Taking the Water Cure, Brattleboro VT, 1845

New materials just cataloged at the Connecticut Historical Society Library include a journal from a mother/daughter trip to "take the cure" in Vermont:

In 1845 Sarah Coit Day and her daughter Catherine traveled to the Brattleboro (Vermont) Water-Cure for treatment. Day kept a journal (Ms. 47047), writing about taking tepid baths, walking, the view of the Connecticut River, and other people who were also at the facility. Though not mentioned in the journal, the Brattleboro Water-Cure was attended by many well-to-do people, including Harriet Beecher Stowe and her sister, Catharine Beecher.

If you're in New England and looking for a small history project, this journal--an inside report from a treatment facility in the 1840s--might be worth a visit.

This is also in the same list of new catalog items at the same library:

...[T]he Boston and Albany Railroad Co. Surgeon’s record (Ms. 36423). This is a record of incidents occurring on railroad property. Each entry contained the name of the injured individual, their position with the company, what happened,and where they resided (if they survived). Injuries reported included fingers being crushed, ankles being twisted, and more gruesome occurrences, such as bowels being torn open.

Might be a very useful source on occupational injuries, and with names and addresses it might be linkable to other sources, and the start of a nice study.