The 1920 Bubonic Plague outbreak in Galveston

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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.

Transcript

Dr. Paula Summerly: 0:04

We think it's the one that came from the third pandemic which hit San Francisco from, China in 1894 through the trade ships. And it's worked its way sort of natural fauna and flora down to Galveston The story, of Bubonic plague in Galveston started to expand. So the flea itself, Regurgitates or defecates, what a lovely description into the little puncture wound that it makes in your ankle. And that's how you become sick.

J.R.: 0:33

Welcome to Galveston unscripted. This episode comes from the Rosenberg Library Conversation series where I sat down with a few historians to talk about some extremely interesting historical facts about Galveston and Texas history. I would like to personally thank the Rosenberg Library for allowing Galveston Unscripted to hold live podcast conversations in the library. This conversation series was such a great experience and I really look forward to picking it up again in the fall of 2023. And a very huge thank you to our guests.

J.R. (2): 1:07

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J.R.: 1:47

without further ado, let's hop into this episode with Dr. Paula Summerly My name is JR Shaw. I started Galveston Unscripted a podcast back in July of 2021. And it was always my dream to, have a live audience and discussions in front of a live audience and, um, just further education through. In-person means and digital means. Um, so we're recording this entire conversation. It will be available on the Rosenberg Library's website in a few weeks, as well as my podcast feed and YouTube. alright, I want to dive right into this Dr. Summerly but before we do, I'm gonna introduce you a little bit. You, have some pretty amazing accolades, uh, but I'm gonna read a little short bio here. Dr. Paula Summerly was born in the north of England. Her academic background is in the history of medicine, paleo pathology, and fine art photography. She has researched and curated medical exhibitions in Galveston, Cleveland, Chicago, Scotland, and London. Her interests include, the history of anatomy, pathology, and forensics. Currently, Paula is the curator of the Old Red Medical Museum at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. The new museum will be housed in the former dissection lab, which we'll be discussing today on the top floor of Old Red or the Asheville Smith Building, it's a gorgeous building if you haven't been over there to see. It's amazing. The oldest surviving medical school 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: 3:22

No, that's very, very kind of you.

J.R.: 3:24

Could you tell us a little bit about where you're from and, and how you ended up here in Galveston?

Dr. Paula Summerly: 3:29

Um, just a disclaimer, I have a secret project called Galveston is Purgatory, and I think, I think, uh, I was here in a former life and it's a kind of holding bay. Um, I ended up in Galveston. It's a really long story, but um, I was born in Wall's End, which is, um, in the northeast of England. It's famous for ship building and. Sting, I guess is a local lad, and I was always interested in history and, um, I, uh, did archeology after I left high school and, um, went to, um, a dig and picked up an artifact, which happened to be a piece of, um, bit from a Roman horses and that just touching history. I always knew I wanted to deal with the past. And, um, so yeah, I've, I started off in archeology and I've always been interested in disease and human remains the human story. And also I have a, a love of photography. So to cut along story short and miss out multiple degrees, I can emerge my interests. When I did, uh, a doctorate at the University of Glasgow, um, on the history of clinical photography, and then I fell into the world of medical museums. And I had various research jobs in the United States, first at Case Western Reserve, and I kind of fell in love with America at that point. I loved Americans and the, I took off my stiff British social armor and became, and I just fell in love with the American people and had several positions in the United States. And I came to Galveston to do, um, a visiting scholarship. At the Institute for the Medical Humanities and I curated an exhibition called Abstract Anatomy. And towards the end of that six, six month scholarship, um, the head of the Institute for Medical Humanities mentioned there was a museum task force. They knew I'd developed a medical exhibition in Scotland and would I'd be interested in meeting 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 of developing a museum.

J.R.: 5:55

Well, that's, that's awesome. That is great. Um, and I'm really glad you made it to America and Galveston. Cause I, I think what you're doing and your research is definitely an asset to our community and our history. Um, so let's dive into this. So can you tell us a little bit about, um, the founding of U.T.M.B., why U.T.M.B. Was founded here in Galveston? Um, and then we'll get into diseases.

Dr. Paula Summerly: 6:17

Sure. Um, so the, the Galveston has several medical schools, um, prior to U.T.M.B., um, notably the Galveston Medical College founded by Greensville Dow in the 1860s. And then the Texas Medical College, which was a precursor to U.T.M.B., it was located almost on the same site as, um, Ashbel Smith building, um, old Red on. And 91 14 Strand Street. Um, so the early medical schools are something that really interests me. I have to say wherever I go, local history is really important to me when in Rome, you know, do what the Romans did. So, um, I like to start. Metaphor, metaphorically digging for stories. Mm-hmm. And obviously, old Red is really, um, I call it an enigmatic building. I remember when I first saw it 10 years ago, I thought, what is that doing there? 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 at the time in the 1830s, forties was very pro having a, um, a medical school on the island cuz he actually had a house here. So it ended up here through various supporters and I have to give a shout out to the John Sealy, um, school of Nursing, which was, um, housed next door to, um, old Red and that opened in 1890, a year before the School of Medicine.

