:11):
For example, the Warren Museumat Harvard.
So they're known patterns ofmuseums closing due to shifts in
the curriculum, introduction ofimaging.
It, social and ethical reasons.
There's a whole different, uh,there's a lot of complicated
reasons why, but U T M V fallsinto those patterns and those
collections are really importantto me and a lot of people who
(11:36):
know about their existence.
And we're hoping we will formthe core vision of the new
J.R. (11:40):
museum.
So, um, you're, you're dealingwith these, I guess, these
collections and.
You stumble upon something thatkind of triggers you to say,
Hey, I need to like look intothis a little bit more.
Dr. Paula Summerly (11:55):
Yeah.
So, um, I mentioned thecollections had a checkered
history.
Um, they obviously, uh, Survivedseveral storms and I'd like to
do a podcast with some of thosespecimens if I could.
I wanted to interview, interviewa brain preserved Dry since
1897.
I think it had an amazing story.
(12:16):
We also have, um, a littlefacial bone, um, which, um, is a
kind of mounted tiny little bonein, um, a little glass box on a
wooden base.
And when I was doing aninventory, literally my job was,
what do we have?
Put a label on it, give it anumber next, move along.
And I found this little box andI couldn't quite see what was in
(12:36):
it.
So I tried to remove some of thedust as I thought.
And her and I started to coughand splitter and I realized it
was Ike silt.
I'd heard all these stories ofHurricane Ike and the silt and
her, this was, this had gonethrough Hurricane Ike.
It was all water logged anddried out.
And I talked to one of thetechnicians and lo and behold,
yes.
Um, there was about six feet ofwater, um, in Old Red in the
(13:00):
basement, and that's where theystored the cadavers and some dry
specimens.
So, um, the technician broughtup some of the specimens, uh, to
dry out and then I stumbled uponone and I just thought this was
a really important story, thatthese tiny, little fragile jars
have survived so many naturaldisasters.
(13:23):
It's an amazing story.
So amongst the survey, uh, thepathology collection, I wasn't
here during Hurricane Ike, butit was housed in what I believe
was called the old microbuilding.
And I, that's being totaled now.
But, um, the building floodedand the pathology collection was
in there.
And I've heard stories of thetiny little jars floating off
(13:45):
the shelves because the jars arethis size, some other kind of
this size.
Um, So when I started, therewere, um, the collections had
been salvaged, um, by a companythat didn't specialize in human
remains, of course.
And the jarred specimens hadbeen put in black plastic drums
(14:05):
with sawdust, which was what wecall tombolas in the uk.
When you stick your hand in andpull something out, you get a
prize.
Well, it was very, it was verylike.
So, I was getting to the end ofthe inventory and I was hoping
to find something reallyinteresting and saw Tomball.
I pulled out a little jar, aspecimen of Bubonic Plague, and
(14:27):
I was so excited and I thought,I hope there's more than one.
And there wasn't.
There was just this tiny littlejar, not very aesthetically
pleasing unless you're apathologist.
Mm-hmm.
And I thought, I want to know alittle bit more about that.
And little did I realize theincredible story that jar.
Would un sort of reveal itselfand how that, the story from one
(14:51):
jar led to several otherstories.
J.R. (14:56):
So that leads us into you discovering the Bubonic Plague
outbreak, uh, in early or early1900 Galveston.
Um, so, before we hop into that,could you explain to us what the
Bubonic Plague is?
Yeah.
Dr. Paula Summerly (15:10):
So, um, bubonic Plague is, um, it's a
bacterial disease and.
Um, it's acquired through, um,actually cuts or abrasions in
the skin.
There's different forms ofbubonic, plague, pneumonic is
when you inhale the droplets.
And essentially, um, the diseaseis carried by rats and spread by
(15:31):
fleas.
So I'm sure most of you havebeen bitten by fleas one time or
another, and you probably noticeas they go around your ankles
when they jump up on the floor.
And, um, so the flea itself, um,Regurgitates or defecates, what
a lovely description into thelittle wound, the little
puncture wound that it makes inyour ankle.
(15:52):
And that's how, um, you becomesick and the bacteria spreads
into your lymph system.
So you'll have huge swellings onyour neck or your groin.
And they were what are calledbubos.
I actually thought, where doesthe word bubo come from?
It's actually Greek for groin.
Mm.
I didn't, I didn't know thatuntil the day.
(16:13):
We all learn something.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Um, and so these swellings aresynonymous with bubonic plague
and black death comes from, soyou have hemorrhage in these
lymph nodes and they bleed.
And um, essentially you willdevelop gangrene.
Mm-hmm.
So if you google black death,you'll see gra gangrenous
(16:36):
extremities primarily at thebeginning.
