Document Archives Record
Metadata
Collection |
MS 173 |
Title |
Charlotte Baker Diary Collection |
Object type |
Documents |
Catalog Number |
MS 173 |
Creator |
Baker, Charlotte L. |
Year Range from |
1882 |
Year Range to |
1934 |
Scope & Content |
Abstract: This collection contains personal diaries and papers focusing on the personal and professional life and travels of Dr. Charlotte Baker, San Diego’s first female physician. Biographical/Historical Notes: Charlotte Johnson Baker was San Diego’s first female physician and a noted suffragist and civic leader. She was born Charlotte LeBreton Johnson March 30, 1855 in Newburyport, Massachusetts. She graduated from Vassar and received her M.D. from the University of Michigan in 1881. She became an obstetrician and did her residency in a women’s prison, which was the beginning of a lifelong interest in prison reform and delinquency in girls. She married Dr. Fred Baker on March 30, 1882 and the two practiced medicine in Akron, Ohio before moving to Socorro, New Mexico. The Bakers had two children, Mary (nicknamed Molly) and Robert, both born in New Mexico. In 1888, Charlotte and Fred set up practice in San Diego where they were one of the first to settle in Roseville (what is now Point Loma) and build a home there. Charlotte was very prominent in San Diego medical society; she promoted pasteurization laws, wrote on the germ theory of disease, and served as the San Diego County Medical Society’s first woman president. She was also a president of the Equal Suffrage Association and after helping organize the local chapter of the YWCA, served as an honorary president. Charlotte was one of the founders of the Woman’s Home Association and Day Nursery, and was an active supporter of the Temperance movement and Prohibition. She died October 31, 1937, after suffering from a heart condition and being almost completely bedridden for several years. Scope and Content: This collection contains 48 of Charlotte Baker’s personal diaries, beginning the year she wed in 1882, through her later years, ending in 1934, three years prior to her death. The diaries encompass Charlotte’s life experiences as a mother and later grandmother, as a renowned obstetrician and the first female physician in San Diego, and as an involved local activist for women’s suffrage and prohibition, among other causes. Of particular interest are Charlotte and her family’s experience on the frontier in 1890s New Mexico where they witnessed several Indian raids; the birth of her two children, Robert and Molly; and Charlotte’s first-hand account of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire (she was visiting friends in the area at the time). Also of note are Charlotte’s entries regarding the fight for women’s suffrage and their victory in California in 1911; descriptions of her and her husband Fred’s travels through Asia between 1913 and 1915, including an experience with the consequences of World War I in Singapore; and her entries on the effects of the war on the people of San Diego, including her son Robert’s inscription in the Navy. Charlotte also wrote in detail about her involvement in the Y.W.C.A., as well as her husband’s involvement in the San Diego Historical Society (as one of the founding members), and the San Diego Society of Natural History. In addition, the diaries include accounts of the 1919 Influenza epidemic, and the Bakers’ participation in the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition in Seattle in 1909, and the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco in 1915. The collection also includes several address books and vaccination records. |
Quantity |
2.5 Linear feet (10 boxes) |
Notes |
Box 1 contains finding aid and extended collection notes. Collection processed as part of grant project supported by the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) with generous funding from The Andrew Mellon Foundation. |
Finding Aid |
http://www.sandiegohistory.org/archives/archivalcollections/ms173 |
Names |
Addams, Jane, 1860-1935 Allen, Ella Bradford Baker, Charlotte L. Baker, Frederick, 1854-1938 Baker, George L. Baker, Kenneth Baker, Mary C. Baker, Robert H. Brooks, Annie Cabral, Manuel Cabral, William Cooke, Agnes E. Davidson, John Davidson, Winifred Denton, William Doig, Robert L. Eastwood, Alice, 1859-1953 Grayson, Cary T. (Cary Travers), 1878-1938 Hodge, Mary Horton, Alonzo E., 1813-1909 Horton, Lydia Knapp Johnson, Mary Caroline Keller, Helen, 1880-1968 Kelley, Florence, 1859-1932 Klauber, Alice Ellen, 1871-1951 Klauber, Frieda Klauber, Leda La Tourette, Gertrude Livermore, Mary Ashton Rice, 1820-1905 Magee, Thomas L. Marston, Anna Lee, 1853-1940 Marston, Elsa Marston, Harriet Marston, Helen Marston, Mary McAdoo, W. G. (William Gibbs), 1863-1941 Mills, Carrie Morse, Mary Chase Norton, Constance Bird Restarick, Margaret Ritter, Mary Rogeron, Anne Scripps, Ellen Browning, 1836-1932 Sessions, Kate Olivia, 1857-1940 Shaw, Anna Howard, 1847-1919 Shaw, Stella Augusta, b. 1836 Spreckels, John Diedrich, b. 1853 Stanton, Elizabeth Cady, 1815-1902 Taft, William H. (William Howard), 1857-1930 Wangenheim, Julius Waters, Elizabeth LeBriton Willard, C. F. Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition (1909 : Seattle, Wash.). American Women's Suffrage Association. Ballard (Ship). Equal Suffrage League (U.S.). Panama-Pacific International Exposition (1915 : San Francisco, Calif.). San Diego County Medical Society (San Diego County, Calif.). Woman’s Auxiliary. San Diego County Medical Society (San Diego County, Calif.). San Diego Historical Society. San Diego Society of Natural History. Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Southern California Medical Society. State Normal School of San Diego, California. University of Michigan. Vassar College. Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor. Young Women's Christian Association. |