Toward a History of us All

Abstract

In this chapter, the author aims to believe history could help to establish a common ground where conversation becomes possible, a history that could be shared by women physicians and scientists as well as women historians of medicine and science. Women from different states gathered data on early women physicians—who they called pioneers—in a literal attempt to turn feminine experience into a historical source. History has been invested by women scientists and physicians with the capacity to signify feminine authority in medicine and science in the present. The author argues that for feminist historians today to reevaluate the importance of physicians’ experiences in the writing of history is not only a question of historical accuracy but an important political and symbolic move—a decision that concerns how we define ourselves. Historians of science and medicine are well aware that history, like science or medicine, is about privileged or forgotten traditions: we should acknowledge and challenge those we are privileging.