And that's where kind of blackdeath is probably synonymous.
Or you're gonna have, I thinkthe Danish 16th century, um,
description of Black Deathactually meant that you are not
gonna have a cheery outcome.
Oh,
J.R. (16:55):
okay.
So you discover, um, youdiscover in this jar and you in
this body part that had thebubonic plague, um, and you
discovered the outbreak.
So can you tell us a little bitabout the bubonic plague
outbreak in Galveston in 1920?
Okay,
Dr. Paula Summerly (17:11):
so the, the little jar that I found, um, it
had, um, a number, um, etchedon, on the lid.
And that number, um, correspondsthrough an autopsy protocol, um,
or report, which gives detailsof the, the individual, um,
race, immigration status,sometimes occupation, all kinds
(17:33):
of data, which is reallyinteresting in terms of social
history.
Um, also the clinicaldescription of what happened to
the person.
Um, so using that information, Icould leap from, um, the jar to
an autopsy protocol.
And I knew the Moody MedicalLibrary, the Blocker Collections
had a plague laboratorynotebook.
(17:54):
I didn't have the name of theindividual at the time, but I
soon found out who it was.
I matched the dates of death andso on, and I thought, I know, I
know who this person was.
And then I researched where theylived on Google Maps.
Is the building still standing?
We found the grave marker.
And at that juncture I gave alittle presentation.
Um, and Dwayne Jones, thedirector of Galveston Historical
(18:16):
Foundation, attended and givenhe's a visionary, he said, I
wanna know more about thisPaula.
So we developed, we actuallyresearched more about the
outbreak of Bubonic Plague andthe, the people involved in the
outbreak.
And so that really is how thestory, of Bubonic plague in
Galveston, started to expand.
It's very much a sort ofcollaborative, Effort.
(18:38):
I was so enamored with my littlejar would, I've got beyond that
to the rest of the story.
I'm not wholly sure, but thattiny jar answered so many
amazing questions.
And Dr.
David Walker, who is um, uh, hewas the former chair of
pathology at U.T.M.B..
He's a world.
Renowned researcher.
(18:59):
He happened to have a set ofmicroscope slides in his office,
which he gave to, um, my mentor,Dr.
Judy Aronson.
And it turned, turned out we hadall the slides of, um, the
bubonic plague victims that wecould research
J.R. (19:14):
more about that later.
Yeah.
Well, let's, let's get into thevictim.
So, um, and, and kind of the,the outbreak itself, so you
could tell us.
The about the, the firstdiscovery was first discovered
in 1920, and kind of how itspread and, and what was going
on in the city.
Dr. Paula Summerly (19:31):
Okay.
So, um, when the first, um,person, um, he went to the John
Sealy Hospital, they didn'tactually know it was Bubonic
Plague.
It was, um, there's varioustechniques to, um, diagnose the,
the, the disease, which are kindof complex, but essentially you
stick, um, a needle and asyringe into the, the bubo.
(19:52):
And extract some fluid.
And then you can look atdifferent cells under the
microscope, but you also usesome of that juice, as they call
it, and inject it into a poorlittle Guinea pig.
And if the Guinea pig developsswollen lymph glands, you can be
pretty sure it's bubonic plague.
J.R. (20:11):
So, so this was the, the first victim of the plague.
Do they, do they know how he gotit?
Was it, um, like a rat or fleafrom a ship or anything like
that?
Dr. Paula Summerly (20:21):
He worked in a green store on 29th and Strand
Street.
Mm-hmm.
And so, kind of forensic mindedthey got, went to look to see
there were dead rats.
And you can imagine rats areattracted to grain, so there's
probably a lot of rats in thegreen store.
And so that's probably how hewas infected.
Um, and this young man, he died,I think it was during June.
(20:42):
June 17th, 1920.
And he died early evening andthe next day he was buried in
Lakeview Cemetery.
Uh, before the press got hold ofwhat was Bubonic Plague on the
island before they actually, um,you know, spread the word as it
were.
J.R. (21:00):
Was there, were there bubonic, plague, outbreaks,
anywhere else?
Um, in the, in that year oryears
Dr. Paula Summerly (21:05):
prior?
Um, around, around, uh, the sametime, um, port Arthur, um, also
Pensacola, Florida, um, newOrleans.
So this wasn't unique.
Um, the actual.
Origin of the plague Galveston,uh, was never, um, never
determined.
Um, there was never one, onesort of true source found.
(21:31):
They did map, uh, all of thevictims.
There were about 18 people who,um, Um, were diagnosed with
Bubonic Plague and their, theirstories have different outcomes.
