Nicolas Chervin Papers

Collection

Identifier: MS C 20

Abstract

Reports gathered by Nicolas Chervin on experiences with yellow fever in Caribbean and eastern United States ports.

Dates

Creation: 1816-1836

Extent

1 Linear Feet (3 boxes)

Creator

Chervin, Nicolas, 1783-1843 (Person)

Physical Location

Materials stored onsite. History of Medicine Division. National Library of Medicine

Language of Materials

Collection materials primarily in English and French

Restrictions

Collection is not restricted. Contact the Reference Staff for information regarding access.

Copyright and Re-use Information

NLM does not possess copyright to the collection. Archival collections often contain mixed copyrights; while NLM is the owner of the physical items, permission to examine collection materials is not an authorization to publish. These materials are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study. It is the user's responsibility to research and understand any applicable copyright and re-publication rights not allowed by fair use. NLM does not grant permissions to publish.

Privacy Information

Archives and manuscript collections may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations. Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in any collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications for which the National Library of Medicine assumes no responsibility.

Biographical Note

Nicholas Chervin was a French physician and yellow fever researcher.

Chervin was an ardent believer in the non-contagiousness of yellow fever. He wrote several monographs on the subject and campaigned for the elimination of quarantine on the basis of his research. From 1820 to 1822, Chervin wrote to physicians in most of the port cities of the East Coast of the United States, from Portland, Maine, to New Orleans, Louisiana, gathering information regarding the experiences of each physician with yellow fever and his opinion regarding the contagious or non-contagious aspects of the disease.

Collection Summary

Contains responses to Chervin's requests to local physicians and health authorities about their experiences treating yellow fever and their opinions about the disease's contagiousness from Philadelphia, New York, Boston, New Orleans, Charleston, Providence, Baltimore, Norfolk, Newburyport, Massachusetts, and other cities; also from Cuba, Haiti, Barbados, Jamaica, Gaudeloupe, Martinique, British Guiana, Santo Domingo, St. Thomas, and other areas in the West Indies and Caribbean. Also includes notes and abstracts on the subject of yellow fever.

Additional Description

Abstract

Reports gathered by Nicolas Chervin on experiences with yellow fever in Caribbean and eastern United States ports.

Physical Location

Materials stored onsite. History of Medicine Division. National Library of Medicine

Provenance

Unknown. Administrative correspondence shows NLM's collection is in Charvin's hand and thus likely his personal originals rather than the copies held by the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. Acquisition date would be prior to 1971 when the collection is used for an article in the Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences Volume XXVI, Issue 1 by HMD staffer Manny Wasserman.