J.R.: 7:57

so Galveston, you know, when I think of Galveston and, and the founding of these medical facilities and universities, um, I guess it's galveston's the perfect place because we have a port and we have people coming here from all over the world. Um, and Galveston, before we get into the bubonic plague, there were plenty of diseases passing through Galveston and that devastated the island. Could you tell us a little bit about the past diseases that I guess the, uh, the universities were here to study and look at?

Dr. Paula Summerly: 8:24

Yeah. Um, not just the climate, I guess, in terms of history of medicine. Galveston is synonymous with yellow fever, dengue fever, smallpox. But you don't really hear much about bubonic plague, which I think is rather interesting. And it wasn't really on my radar and, uh, until I stumbled upon something, which we'll talk about later. Um, also the positioning of the hospital 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, hands on experience by dealing with a whole range of illnesses and, um, trauma cases.

J.R.: 9:12

So growing up in, in Galveston, in the Galveston area, I'd never heard of the bubonic plague in this area at all. I always thought that was a 14th, 15th century problem in Europe. Um, how did you stumble into the bubonic plague?

Dr. Paula Summerly: 9:30

Um, so when I came to Galveston, um, 10 years ago, it was actually for one year position. Um, U.T.M.B. In its past had museums of anatomy, pathology and surgical pathology. And when I was brought in, I was brought in to make an inventory of those collections. And then I thought I'd do that. And now I'll be back on the other side of the pond before I know it, before I know it. And what I realized, it was like painting a bridge. You get around the collection once and then you've gotta go around for another reason and another reason and another reason. And it turns out those collections, anatomy, um, Human, um, the structure and shape and form, um, different joints, uh, pathology, diseased organs and tissues, um, which are acquired, um, during autopsy or, um, after surgery. And, um, the surge path are just, um, removed during surgery. Those collections turned out were really important to the history of U.T.M.B.. Um, U.T.M.B. Had an. National reputation for excellence in practical medical education and those collections and those museums during the 1890s, early 20th century. Um, were at the forefront of attracting staff, faculty, and students to U.T.M.B. To study. Um, those collections have had a bit of a checkered history, um, and during the 1940s and fifties, Um, the museums closed. The specimens were either destroyed or put out of sight, and some are still out of sight, but it follows a well known pattern of what happened to other medical museums in the United States. For example, the Warren Museum at Harvard. So they're known patterns of museums closing due to shifts in the curriculum, introduction of imaging. It, social and ethical reasons. There's a whole different, uh, there's a lot of complicated reasons why, but U T M V falls into those patterns and those collections are really important to me and a lot of people who know about their existence. And we're hoping we will form the core vision of the new

J.R.: 11:45

museum. So, um, you're, you're dealing with these, I guess, these collections and. You stumble upon something that kind of triggers you to say, Hey, I need to like look into this a little bit more.

Dr. Paula Summerly: 12:00

Yeah. So, um, I mentioned the collections had a checkered history. Um, they obviously, uh, Survived several storms and I'd like to do a podcast with some of those specimens if I could. I wanted to interview, interview a brain preserved Dry since 1897. I think it had an amazing story. We also have, um, a little facial bone, um, which, um, is a kind of mounted tiny little bone in, um, a little glass box on a wooden base. And when I was doing an inventory, literally my job was, what do we have? Put a label on it, give it a number next, move along. And I found this little box and I couldn't quite see what was in it. So I tried to remove some of the dust as I thought. And her and I started to cough and splitter and I realized it was Ike silt. I'd heard all these stories of Hurricane Ike and the silt and her, this was, this had gone through Hurricane Ike. It was all water logged and dried out. And I talked to one of the technicians and lo and behold, yes. Um, there was about six feet of water, um, in Old Red in the basement, and that's where they stored the cadavers and some dry specimens. So, um, the technician brought up some of the specimens, uh, to dry out and then I stumbled upon one and I just thought this was a really important story, that these tiny, little fragile jars have survived so many natural disasters. It's an amazing story. So amongst the survey, uh, the pathology collection, I wasn't here during Hurricane Ike, but it was housed in what I believe was called the old micro building. And I, that's being totaled now. But, um, the building flooded and the pathology collection was in there. And I've heard stories of the tiny little jars floating off the shelves because the jars are this size, some other kind of this size. Um, So when I started, there were, um, the collections had been salvaged, um, by a company that didn't specialize in human remains, of course. And the jarred specimens had been put in black plastic drums with sawdust, which was what we call tombolas in the uk. When you stick your hand in and pull something out, you get a prize. Well, it was very, it was very like. So, I was getting to the end of the inventory and I was hoping to find something really interesting and saw Tomball. I pulled out a little jar, a specimen of Bubonic Plague, and I was so excited and I thought, I hope there's more than one. And there wasn't. There was just this tiny little jar, not very aesthetically pleasing unless you're a pathologist. Mm-hmm. And I thought, I want to know a little bit more about that. And little did I realize the incredible story that jar. Would un sort of reveal itself and how that, the story from one jar led to several other stories.