The second person to actually,um, be, to be diagnosed with
Bubonic Plague was a colleagueof the first person to die.
Um, so obviously proximitythere, but I guess she was
(21:54):
working in a rat, you know, in arat infested, um, Store.
So no, no wonder.
Um, so they did map whereeverybody lived.
The streets that were involvedwent anything from, um, like
avenue 11th to 33rd.
Um, different age groups fromage three to 70.
Um, different ethnicities,occupation, anything from a
(22:17):
pathologist to longshoreman.
Um, and what's reallyinteresting in the summer of
1920, if you go through thenewspapers, it's um, It's very
Galveston esque.
Um, there was a longshoremanstrike that had been long
brewing, um, along harborside todo with trade unions, and there
were civil unrest and martiallaw.
(22:39):
Bit of bubonic plague around thestrand area.
And then the bathing beautyparades on, on the sea wall.
And, um, it's really fascinatingto, uh, you know, Charlie
Chaplin's movie was on at theTremont Theater.
It's like, nothing reallystopped.
J.R. (22:56):
That's my next question.
Um, there wasn't masspandemonium or, you know, once
this hit the news, were, werepeople really worried about it
or do
Dr. Paula Summerly (23:05):
you, do you know?
Uh, I don't.
I think the major changes wereprobably in terms of the
community was asked to reallyget involved in trapping rats,
and the city did employ rattrappers and, um, you were
encouraged to trap and kill yourrat and put a label on it and
drop it off at, um, a plaguelaboratory, which was set up
(23:28):
just a few weeks after the firstcase had been diagnosed.
Um, on 20th and a mechanic.
And that little laboratory isendlessly fascinating.
And, um, I'm think as a child myfavorite word was why I get one
piece of information and thenthe next one is already lined
up.
But why, where is it?
What?
Mm-hmm.
So the little politicallaboratory was, um, on 20th
(23:51):
mechanic and you take off, youdrop off your little disease rat
or the label, because they weretrying to find out the, the kind
of focus of where the infectionstarted.
J.R. (24:01):
What would they do to the rats when they received them in
this laboratory?
Dr. Paula Summerly (24:05):
Well, they were looking for signs, um, of
bubonic plague, um, rats, whichhad essentially swollen glands.
They also analyzed the fleas aswell.
I can imagine that in the summerof 1920 in a tiny little
makeshift laboratory.
Charming, no gloves, no nothing.
And between June and towards theend of 1920, I think the lab was
(24:32):
active probably to August orSeptember.
They examined 46,000 rats.
J.R. (24:40):
How many different doctors or assistants were working on
these rats?
Was it just a
Dr. Paula Summerly (24:44):
few?
Probably just a handful.
Um, Dr.
Mark Boyd, um, he was aprofessor at U.T.M.B..
He, um, led the lab.
And, um, there's lots ofwonderful photographs in local
archives and the Galveston TexasHistory Center, you can see some
of the activities of themexamining rats.
Um, this had the littlemakeshift postmortem autopsy
(25:08):
suite.
J.R. (25:10):
Can you imagine that dropping off your disease rat at
U.T.M.B.
Nowadays?
Dr. Paula Summerly (25:14):
Yeah, I can.
And what's really interesting isthe adverts, you know, um, the
Boy Scout movement would, um,Post flyers, um, telling people
to, you know, don't have trashand garbage as you know, don't
have harbor bridges that aregonna attract, um, vermin.
And so it was a real, um, kindof communal response.
Um, not just the experts, butum, the community really got
(25:37):
involved as well.
So
J.R. (25:39):
the, so when the city got involved besides, um, turning in
your rats, what were some otherprevention methods?
I know there, there was poisonused.
Um, what were some otherprevention methods they used?
Dr. Paula Summerly (25:50):
Um, fumigation of buildings.
There are images of, um, I thinkwe use cyanide.
Um, so they seal up buildings.
Um, they also, um, fumigated,um, cargos, you know, coming in
and out, um, of the, of theport.
This is really to ensure thatthere was no sort of official
(26:11):
quarantine.
Quarantine.
They didn't want to.
Damage the economy too much.
Um, rat proofing, we maybe goonto that.
Um, various ordinances werebrought in, um, and, um, corner
stores were required to have,um, several forms of, uh, rat
proofing, some of which stillsurvives to the present day.
(26:34):
Um, another thing that reallyfascinates me is I don't think
it happened in Galveston, butum, they also fumigate mail.
During various epidemics andpandemics.
So you'd open a letter and if,if, if the center had smallpox
and, um, so fumigate male isdifferent, they would actually
pierce the envelopes and so onand so forth.
It's a, postal history issomething that kind of
(26:55):
fascinates me.
