Collection

Claude Carr Cody's Battle Creek Sanitarium Collection

Dublin Core

Title
Claude Carr Cody's Battle Creek Sanitarium Collection
Subject
Battle Creek Sanitarium, John Harvey Kellogg, US Progressive Era, Health and Medicine in 19th Century US, Patient Records
Description
Claud Carr Cody was born in Georgia and got his AB and MA degrees from Emory in 1875 and 1878. He came to Southwestern University in 1879 as Professor of Mathematics and stayed here until his retirement in 1915. During his time at Southwestern, he served different administrative positions, including two times as President. His most important contribution to Southwestern was, perhaps, his struggle in 1910-11 to keep the university in Georgetown when a proposal came to move it to Dallas. Southwestern University Special Collections guards many of his documents related to his personal, academic, and university life. This digital collection highlights documents in relation to his visit to Battle Creek Sanitarium, a very famous health resort in Michigan run by the controversial Dr. John Harvey Kellogg. The Sanitarium evolved from a health center sponsored by the Seventh-Day Adventists in the early nineteenth century. By the early 1910s, the Sanitarium had become health resort that advocated, almost religiously, a health regime based on a healthy diet, exercise, sexual abstinence, good sleep, and traditional and novel therapies such as hydrotherapy, phototherapy, thermotherapy, electrotherapy, and exposure to fresh air. Documents from Cody’s visit to the Sanitarium include Harvey Kellogg’s booklet “The Simple Life in a Nutshell”, an appointment card, a registration card, several bills, an examination of urine, a prescribed diet menu, and 8 checks. Students in the Popularizing Class, Spring 2016, generated the descriptions of the items in this collection.
Source
The Claude Carr Cody Collection
(Finding aid for this collection http://www.southwestern.edu/infoservices/departments/specialcollections/finding-aids/Cody_Claude_Carr.php#Scope)
Special Collections
A. Frank Smith Library
Southwestern University
Date
1914

Collection Items

  • Item

    The Simple Life in a Nutshell

    Found amongst C. C. Cody's belongings after his trip to Battle Creek, Michigan, this pamphlet offers general lifestyle advice regarding mental health, diet, and exercise. Written and published by J. H. Kellogg, the pamphlet explains nutritional and health concerns in the early-1900s. It is divided into sections regarding healthy eating, exercise, sleep and rest, bathroom routines, and mental hygiene. Kellogg's cautious and primal dietary approach offers insight as to how the field of nutrition was developing throughout his time.
  • Item

    [Weekly Bills]

    Bills or receipts from C.C. Cody's stay at the Battle Creek Sanitarium in Battle Creek, Michigan that present the types of treatments available, prescribed to C.C. Cody himself, as well as the pricing of these services. The weekly bills were printed on long, thin sheets of paper. The artifacts resemble a modern day receipt in that they provide a list of services or products purchased by an individual as well as the price of that service or product. The bills were uniformly made and cover a range of services from general exams to kindergarten. The bills function as a way for the treasurer to keep track of the number of charges for each of Battle Creek’s customers. The services lifted on the bill are broken down into subsections: General Exam, Treatment of, Extra Bath Treatment, Treatment at Dr. Kellogg’s Office, Operations, Massage, Meals, Pharmacy, Sewing, Livery, and Books. Running vertically along the side of each bill there is a statement printed in capitalized red ink that reads, “BILLS PAYABLE WEEKLY (ON MONDAY) G.H. MURPHY, Treasurer”, along the opposite side of the bill reads, “PLEASE REPORT ERRORS TO CASHIER'S OFFICE IMMEDIATELY”, and finally at the bottom of the bill there is a small saying in red, “All arrangements pertaining to prices, and business arrangements of any kind, can be made at the Business Office only”. The balances of the bills located in Special Collection for C.C. Cody range from $14 dollars to $61 dollars per stay depending on the number of treatments and examinations C.C. Cody wanted to receive.
  • Item

    Program of the Day

    The Program of the Day contains designated gymnastic hours, the time of morning worship, meal schedules, hours of social gatherings and health and efficacy talks, music by the orchestra, and an Indian club drill and march taking place that day. The Special Notices show the mail delivery and collection hours, when leisure areas such as the library or parlor are open and closed, cashier's office operating hours, and the different newspapers accessible to the patients.
  • Item

    Prescribed Diet

    The diet prescription card has rows of printed food options that fall into several different categories such as soup, vegetables, bread, and beverages. Cody's dietitian ,Florence C. Harvey, checked off items that he/she believed Cody should consume. On the night of September 14, 1914, Harvey prescribed vegetable soup, pureed lima beans, and one slice of wheat toast for Cody to eat for dinner.
  • Item

    Examination of Urine

    This urine examination card is an examination of Claude Carr Cody's urine sample including analysis of the various chemical and physical properties of urine. Dr. Mortensen, a doctor at Battle Creek Sanitarium, ordered the urine examination for C.C. Cody. The components of the urine are separated into two categories, physical and chemical. Physical properties include odor, color, and mass. Chemical properties include chemicals such as nitrogen, creatin and urea. The average measurements for male and female urine analysis measurements are also included in the card to provide insight on whether or not C.C. Cody's urine sample was considered normal.
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