J.R.: 15:01

So that leads us into you discovering the Bubonic Plague outbreak, uh, in early or early 1900 Galveston. Um, so, before we hop into that, could you explain to us what the Bubonic Plague is? Yeah.

Dr. Paula Summerly: 15:14

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 of bubonic, plague, pneumonic is when you inhale the droplets. And essentially, um, the disease is carried by rats and spread by fleas. So I'm sure most of you have been bitten by fleas one time or another, and you probably notice as 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 the little wound, the little puncture wound that it makes in your ankle. And that's how, um, you become sick and the bacteria spreads into your lymph system. So you'll have huge swellings on your neck or your groin. And they were what are called bubos. I actually thought, where does the word bubo come from? It's actually Greek for groin. Mm. I didn't, I didn't know that until the day. We all learn something. Yeah. Yeah. Um, and so these swellings are synonymous with bubonic plague and black death comes from, so you have hemorrhage in these lymph nodes and they bleed. And um, essentially you will develop gangrene. Mm-hmm. So if you google black death, you'll see gra gangrenous extremities primarily at the beginning. And that's where kind of black death is probably synonymous. Or you're gonna have, I think the Danish 16th century, um, description of Black Death actually meant that you are not gonna have a cheery outcome. Oh,

J.R.: 17:00

okay. So you discover, um, you discover in this jar and you in this body part that had the bubonic plague, um, and you discovered the outbreak. So can you tell us a little bit about the bubonic plague outbreak in Galveston in 1920? Okay,

Dr. Paula Summerly: 17:16

so the, the little jar that I found, um, it had, um, a number, um, etched on, on the lid. And that number, um, corresponds through an autopsy protocol, um, or report, which gives details of the, the individual, um, race, immigration status, sometimes occupation, all kinds of data, which is really interesting in terms of social history. Um, also the clinical description of what happened to the person. Um, so using that information, I could leap from, um, the jar to an autopsy protocol. And I knew the Moody Medical Library, the Blocker Collections had a plague laboratory notebook. I didn't have the name of the individual at the time, but I soon found out who it was. I matched the dates of death and so on, and I thought, I know, I know who this person was. And then I researched where they lived on Google Maps. Is the building still standing? We found the grave marker. And at that juncture I gave a little presentation. Um, and Dwayne Jones, the director of Galveston Historical Foundation, attended and given he's a visionary, he said, I wanna know more about this Paula. So we developed, we actually researched more about the outbreak of Bubonic Plague and the, the people involved in the outbreak. And so that really is how the story, of Bubonic plague in Galveston, started to expand. It's very much a sort of collaborative, Effort. I was so enamored with my little jar would, I've got beyond that to the rest of the story. I'm not wholly sure, but that tiny jar answered so many amazing questions. And Dr. David Walker, who is um, uh, he was the former chair of pathology at U.T.M.B.. He's a world. Renowned researcher. He happened to have a set of microscope slides in his office, which he gave to, um, my mentor, Dr. Judy Aronson. And it turned, turned out we had all the slides of, um, the bubonic plague victims that we could research

J.R.: 19:19

more about that later. Yeah. Well, let's, let's get into the victim. So, um, and, and kind of the, the outbreak itself, so you could tell us. The about the, the first discovery was first discovered in 1920, and kind of how it spread and, and what was going on in the city.

Dr. Paula Summerly: 19:35

Okay. So, um, when the first, um, person, um, he went to the John Sealy Hospital, they didn't actually know it was Bubonic Plague. It was, um, there's various techniques to, um, diagnose the, the, the disease, which are kind of complex, but essentially you stick, um, a needle and a syringe into the, the bubo. And extract some fluid. And then you can look at different cells under the microscope, but you also use some of that juice, as they call it, and inject it into a poor little Guinea pig. And if the Guinea pig develops swollen lymph glands, you can be pretty sure it's bubonic plague.

J.R.: 20:15

So, so this was the, the first victim of the plague. Do they, do they know how he got it? Was it, um, like a rat or flea from a ship or anything like that?