Um, so yeah, fumigation,obviously, um, putting out
poison.
Um, also the seawall hadmessages painted on it about
that they actually put poison inthe rocks.
Um, on the sea wall and Ihappened to purchase, um, a tiny
photograph of two women inbathing suits perched on a rock,
(27:17):
and you can see this poisonbehind the do on the sea wall.
All those images have gone now,but there's some evidence of,
of, uh, the remnants of bubonicplague on the island.
J.R. (27:28):
How many people contracted the bubonic plague or confirmed
confirmed cases in Galveston?
Dr. Paula Summerly (27:35):
That's fine.
Um, 18.
So in terms of treatment, um,well, the first young man who
was 17, um, he didn't have achance.
Um, he had terrible fevers andpains, swollen bubo.
They weren't exactly sure, butthe second person who was, um,
diagnosed the following day, um,received, um, there was a, a
(27:58):
Milford's, um, anti plague serumas it was called, and um, that
was shipped supplies.
The city actually had somesupplies and then the um,
Pastoral Institute.
Sent some supplies over toGalveston as well, um, from
Paris.
So there was also somethingcalled, um, Half Keen's vaccine.
(28:20):
Um, but some of these werereally powerful drugs, and I
know at least one person whoreceived, um, the serum died of
anaphylactic shock.
J.R. (28:31):
Oh my gosh.
Yeah.
So what was the, uh, death ratelike?
I mean, how many people weredying when they would get.
The bubonic plague.
Dr. Paula Summerly (28:40):
Um, there were, so there were about 12
deaths.
Mm.
Okay.
But those who, who actuallyreceived some, um, vaccine did,
did survive.
J.R. (28:54):
So could you, could you tell us and understand there was
a doctor who worked at U.T.M.B.
Who actually contracted it.
Could you tell us that
Dr. Paula Summerly (29:00):
story?
Yeah, so one of the victims of,uh, bubonic Plague, I mentioned
those different longshoremen,um, a housekeeper.
Um, one was a pathologist.
Um, Dr.
Anna Mary Bowie, she graduatedfrom, um, U.T.M.B.
In the summer of 1920.
Um, she was from Tennessee.
(29:22):
And when she graduated, um, shegot a job as a pathologist
assistant and she was doingautopsies.
And in August she did an autopsyon one of the plague victims.
And when she was finishing theautopsy and sewing up the scalp
of the, of the woman, um, whohad died, she accidentally
(29:44):
pricked her left index fingerand she was wearing her gloves.
Um, and she knew.
Exactly what to do.
Um, she kind of washed the, thewound and then cauterized it and
then got on her way, merry way.
And of course then later shestart to develop a fever and she
knew exactly what it was, um,swollen, lymph glands, all all
(30:06):
the things.
So she knew she had bubonicplague, and she, um,
self-injected both, um, thevaccine on the serum.
I think, um, she was just abrave pathologist, that's all.
And she was off work for acouple of months and then went
back, um, to work.
And the first person she did inAutopsy on was another victim of
(30:29):
Bubonic Plague.
Oh my goodness.
And Anna, as I call her Dr.
Bowie or Bowie, um, as ahistorian, I thought, what an
incredible woman.
To be a pathologist.
The first woman to graduate fromthe School of Medicine was Marie
Delandra Dietzel in 1897.
So U.T.M.B.
(30:49):
Is a history of, um, um, earlymedical, you know, pioneers in
medicine.
And I, I consider Anna to be oneof those.
And I couldn't find anythingabout her after right, 1924.
And to cut a long story short, Ifound her an address for her.
And she's a member of a medicalsociety and it listed her
(31:11):
address in Tennessee.
So I, I was probably searchingBowie, Galveston or whatever,
and I could find nothing.
And a couple of little internetsearches later, um, I found, um,
a website called The Friends ofthe Bowie Nature Park, and lo
and behold, there's a picture ofAnna and that led to a whole
other story of Anna and hersiblings.
(31:33):
And they bought land inFairview, Tennessee, which is.
Was is now actually a park, theBowie Nature Park, and they had
Anna's archive.
We have nothing about Anna atU.T.M.B..
They even have a picture of Annaon the steps of Old Red and
probably just as a medicalstudent, which they gave me a
copy of.
So, um, Anna's story is actuallyin the Handbook of Texas
(31:56):
Medicine.
J.R. (31:57):
Okay, so let's take it back a little bit.
So there's Anna Bowie, which isa fascinating story.
Did, did, when she moved toTennessee, did she like live the
the rest of her life saying, oh,I survived the bubonic plague?
Dr. Paula Summerly (32:07):
No, Anna was a bit of a trailblazer, I think.
