“Promising Cures & Desperate Victims”, a special presentation by author Andrew V. Rapoza
Join us for a special evening presentation by Andrew V. Rapoza on his latest publication, PROMISING CURES: The Pursuit of Health in a 19th Century New England Community.
Part of a four-part lecture series across the North Shore, Rapoza’s presentation for the Lynn Museum is entitled “PROMISING CURES & DESPERATE VICTIMS: The Pursuit of Health for 19th Century Lynn, Massachusetts.”
Reservation is not required. Light refreshments will be served.
The community of Lynn, Massachusetts, was like the rest of New England in the 1800s but populated by individuals with their own unique stories to tell. Its residents were attacked by cholera, diphtheria, scarlet fever, typhoid, and dysentery; women died in childbirth; babies died before they took their first steps; and adults and children were mangled by factory machinery. Enjoyment of life was precious to each of them, but often stolen away too soon. To fight pain, sickness, and death, they turned to their own creativity, old family recipes, a never-ending stream of promising cures, and emerging science-based medicines. No matter the origin of the remedy, the only critical ingredient was success.
It’s far too easy to call the past a time of quacks and gullible bumpkins, of villains and heroes. The 19th century was instead an era of experimentation and improvement practiced by as wide an assortment of average people, scoundrels, and reformers as we have among us today. Promising Cures proves this to be the case. Be prepared to be transported into a different time and place; walk among your ancestors. See life through their eyes and learn about the courage, miracles, and dumb luck that enabled you to be who you are today. Meticulously researched, creatively written with dollops of drama, humor, and a steady stream of historical accuracy, and enlivened with fascinating remnants of Lynn’s health history, Promising Cures will take you somewhere you’ve never been and will never forget – the life you would have lived centuries earlier.
Andrew V. Rapoza is a magna cum laude graduate of Boston College, with a Scholar of the College distinction in history. During his management career in purchasing, contracts, and technical publications, he also pursued his passion for collecting and researching health and medical history, especially as it pertained to Lynn, Massachusetts, where he and his wife, Gail, first raised their four children. Several of his research papers on Colonial, Federal, and Victorian health in New England have been published and he has been a guest speaker on these subjects all over the Northeast, including at the Strong Museum, Rochester, New York, and at the Dublin Seminar for New England Folklife.
This program is supported in part by a grant from the Lynn Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.