Dr. Paula Summerly: 20:25

He worked in a green store on 29th and Strand Street. Mm-hmm. And so, kind of forensic minded they got, went to look to see there were dead rats. And you can imagine rats are attracted to grain, so there's probably a lot of rats in the green store. And so that's probably how he was infected. Um, and this young man, he died, I think it was during June. June 17th, 1920. And he died early evening and the next day he was buried in Lakeview Cemetery. Uh, before the press got hold of what was Bubonic Plague on the island before they actually, um, you know, spread the word as it were.

J.R.: 21:05

Was there, were there bubonic, plague, outbreaks, anywhere else? Um, in the, in that year or years

Dr. Paula Summerly: 21:10

prior? Um, around, around, uh, the same time, um, port Arthur, um, also Pensacola, Florida, um, new Orleans. So this wasn't unique. Um, the actual. Origin of the plague Galveston, uh, was never, um, never determined. Um, there was never one, one sort of true source found. They did map, uh, all of the victims. There were about 18 people who, um, Um, were diagnosed with Bubonic Plague and their, their stories have different outcomes. The second person to actually, um, be, to be diagnosed with Bubonic Plague was a colleague of the first person to die. Um, so obviously proximity there, but I guess she was working in a rat, you know, in a rat infested, um, Store. So no, no wonder. Um, so they did map where everybody lived. The streets that were involved went anything from, um, like avenue 11th to 33rd. Um, different age groups from age three to 70. Um, different ethnicities, occupation, anything from a pathologist to longshoreman. Um, and what's really interesting in the summer of 1920, if you go through the newspapers, it's um, It's very Galveston esque. Um, there was a longshoreman strike that had been long brewing, um, along harborside to do with trade unions, and there were civil unrest and martial law. Bit of bubonic plague around the strand area. And then the bathing beauty parades on, on the sea wall. And, um, it's really fascinating to, uh, you know, Charlie Chaplin's movie was on at the Tremont Theater. It's like, nothing really stopped.

J.R.: 23:01

That's my next question. Um, there wasn't mass pandemonium or, you know, once this hit the news, were, were people really worried about it or do

Dr. Paula Summerly: 23:09

you, do you know? Uh, I don't. I think the major changes were probably in terms of the community was asked to really get involved in trapping rats, and the city did employ rat trappers and, um, you were encouraged to trap and kill your rat and put a label on it and drop it off at, um, a plague laboratory, which was set up just a few weeks after the first case had been diagnosed. Um, on 20th and a mechanic. And that little laboratory is endlessly fascinating. And, um, I'm think as a child my favorite word was why I get one piece of information and then the next one is already lined up. But why, where is it? What? Mm-hmm. So the little political laboratory was, um, on 20th mechanic and you take off, you drop off your little disease rat or the label, because they were trying to find out the, the kind of focus of where the infection started.

J.R.: 24:06

What would they do to the rats when they received them in this laboratory?

Dr. Paula Summerly: 24:09

Well, they were looking for signs, um, of bubonic plague, um, rats, which had essentially swollen glands. They also analyzed the fleas as well. I can imagine that in the summer of 1920 in a tiny little makeshift laboratory. Charming, no gloves, no nothing. And between June and towards the end of 1920, I think the lab was active probably to August or September. They examined 46,000 rats.

J.R.: 24:45

How many different doctors or assistants were working on these rats? Was it just a

Dr. Paula Summerly: 24:48

few? Probably just a handful. Um, Dr. Mark Boyd, um, he was a professor at U.T.M.B.. He, um, led the lab. And, um, there's lots of wonderful photographs in local archives and the Galveston Texas History Center, you can see some of the activities of them examining rats. Um, this had the little makeshift postmortem autopsy suite.

J.R.: 25:15

Can you imagine that dropping off your disease rat at U.T.M.B. Nowadays?

Dr. Paula Summerly: 25:19

Yeah, I can. And what's really interesting is the adverts, you know, um, the Boy Scout movement would, um, Post flyers, um, telling people to, you know, don't have trash and garbage as you know, don't have harbor bridges that are gonna attract, um, vermin. And so it was a real, um, kind of communal response. Um, not just the experts, but um, the community really got involved as well. So

J.R.: 25:43

the, so when the city got involved besides, um, turning in your rats, what were some other prevention methods? I know there, there was poison used. Um, what were some other prevention methods they used?