Um, you know, being a Brit stiffupper lip, nothing compared to
Anna Bowie.
She never mentioned it.
Um, she, um, Um, taught atPeabody, uh, medical College,
and she, um, she was fired fromthat job eventually.
(32:27):
I think she's a bit of a, aradical in many ways, so ahead
of her time.
And then she set up a, um, aprivate practice and, um, She
was interviewed partly to dowith the, the purchase of land
with her siblings.
And she said, oh yeah,I hadBubonic Plague?
She just mentioned it inpassing.
And then when I met the friendsof the Bowie Nature Park, they
said, is it true?
(32:48):
And I'm like, yeah, it's true.
And you know, Anna, um, receiveda, a 50 years of service, um,
certificate from U.T.M.B., andshe died in 1980, age 90.
And I would've done anything tomeet her.
I think she was such anincredible.
Incredible woman.
J.R. (33:07):
I mean, I can't imagine living to age 90 after surviving
the bubonic plague.
Right?
It's just, that is insane.
Yeah.
So as, so what was the timeframeof this outbreak?
Was it only in 1920?
Was it kind of quelled towardsthe end of that year?
Or did it did, uh, turnover into20 or 1921?
Dr. Paula Summerly (33:25):
Um, there were one or two cases in 1921,
but I think, um, the huge effortin terms of trapping rats and
the fumigation, all thosethings, Really kind of quelled
the outbreak.
So in terms of the damage, yes,people losing their lives is,
um, is very tragic, but it couldhave been a lot worse.
(33:46):
Mm-hmm.
Um, for sure.
And, um, so, um, the outbreakitself, um, San Francisco, um,
had an outbreak in 1900 andthere's was much more
devastating.
So some of the protocols thatthey utilized were, um, Followed
by Galveston.
So, um, in terms of the rattrapping et cetera.
(34:09):
So they learned from othercities.
J.R. (34:11):
So trailblazing, yeah, there it goes.
Galveston again, trailblazingand another thing.
Right.
Um, at the time, in 1920, was itunderstood that the fleas were
carrying the bubonic plague orwas it just the rats?
Was it, was that understood
Dr. Paula Summerly (34:26):
thoroughly?
Um, I think so by the, themedical fraternity for sure.
Yeah.
So, um, And I guess, you know,trying to deal with fleas is one
thing, but it's, it's the, therodents that are carrying the
fleas.
So, um, it'd be very difficultto swat fleas.
Mm-hmm.
Um, so yeah, I think it wasunderstood.
(34:48):
And obviously the vaccinedevelopment, um, in the 1890s,
it's telling us they have a,have a lot of information on how
to deal with this.
So
J.R. (34:57):
you mentioned, uh, pneumonic Plague as well.
Was that, was that a.
Potential issue, like being nearsomebody with the bubonic
plague, you could easily, itcould easily transfer.
Dr. Paula Summerly (35:07):
Yeah.
So the different ways of, um,um, being infected, um, are
actually sort of, um, abrasionsin the skin or droplet
inhalation, so if I cough orsneeze on you.
And I've got bubonic plague,then you are gonna get it.
Um, so they're differentmethods, but they're, they're
(35:28):
the main ones.
And Anna, obviously, her classicneedlestick injury was direct,
um, into her Mm, into her
J.R. (35:35):
system.
I don't imagine many peoplewearing masks back in
1920.
Dr. Paula Summerly (35:39):
No masks.
Mm-hmm.
Um, but Anna wore gloves.
Mm-hmm.
But you'll see when they're inthe, in the rat dissecting lab,
no gloves.
Oh,
J.R. (35:49):
that is insane.
Hopefully we have a photo ofthat.
I hope we do.
And there are gloves.
Dr. Paula Summerly (35:52):
Yeah, because archivists,
J.R. (35:54):
wear gloves.
Um, so I kinda wanna transitionover to Old Red.
So Old Red, of course.
This amazing building down therein the middle of U.T.M.B's
campus.
Um, I know they, they set up aseparate lab elsewhere.
Was Old Red used for any ofthese, um, dissections after
the, uh, somebody died ofBubonic Plague.
Dr. Paula Summerly (36:14):
Um, so the autopsies during, uh, um,
bubonic Plague would've takenplace in the hospital.
Okay.
The John Sealy, not in Old Red.
Okay.
Old Red was really, um, sort ofadministration and, um,
teaching, but all the surgicalprocedures and all the autopsies
would've been in the old JohnSealy.
Mm-hmm.
J.R. (36:35):
So, I know you have a love for Old Red.
It's an amazing building.
Um, could you tell us.
Uh, I guess transitioning alittle bit away from the bubonic
plague, but could you tell us alittle bit about the early
history of, uh, old Red and how,how fast the fascinating story
behind that building?
