This groundbreaking reference work contains brief biographical articles for over two hundred women, most of them little known, who graduated from schools of medicine in the United States before the Civil War. The volume includes an introductory essay examining the social and religious backgrounds of the women graduates, as well as their motivations for becoming physicians and their varying degrees of success as practitioners. In addition, the essay offersinformation on what physician training and practice were like during the period, as well as on the need for reform that provided a setting for women's entry into the profession. The biographical entries are supplemented by a chronological table of female medical graduates and a geographical table indicating the places in which they practiced.

Edward C. Atwater is emeritus professor of medicine and the history of medicine at the University of Rochester School of Medicine.