Dr. Paula Summerly: 25:55

Um, fumigation of buildings. There are images of, um, I think we 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 the port. This is really to ensure that there was no sort of official quarantine. Quarantine. They didn't want to. Damage the economy too much. Um, rat proofing, we maybe go onto that. Um, various ordinances were brought in, um, and, um, corner stores were required to have, um, several forms of, uh, rat proofing, some of which still survives to the present day. Um, another thing that really fascinates me is I don't think it happened in Galveston, but um, they also fumigate mail. During various epidemics and pandemics. So you'd open a letter and if, if, if the center had smallpox and, um, so fumigate male is different, they would actually pierce the envelopes and so on and so forth. It's a, postal history is something that kind of fascinates me. Um, so yeah, fumigation, obviously, um, putting out poison. Um, also the seawall had messages painted on it about that they actually put poison in the rocks. Um, on the sea wall and I happened to purchase, um, a tiny photograph of two women in bathing suits perched on a rock, and you can see this poison behind the do on the sea wall. All those images have gone now, but there's some evidence of, of, uh, the remnants of bubonic plague on the island.

J.R.: 27:33

How many people contracted the bubonic plague or confirmed confirmed cases in Galveston?

Dr. Paula Summerly: 27:39

That's fine. Um, 18. So in terms of treatment, um, well, the first young man who was 17, um, he didn't have a chance. Um, he had terrible fevers and pains, swollen bubo. They weren't exactly sure, but the second person who was, um, diagnosed the following day, um, received, um, there was a, a Milford's, um, anti plague serum as it was called, and um, that was shipped supplies. The city actually had some supplies and then the um, Pastoral Institute. Sent some supplies over to Galveston as well, um, from Paris. So there was also something called, um, Half Keen's vaccine. Um, but some of these were really powerful drugs, and I know at least one person who received, um, the serum died of anaphylactic shock.

J.R.: 28:36

Oh my gosh. Yeah. So what was the, uh, death rate like? I mean, how many people were dying when they would get. The bubonic plague.

Dr. Paula Summerly: 28:44

Um, there were, so there were about 12 deaths. Mm. Okay. But those who, who actually received some, um, vaccine did, did survive.

J.R.: 28:58

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: 29:04

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 graduated from, um, U.T.M.B. In the summer of 1920. Um, she was from Tennessee. And when she graduated, um, she got a job as a pathologist assistant and she was doing autopsies. And in August she did an autopsy on one of the plague victims. And when she was finishing the autopsy and sewing up the scalp of the, of the woman, um, who had died, she accidentally pricked her left index finger and she was wearing her gloves. Um, and she knew. Exactly what to do. Um, she kind of washed the, the wound and then cauterized it and then got on her way, merry way. And of course then later she start to develop a fever and she knew exactly what it was, um, swollen, lymph glands, all all the things. So she knew she had bubonic plague, and she, um, self-injected both, um, the vaccine on the serum. I think, um, she was just a brave pathologist, that's all. And she was off work for a couple of months and then went back, um, to work. And the first person she did in Autopsy on was another victim of Bubonic Plague. Oh my goodness. And Anna, as I call her Dr. Bowie or Bowie, um, as a historian, I thought, what an incredible woman. To be a pathologist. The first woman to graduate from the School of Medicine was Marie Delandra Dietzel in 1897. So U.T.M.B. Is a history of, um, um, early medical, you know, pioneers in medicine. And I, I consider Anna to be one of those. And I couldn't find anything about her after right, 1924. And to cut a long story short, I found her an address for her. And she's a member of a medical society and it listed her address in Tennessee. So I, I was probably searching Bowie, Galveston or whatever, and I could find nothing. And a couple of little internet searches later, um, I found, um, a website called The Friends of the Bowie Nature Park, and lo and behold, there's a picture of Anna and that led to a whole other story of Anna and her siblings. And they bought land in Fairview, Tennessee, which is. Was is now actually a park, the Bowie Nature Park, and they had Anna's archive. We have nothing about Anna at U.T.M.B.. They even have a picture of Anna on the steps of Old Red and probably just as a medical student, which they gave me a copy of. So, um, Anna's story is actually in the Handbook of Texas Medicine.

J.R.: 32:01

Okay, so let's take it back a little bit. So there's Anna Bowie, which is a fascinating story. Did, did, when she moved to Tennessee, did she like live the the rest of her life saying, oh, I survived the bubonic plague?

Dr. Paula Summerly: 32:12

No, Anna was a bit of a trailblazer, I think. Um, you know, being a Brit stiff upper lip, nothing compared to Anna Bowie. She never mentioned it. Um, she, um, Um, taught at Peabody, uh, medical College, and she, um, she was fired from that job eventually. I think she's a bit of a, a radical in many ways, so ahead of her time. And then she set up a, um, a private practice and, um, She was interviewed partly to do with the, the purchase of land with her siblings. And she said, oh yeah,I had Bubonic Plague? She just mentioned it in passing. And then when I met the friends of the Bowie Nature Park, they said, is it true? And I'm like, yeah, it's true. And you know, Anna, um, received a, a 50 years of service, um, certificate from U.T.M.B., and she died in 1980, age 90. And I would've done anything to meet her. I think she was such an incredible. Incredible woman.