Dr. Paula Summerly (36:51):
Yeah, so, uh, um, I'm sure many people
will know it's, um, it wasdesigned by architect Nicholas
Clayton, the jewel and his crownfor sure.
Um, uh, Old Red.
Um, I'm really interested in theearly days of the medical school
and, um, if I could be a fly onthe wall and, um, go back to the
(37:13):
early days.
What was really interesting wasthe first faculty, um, who
applied for jobs, the job, jobwas actually posted in the
British Medical Journal and, uh,it um, promised that this new
medical school would be fullyequipped, um, you know, top of
the range in terms of, um,acoustics.
They have amphitheater's,wonderful sound.
(37:34):
And when you read the papers ofWilliam Keeler, utm b's, first
Anatomist, Alan John Smith, UTMB'S first pathologist, and James
Edwin Thompson, first professorof surgery.
There, there was nothing.
It was an empty building.
There were planks on the floor.
And the blocker collectionshave, it was filed under
(37:55):
miscellaneous.
They had a ledger.
And of course, you know, I, I'mvery nosy and I want to know
everything and see everything.
And this ledger turned out to bethe record of what the first
faculty were buying to set upall the laboratories, the books
that they were buying for thefirst library.
All of these things were set upactually in inside Old Red.
So, um, I do tours of Old Red.
(38:18):
So I'm so semi-retired fromdoing that.
Um, tours of Old Red and I wannaknow what was where in the early
days and what I discovered.
Um, the newspapers, um, arereally a great source of
information.
Um, early x-ray experiments wereconducted in what they call the
basement.
Um, of Old Red in 1897 in acloset in the basement.
(38:41):
And I'm one of those people,like, I wanna knock on the
walls.
What's the real wall?
What's the false wall?
And do a tour.
Mm-hmm.
So each floor has its own, um,history.
Um, the building had threeamphitheaters when you have one
left.
Um, the administratoradministration was on the first
floor.
Um, there was a medical museumoverlooking the bay, um, for a
(39:04):
decade.
Um, from 1891, our first librarywas on the first floor, second
floor, all the laboratories,embryology, histology,
pathology, anatomy, top floor,um, dissection lab, the finest
dissection hall in America atone point.
J.R. (39:22):
So before I ask you, well, kind of what you're working on
now, is there anything you wouldlike to conclude?
The bubonic plagues.
We're running short on timehere.
Okay.
To conclude the bubonic plague,anything I.
Missed to ask you.
Definitely something that youdefinitely wanna tell the
Dr. Paula Summerly (39:35):
people.
I think it was, um, it was akind of unknown story, um, until
I'm sure if you were here in1920, you knew all about it, but
you know how things go.
Things are lost to time.
And I think if it hadn't beenfor that tiny little jar, I
don't think we would've thoughtabout it too much.
And what was interesting is, um,the historical foundation had
(39:56):
been involved in restoring manybuildings and they'd encountered
these strange concretestructures and they didn't know
what they were.
And it turned out it was ratproofing.
So that tiny little jar.
Several steps removed, answereda architectural conundrum, which
I think is amazing.
Um, also there's been variousacademic projects as we know.
(40:17):
Um, Leonard Wang published a, apaper recently, so there's
various academic spinoffs andinterest in the story, which can
be nothing but great andhopefully foster some future
historians and pathologists.
J.R. (40:31):
I love that.
I love that you never knowwhat's hiding in the archive.
Somewhere that could spur offanother story that you can find
so much history about, you know,something else.
It's, it's fascinating.
Yeah.
So what, I know you're workingon some pretty fascinating, um,
history projects now.
Can you tell us some, a littlebit about what you've got going
on?
Dr. Paula Summerly (40:49):
Yeah.
Um, one that I, I've kind ofjust completed, um, is a story I
love.
Um, I think I do biographiesrather than do like
institutional histories.
Um, I discovered anotherincredible woman, um, Mary Susan
Moore, who is, is known of.
Um, she is a black physician whocame to Galveston in the 1890s
(41:10):
and founded the HubbardSanitarium on Avenue N.
And she had all kinds ofproblems.
Um the local community were justnot for her setting up a
sanitarium.
And I've kind of researched herlife and the entries pending in
the Handbook of Texas Medicineand the, um, Texas State
Historical Association.
(41:30):
So hopefully in the next fewweeks you'll be to read
something of, uh, Mary SusanMoore, who also happened to be a
member of the Lone Star StateMedical Association, um, which
was set up by black physicians.
They had their first meeting in,uh, the shop now, um, which
houses?
Rene Wiley's Gallery.
