Another important aspect of the Sisters’ work in health care was nursing education. From the 1890s to the 1970s, nursing education was based in hospitals. Many Daughter of Charity hospitals had schools of nursing associated with them. Nursing students would have learned from textbooks such as those featured in the catalog below, from W.B. Sanders Company, West Washington Square, Philadelphia. Based on Worldcat searches for some of the titles, we think the catalog was printed around 1915.

Sanders was a publisher of academic medical books. The company was founded in Philadelphia in 1888 by Walter Burns Sanders. Originally independent, the company was acquired in the 1960s by CBS, where it became part of their publishing division Holt, Rinehart & Winston. When CBS left the publishing field in 1986, it sold the academic publishing units to Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. Harcourt was acquired by Reed Elsevier in 2001.
(Source: Wikipedia)

The Daughters of Charity have been caring for the sick since 1633, and they have witnessed many advances in medicine. Recently, While arranging and describing the records of a mission in Philadelphia, we came across this ad for “Mason’s Health Defenders”. We do not know whether the Daughters ever used this medicine in their work, nor do we have any information about the effectiveness of these medicines. However, advertisements like this are an interesting window into 19th-century medical practices.

“Catarrh” means congestion, especially congestion associated with the common cold.
“Piles” is another word for hemorrhoids
“Croup” is an upper respiratory infection, commonly found among children and marked by a harsh barking cough