J.R.: 33:11

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 timeframe of this outbreak? Was it only in 1920? Was it kind of quelled towards the end of that year? Or did it did, uh, turnover into 20 or 1921?

Dr. Paula Summerly: 33:29

Um, there were one or two cases in 1921, but I think, um, the huge effort in terms of trapping rats and the fumigation, all those things, Really kind of quelled the outbreak. So in terms of the damage, yes, people losing their lives is, um, is very tragic, but it could have been a lot worse. Mm-hmm. Um, for sure. And, um, so, um, the outbreak itself, um, San Francisco, um, had an outbreak in 1900 and there's was much more devastating. So some of the protocols that they utilized were, um, Followed by Galveston. So, um, in terms of the rat trapping et cetera. So they learned from other cities.

J.R.: 34:15

So trailblazing, yeah, there it goes. Galveston again, trailblazing and another thing. Right. Um, at the time, in 1920, was it understood that the fleas were carrying the bubonic plague or was it just the rats? Was it, was that understood

Dr. Paula Summerly: 34:30

thoroughly? Um, I think so by the, the medical 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, the rodents that are carrying the fleas. So, um, it'd be very difficult to swat fleas. Mm-hmm. Um, so yeah, I think it was understood. And obviously the vaccine development, 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.: 35:02

you mentioned, uh, pneumonic Plague as well. Was that, was that a. Potential issue, like being near somebody with the bubonic plague, you could easily, it could easily transfer.

Dr. Paula Summerly: 35:11

Yeah. So the different ways of, um, um, being infected, um, are actually sort of, um, abrasions in the skin or droplet inhalation, so if I cough or sneeze on you. And I've got bubonic plague, then you are gonna get it. Um, so they're different methods, but they're, they're the main ones. And Anna, obviously, her classic needlestick injury was direct, um, into her Mm, into her

J.R.: 35:40

system. I don't imagine many people wearing masks back in

35:43

1920.

Dr. Paula Summerly: 35:44

No masks. Mm-hmm. Um, but Anna wore gloves. Mm-hmm. But you'll see when they're in the, in the rat dissecting lab, no gloves. Oh,

J.R.: 35:53

that is insane. Hopefully we have a photo of that. I hope we do. And there are gloves.

Dr. Paula Summerly: 35:57

Yeah, because archivists,

J.R.: 35:59

wear gloves. Um, so I kinda wanna transition over to Old Red. So Old Red, of course. This amazing building down there in the middle of U.T.M.B's campus. Um, I know they, they set up a separate lab elsewhere. Was Old Red used for any of these, um, dissections after the, uh, somebody died of Bubonic Plague.

Dr. Paula Summerly: 36:19

Um, so the autopsies during, uh, um, bubonic Plague would've taken place in the hospital. Okay. The John Sealy, not in Old Red. Okay. Old Red was really, um, sort of administration and, um, teaching, but all the surgical procedures and all the autopsies would've been in the old John Sealy. Mm-hmm.

J.R.: 36:39

So, I know you have a love for Old Red. It's an amazing building. Um, could you tell us. Uh, I guess transitioning a little bit away from the bubonic plague, but could you tell us a little bit about the early history of, uh, old Red and how, how fast the fascinating story behind that building?

Dr. Paula Summerly: 36:55

Yeah, so, uh, um, I'm sure many people will know it's, um, it was designed by architect Nicholas Clayton, the jewel and his crown for sure. Um, uh, Old Red. Um, I'm really interested in the early days of the medical school and, um, if I could be a fly on the wall and, um, go back to the early days. What was really interesting was the first faculty, um, who applied for jobs, the job, job was actually posted in the British Medical Journal and, uh, it um, promised that this new medical school would be fully equipped, um, you know, top of the range in terms of, um, acoustics. They have amphitheater's, wonderful sound. And when you read the papers of William Keeler, utm b's, first Anatomist, Alan John Smith, UTM B'S first pathologist, and James Edwin Thompson, first professor of surgery. There, there was nothing. It was an empty building. There were planks on the floor. And the blocker collections have, it was filed under miscellaneous. They had a ledger. And of course, you know, I, I'm very nosy and I want to know everything and see everything. And this ledger turned out to be the record of what the first faculty were buying to set up all the laboratories, the books that they were buying for the first library. All of these things were set up actually in inside Old Red. So, um, I do tours of Old Red. So I'm so semi-retired from doing that. Um, tours of Old Red and I wanna know what was where in the early days and what I discovered. Um, the newspapers, um, are really a great source of information. Um, early x-ray experiments were conducted in what they call the basement. Um, of Old Red in 1897 in a closet in the basement. 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 three amphitheaters when you have one left. Um, the administrator administration was on the first floor. Um, there was a medical museum overlooking the bay, um, for a decade. Um, from 1891, our first library was on the first floor, second floor, all the laboratories, embryology, histology, pathology, anatomy, top floor, um, dissection lab, the finest dissection hall in America at one point.