(41:50):
They had a meeting there in1886.
So I think there needs to be astate marker put up there.
And the other little side storyI'm working on is, um, I
mentioned I was obsessed withpostal history.
I've been buying, um, historicalletters, um, from well-known
auction site, um, which, um,mentioned different epidemics.
(42:13):
So my, the working title of mylittle exhibition in my brain is
called Letters from an Epidemic.
I've been searching the, the,the senders and the recipients
and, um, just the, the kindastories of these random letters
because people don't writeletters anymore.
So I've got some amazing lettersthat I'm researching.
J.R. (42:33):
I can only imagine how much insight you can get from
two doctors going back and forthtalking about the different
epidemics and outbreaks.
For instance, Philadelphia toGalveston.
In the late 18 hundreds or early19 hundreds.
And how fascinating that must beto be able to take a peek at
what they were
Dr. Paula Summerly (42:47):
discussing.
Yeah.
And there's all kinds of, youknow, extraneous information,
you know, like Bonham andBailey.
I'm going to see that.
But careful as Bubonic Plague orwhatever happens to be,
nothing's changed, has it?
No.
J.R. (42:59):
Um, so we've entered the, uh, section of this presentation
where we will start taking somequestions from the audience.
So enter the Q&A section.
Does anyone have any questionsat all?
I know we kind of, it's hard tocover, uh, an entire year of
bubonic plague in 45 minutes,yes.
Ruth (43:17):
Are there any instances of other animals getting the
bubonic plague?
And and how did that kindaaffect the town?
Dr. Paula Summerly (43:22):
Well, you know, bubonic Plague isn't
medieval, it's actually still inthe United States and every
year, um, several states,including Colorado and Arizona,
they have one or two cases ofBubonic Plague, I think the CDC
say between one and 17 cases peryear.
And they're now treated byantibiotics.
So basically, I dunno if youlove rodents as much as I do, if
(43:46):
you, if you, you get too closeto a dead rodent, uh, prairie
dogs and squirrels, um, thefleas may jump onto you and then
you could get bubonic plague.
Um, so they're all other, um,animals involved.
Yeah, for sure.
All the ones that I really like.
Oh my God.
Emily (44:05):
what are some examples of precautions they made in the
1920s that remain here today?
Dr. Paula Summerly (44:10):
Well rock proofing for sure.
Corner stores.
Um, I guess the history isprobably in the newspaper
archives and, um, and in thewonderful, uh, Galveston, Texas
History Center, which, uh, Seanwill share with us.
Um, there were other bits andpieces, but rat proofing is
probably the main one, um, thatI can think of.
J.R. (44:33):
Um, so if someone gets the plague today, what are the
options?
Is there a vaccine for it
Dr. Paula Summerly (44:38):
today?
Um, but antibiotics, that's it.
Okay.
Yes.
But the sooner the better.
J.R. (44:44):
That makes sense.
Dr. Paula Summerly (44:47):
You can see why I'm not a doctor or a nurse
Quite, I don't think my bedsidemanner would be, uh,
J.R. (44:53):
well, I know, I know on the ships, even today, if you go
out to the port and look at theships and you look at the
mooring lines, They actuallyhave these covers that go over
the mooring lines to keep ratsfrom climbing up the those
ropes, which I find absolutelyfascinating and I, I don't know
when that started, but I wouldimagine people understood that
rats carry diseases.
Dr. Paula Summerly (45:13):
Yeah.
Um, that, that's a great point.
Um, yeah, the stopping the ratscoming.
The other thing that I haven'tmentioned is that the story of
the first person and the jar,the narrative might not be over.
We've discussed sampling.
Um, from that specimen becausewe don't know which strain of
bubonic plague came to theisland in the summer of 1920.
(45:35):
We think it's the one that came,um, from the third pandemic, um,
which hit San Francisco.
It came from, China in 1894through the trade ships.
And it's worked its way, um,throughout the sort of natural
fauna and flora down toGalveston.
Um, but we don't know.
And given we know the date andtime of death of the first
(45:56):
person to die, you'd be onlyplay.
We can map it onto the knownsort of genomic sequence, but
obviously the ethical and legalreasons, if we're gonna sample,
cause we're gonna have familialdna.
But from what I gather, the um,the process of selecting
different cells, et cetera, arereally precise now.
So you could avoid familial dna.
So the story of the first personmight not be over.
J.R. (46:19):
Wow.
So, so technology as, as it isnow or as it progresses, there
may be a way where, um, even ifit's not in Galveston, if it's
another location where you couldactually do the same style of
testing and figure out, do this,uh, you know, 123 years later,
figure out really what was goingon.
Dr. Paula Summerly (46:39):
Yeah.
