Anna Martha Fullerton

Anna Martha Fullerton (August 16, 1853 – September 16, 1938) was an American physician and medical educator, born in India.

Anna Martha Fullerton
BornAugust 16, 1853
Agra
DiedSeptember 16, 1938
Dehradun
OccupationMedical educator, physician, hospital administrator, textbook author
Years active1880s-1910s
RelativesGeorge Stuart Fullerton (brother)

Early life and education

Anna Martha Fullerton was born in Agra, the eldest of the seven children of American Presbyterian missionaries Rev. Robert Stewart Fullerton and Martha White Fullerton.[1] She was 12 when her father died, and she moved to Philadelphia with her widowed mother and younger siblings. She trained as a teacher, then attended the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania, graduating with a medical degree in 1882.[2]

One of her brothers was philosopher and psychologist George Stuart Fullerton.[3]

Career
The title page of Nursing in Abdominal Surgery and Diseases of Women (1891) by Anna M. Fullerton, M. D.

Fullerton joined the faculty of the Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania after she graduated, taught obstetrics and gynecology courses,[4] and was physician-in-charge of the Woman's Hospital of Philadelphia from 1886 to 1896.[5][6][7] She had a private practice in Philadelphia for a few years, then returned to India in 1899, to teach at the Christian Medical College in Ludhiana, the first medical school for women in India.[8] In 1902 she and her sister Mary started working toward raising funds and establishing a hospital at Fatehgarh;[2] the Fullerton Memorial Hospital for Women and Children opened in 1907.[9][10]

Fullerton wrote two nursing textbooks: A Handbook of Obstetrical Nursing for Nurses, Students, and Mothers (1891),[11] and Nursing in Abdominal Surgery and Diseases of Women (1893).[12] She also wrote a health texbook for schoolchildren in India, The Human Body and How to Take Care of It. She wrote on "Missionary Work and Public Health" for the Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania Alumnae Association conference in 1900.[13] That same year, her essay "The Woman Physician in India" was published in the college's alumnae journal.[14]

Fullerton and her sister Mary moved to Dehradun in 1911; she continued practicing medicine and midwifery there.[15]

Personal life and legacy

In 1911, Fullerton spent some months in Hartford, Connecticut, caring for her dying brother Edward.[16] Her sister Mary died in 1931,[17] and Fullerton died in 1938, aged 85 years, in Dehradun.[18] Her papers are in the collections of Drexel University[15][19] and the Presbyterian Historical Society.[20]

References
  1. Genealogy of Hugh Stewart and His Descendants. F.J. Heer Printing. 1914. pp. 38–39.
  2. Chattopadhyay, Anjana (2018). Women scientists in India : lives, struggles & achievements (PDF) (First ed.). New Delhi. pp. 133–134. ISBN 978-81-237-8144-0. OCLC 1045373879.
  3. "George Stuart Fullerton". Oxford Reference. Retrieved 2020-10-10.
  4. "Women's Medical College". The Times. 1897-09-30. p. 10. Retrieved 2020-10-10 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. Anna M. Fullerton (May 3, 1893). "Woman in medicine: Her duties and responsibilities", An address to the graduates of the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania.
  6. "The Woman's Hospital". The Philadelphia Inquirer. 1887-12-15. p. 2. Retrieved 2020-10-10 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. "Woman's Hospital Work". The Times. 1897-01-22. p. 8. Retrieved 2020-10-10 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. "Untitled news item". The Times. 1899-08-05. p. 6. Retrieved 2020-10-10 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. "Memorial Hospital". Memorial Hospital, Fatehgarh, Diocese of Agra. Retrieved 2020-10-10.
  10. "Lectured on Wadsworth". Wilkes-Barre Times Leader, The Evening News. 1907-03-12. p. 8. Retrieved 2020-10-10 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. Fullerton, Anna Martha (1891). A Handbook of Obstetrical Nursing for Nurses, Students, and Mothers. P. Blakiston, Son & Company.
  12. Fullerton, Anna Martha (1893). Nursing in abdominal surgery and diseases of women. P. Blakiston, Son & Company.
  13. Fullerton, Anna M. "Missionary Work and Public Health", Transactions of the Twenty-Fifth Annual Meeting of the Alumnae Association of the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania May 17th and 18th, 1900.
  14. Fullerton, Anna M. (1900). "The Woman Physician in India". Transactions of the Annual Meeting of the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania. Alumnae Association: 55–58.
  15. "Anna M. Fullerton diary, 1915-1916". iDEA: Drexel Libraries E-Repository and Archives. Retrieved 2020-10-10.
  16. "Dr. Fullerton Dead". Wilkes-Barre Semi-Weekly Record. 1911-07-07. p. 2. Retrieved 2020-10-10 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. "Charities Get $15,000". The Philadelphia Inquirer. 1932-05-05. p. 14. Retrieved 2020-10-10 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. "Nieces, Nephews Get $15,000 Estate". The Philadelphia Inquirer. 1938-11-17. p. 2. Retrieved 2020-10-10 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. "Anna M. Fullerton diary, 1917-1918". iDEA: Drexel Libraries E-Repository and Archives. Retrieved 2020-10-10.
  20. Guide to the Anna Martha Fullerton Papers, Presbyterian Historical Society.
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