J.R.: 39:26

So before I ask you, well, kind of what you're working on now, is there anything you would like to conclude? The bubonic plagues. We're running short on time here. Okay. To conclude the bubonic plague, anything I. Missed to ask you. Definitely something that you definitely wanna tell the

Dr. Paula Summerly: 39:39

people. I think it was, um, it was a kind of unknown story, um, until I'm sure if you were here in 1920, you knew all about it, but you know how things go. Things are lost to time. And I think if it hadn't been for that tiny little jar, I don't think we would've thought about it too much. And what was interesting is, um, the historical foundation had been involved in restoring many buildings and they'd encountered these strange concrete structures and they didn't know what they were. And it turned out it was rat proofing. So that tiny little jar. Several steps removed, answered a architectural conundrum, which I think is amazing. Um, also there's been various academic projects as we know. Um, Leonard Wang published a, a paper recently, so there's various academic spinoffs and interest in the story, which can be nothing but great and hopefully foster some future historians and pathologists.

J.R.: 40:36

I love that. I love that you never know what's hiding in the archive. Somewhere that could spur off another 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 working on some pretty fascinating, um, history projects now. Can you tell us some, a little bit about what you've got going on?

Dr. Paula Summerly: 40:54

Yeah. Um, one that I, I've kind of just completed, um, is a story I love. Um, I think I do biographies rather than do like institutional histories. Um, I discovered another incredible woman, um, Mary Susan Moore, who is, is known of. Um, she is a black physician who came to Galveston in the 1890s and founded the Hubbard Sanitarium on Avenue N. And she had all kinds of problems. Um the local community were just not for her setting up a sanitarium. And I've kind of researched her life and the entries pending in the Handbook of Texas Medicine and the, um, Texas State Historical Association. So hopefully in the next few weeks you'll be to read something of, uh, Mary Susan Moore, who also happened to be a member of the Lone Star State Medical 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. They had a meeting there in 1886. So I think there needs to be a state marker put up there. And the other little side story I'm working on is, um, I mentioned I was obsessed with postal history. I've been buying, um, historical letters, um, from well-known auction site, um, which, um, mentioned different epidemics. So my, the working title of my little 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 kinda stories of these random letters because people don't write letters anymore. So I've got some amazing letters that I'm researching.

J.R.: 42:37

I can only imagine how much insight you can get from two doctors going back and forth talking about the different epidemics and outbreaks. For instance, Philadelphia to Galveston. In the late 18 hundreds or early 19 hundreds. And how fascinating that must be to be able to take a peek at what they were

Dr. Paula Summerly: 42:51

discussing. Yeah. And there's all kinds of, you know, extraneous information, you know, like Bonham and Bailey. I'm going to see that. But careful as Bubonic Plague or whatever happens to be, nothing's changed, has it? No.

J.R.: 43:04

Um, so we've entered the, uh, section of this presentation where we will start taking some questions from the audience. So enter the Q&A section. Does anyone have any questions at all? I know we kind of, it's hard to cover, uh, an entire year of bubonic plague in 45 minutes, yes.

Ruth: 43:21

Are there any instances of other animals getting the bubonic plague? And and how did that kinda affect the town?

Dr. Paula Summerly: 43:27

Well, you know, bubonic Plague isn't medieval, it's actually still in the United States and every year, um, several states, including Colorado and Arizona, they have one or two cases of Bubonic Plague, I think the CDC say between one and 17 cases per year. And they're now treated by antibiotics. So basically, I dunno if you love rodents as much as I do, if you, if you, you get too close to a dead rodent, uh, prairie dogs and squirrels, um, the fleas 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: 44:10

what are some examples of precautions they made in the 1920s that remain here today?

Dr. Paula Summerly: 44:14

Well rock proofing for sure. Corner stores. Um, I guess the history is probably in the newspaper archives and, um, and in the wonderful, uh, Galveston, Texas History Center, which, uh, Sean will share with us. Um, there were other bits and pieces, but rat proofing is probably the main one, um, that I can think of.

J.R.: 44:37

Um, so if someone gets the plague today, what are the options? Is there a vaccine for it

Dr. Paula Summerly: 44:43

today? Um, but antibiotics, that's it. Okay. Yes. But the sooner the better.

J.R.: 44:48

That makes sense.

Dr. Paula Summerly: 44:51

You can see why I'm not a doctor or a nurse Quite, I don't think my bedside manner would be, uh,

J.R.: 44:58

well, I know, I know on the ships, even today, if you go out to the port and look at the ships and you look at the mooring lines, They actually have these covers that go over the mooring lines to keep rats from climbing up the those ropes, which I find absolutely fascinating and I, I don't know when that started, but I would imagine people understood that rats carry diseases.