The Mutter museum at theCollege, college of Physicians
of Philadelphia worked withMcMaster in Canada, and they
actually sampled smallpox from.
Um, blades, um, little, um,little blades that were used to,
um, take samples, vaccineblades, et et et cetera.
But, um, so they've actually gotreading.
(47:02):
So they've also done research oncholera specimens as well.
So these historical antiquities,their stories might not be over
yet, which is endlesslyfascinating, don't you think?
And can breathe new life notreally meant as a pun, to these
collections that are at risk interms of conservation or need to
(47:22):
be rehoused or they're not beingactively used for teaching
research.
So to utilize some of thosecollections for contemporary
research working with, um,colleagues in the Galveston
National Lab.
Couldn't he be a positive, Ifeel for the collections?
J.R. (47:38):
So these collections, I know it's, it's.
A topic that is, has a checkeredhistory, as you say, the
collections, um, for context fortheir, their body parts that
were dissected at some point,right.
Dr. Paula Summerly (47:50):
Um, the anatomical, yes.
Okay.
Um, and the others are removedduring autopsy mm-hmm.
And kept for the, theydemonstrated tumors or so other
people could use them for, um,teaching, uh, purposes.
Really?
Mm-hmm.
Okay.
J.R. (48:06):
All right.
Henry (48:07):
I was curious.
You have a personal interest inpostal history..
and now we find out as well thatyou have a collection.
Is there any really interestingfact In terms of that postal
history here within the US oreven abroad..
That you think is worth sharing?
Dr. Paula Summerly (48:20):
Well, what I discovered are that there are
actually experts on um, fumigatemail.
Um, and I'm really interested,and also if you think about dna,
you know, now if, if you lick anenvelope, not that many people
do, but then your DNA is in thesealant, isn't it?
Mm-hmm.
I mean, there's potentialspinoff here.
Um, I think I'm interested inletters because nobody writes
(48:43):
them anymore.
Um, I'm interested in this insocial history, but setting that
disease within a social contextand how people kind of just got
on with everyday life, eventhough there was.
Influenza or whatever happenedto be.
And then I'm always interestedin the people and I like things
that are very challenging.
How am I gonna find out who theyare?
(49:04):
What kind of data can I get?
And I have managed to find some,but it's a, it's a long
laborious process of trying tore-identify, um, mail senders
and recipients, you know, fromthe 1880s onwards.
But, um, I think it's just thehuman story that really
interests me, but it has to belong gone.
(49:25):
Did that answer it?
Did that answer your question?
Thank you.
So,
J.R. (49:29):
so during your, uh, research process in the bubonic
plague, what is the most, whatwas the most difficult part?
Um, I know you, you probablycame here to the Galveston,
Texas History Center.
Um, you, you have plenty ofrecords at U.T.M.B.
As well.
What was the most difficultthing to tie together?
Dr. Paula Summerly (49:46):
Well, I think, um, finding Anna's story,
um, some of the houses that thepeople lived in still stand.
I, I kind of look for evidencewhat is left.
So some of the houses that thepeople lived in, um, some of the
doctor's houses are still, um,it's almost a kind of
reconstruction in my brain.
And if I could go into, into alittle time machine and go and
(50:07):
fly through Old Red or somethinglike that in the early days, I'd
just be a little.
Little fly on the wall and seewhat was going on.
I think it's almost, that's, um,it's something that's always,
it's kind of, you need animagination.
Mm-hmm.
Um, to think about the past.
And I know not everyone thinksabout the past, but I don't, I,
(50:29):
I could not fathom a lifewithout the past.
J.R. (50:33):
I love that.
Well, Dr.
Summerly thank you so much forjoining me here at the Rosenberg
Library.
I really, really appreciate you.
This episode comes from theRosenberg Library Conversation
series where I sat down with afew historians to talk about
some extremely interestinghistorical facts about Galveston
and Texas history.
I would like to personally thankthe Rosenberg Library for
(50:55):
allowing Galveston Unscripted tohold live podcast conversations
in the library.
J.R. (2) (51:00):
If this is your first time listening to Galveston
Unscripted, be sure to subscribeto the podcast.
If you've listened or watchedbefore and you enjoy the content
we are putting out in audio andvideo, please make sure to like,
subscribe and review thepodcast.
Leave us a review, leave us arating.
It really helps other peoplefind what we are doing here at
(51:21):
Galveston Unscripted.
Your rating and review helpsother people find Galveston
Unscripted and discover theamazing history of our little
island.
And be sure to follow us onFacebook, Instagram, TikTok, all
those social media platforms.
Dr. Paula Summerly (51:34):
I have a secret project called Galveston
is Purgatory,
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