Dr. Paula Summerly: 45:18

Yeah. Um, that, that's a great point. Um, yeah, the stopping the rats coming. The other thing that I haven't mentioned 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 because we don't know which strain of bubonic plague came to the island in the summer of 1920. We think it's the one that came, um, from the third pandemic, um, which hit San Francisco. It came from, China in 1894 through the trade ships. And it's worked its way, um, throughout the sort of natural fauna and flora down to Galveston. Um, but we don't know. And given we know the date and time of death of the first person to die, you'd be only play. We can map it onto the known sort of genomic sequence, but obviously the ethical and legal reasons, if we're gonna sample, cause we're gonna have familial dna. But from what I gather, the um, the process of selecting different cells, et cetera, are really precise now. So you could avoid familial dna. So the story of the first person might not be over.

J.R.: 46:24

Wow. So, so technology as, as it is now or as it progresses, there may be a way where, um, even if it's not in Galveston, if it's another location where you could actually do the same style of testing and figure out, do this, uh, you know, 123 years later, figure out really what was going on.

Dr. Paula Summerly: 46:44

Yeah. The Mutter museum at the College, college of Physicians of Philadelphia worked with McMaster in Canada, and they actually sampled smallpox from. Um, blades, um, little, um, little blades that were used to, um, take samples, vaccine blades, et et et cetera. But, um, so they've actually got reading. So they've also done research on cholera specimens as well. So these historical antiquities, their stories might not be over yet, which is endlessly fascinating, don't you think? And can breathe new life not really meant as a pun, to these collections that are at risk in terms of conservation or need to be rehoused or they're not being actively used for teaching research. So to utilize some of those collections for contemporary research working with, um, colleagues in the Galveston National Lab. Couldn't he be a positive, I feel for the collections?

J.R.: 47:42

So these collections, I know it's, it's. A topic that is, has a checkered history, as you say, the collections, um, for context for their, their body parts that were dissected at some point, right.

Dr. Paula Summerly: 47:54

Um, the anatomical, yes. Okay. Um, and the others are removed during autopsy mm-hmm. And kept for the, they demonstrated tumors or so other people could use them for, um, teaching, uh, purposes. Really? Mm-hmm. Okay.

J.R.: 48:10

All right.

Henry: 48:11

I was curious. You have a personal interest in postal history.. and now we find out as well that you have a collection. Is there any really interesting fact In terms of that postal history here within the US or even abroad.. That you think is worth sharing?

Dr. Paula Summerly: 48:24

Well, what I discovered are that there are actually experts on um, fumigate mail. Um, and I'm really interested, and also if you think about dna, you know, now if, if you lick an envelope, not that many people do, but then your DNA is in the sealant, isn't it? Mm-hmm. I mean, there's potential spinoff here. Um, I think I'm interested in letters because nobody writes them anymore. Um, I'm interested in this in social history, but setting that disease within a social context and how people kind of just got on with everyday life, even though there was. Influenza or whatever happened to be. And then I'm always interested in the people and I like things that are very challenging. How am I gonna find out who they are? 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 to re-identify, um, mail senders and recipients, you know, from the 1880s onwards. But, um, I think it's just the human story that really interests me, but it has to be long gone. Did that answer it? Did that answer your question? Thank you. So,

J.R.: 49:33

so during your, uh, research process in the bubonic plague, what is the most, what was the most difficult part? Um, I know you, you probably came here to the Galveston, Texas History Center. Um, you, you have plenty of records at U.T.M.B. As well. What was the most difficult thing to tie together?

Dr. Paula Summerly: 49:50

Well, I think, um, finding Anna's story, um, some of the houses that the people lived in still stand. I, I kind of look for evidence what is left. So some of the houses that the people 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 a little time machine and go and fly through Old Red or something like that in the early days, I'd just be a little. Little fly on the wall and see what was going on. I think it's almost, that's, um, it's something that's always, it's kind of, you need an imagination. Mm-hmm. Um, to think about the past. And I know not everyone thinks about the past, but I don't, I, I could not fathom a life without the past.

J.R.: 50:37

I love that. Well, Dr. Summerly thank you so much for joining me here at the Rosenberg Library. I really, really appreciate you. This episode comes from the Rosenberg Library Conversation series where I sat down with a few historians to talk about some extremely interesting historical facts about Galveston and Texas history. I would like to personally thank the Rosenberg Library for allowing Galveston Unscripted to hold live podcast conversations in the library.

J.R. (2): 51:05

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Dr. Paula Summerly: 51:39

I have a secret project called Galveston is Purgatory,