Collection Guide
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Lancaster (Charles) ledger
Biomed.1245
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Contributing Institution:
UCLA Library Special Collections
Title: Charles Lancaster ledger
Creator:
Lancaster, Charles
source:
Johnson, Russell A.
Identifier/Call Number: Biomed.1245
Physical Description:
1 item
(1 ledger)
Date (inclusive): 1855-1901
Physical Location: Held at UCLA Library Special Collections. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. All requests to access
special collections materials must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.
Language of Material: Materials are in English.
Open for research. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in advance using the request button located
on this page.
Conditions Governing Reproduction and Use
Property rights to the physical objects belong to UCLA Library Special Collections. All other rights, including copyright,
are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright
and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Russell A. Johnson, 2017.
UCLA Catalog Record ID:
9981743983606533
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[Identification of item], Charles Lancaster ledger (Collection 1245). Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library History and Special
Collections for the Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles.
This collection was previously assigned the collection number Biomed 706. As of December 2020, this collection has been assigned
the new collection number Biomed 1245.
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We are committed to providing ethical, inclusive, and anti-racist description of the materials we steward, and to remediating
existing description of our materials that contains language that may be offensive or cause harm. We invite you to submit
feedback about how our collections are described, and how they could be described more accurately, by filling out the form
located on our website:
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The manuscript ledger of Dr. Charles Lancaster (1808-1903), a physician, lawyer, and author in Newark, New Jersey, documents
his recipes for and trade in medical remedies, and as an "electro-medical specialist". The ledger begins with a "list of medicines
in Nathan Harper's Box", alongside recipes for "Electric Fluid", "for suppression of menses", and "for Rheumatism".
This is followed by lists of purchases: "Account of Stock, September 1st, 1855" (books); "Stationery", and "Draining and painting
materials". Beginning September 1855, Lancaster begins a long record of purchases and charges for services rendered (visits
and examinations, syringes, compresses, etc.), then the sale of medical remedies including Keswick's cough syrup, Queen liniment,
Catarrh Remedy, and rheumatism medicine. A printed advertisement, laid in, identifies "Catarrh Remedy" and "Prescription for
the Blood" as two of the "Lancaster Remedies" prepared solely by him, for sale at the principal showroom in Newark and his
residence in East Orange.
Patients hailing from throughout New Jersey, as well as Staten Island and Pennsylvania, are identified by name throughout
the journal. Lancaster's biggest seller for a number of years is "Vital Tonic", often abbreviated "V.T.", presumably from
a formula of his own making; Vital Tonic also is sold in large quantities to numerous buyers, including some pharmacists.
His own purchases include multiple entries for ammonia and sulfuric acid--presumably for use in the preparation of remedies--as
well as some items for personal and household consumption. Battery-related entries appear more regularly as the journal progresses.
A handwritten slip, partially cut-away, appears to be the draft of a handbill or advertisement promoting himself as an "Electro-Medical
Specialist" and offering his services to treat insanity "(the patient being in condition to receive my treatment), free of
charge, till cured."
The latter part of the journal includes entries for inserting advertisements in local New Jersey publications such as the
"Newark Journal" and "Elizabeth Journal". Also present are dealings with the William M. Townley Drug Co. of Newark; McKesson
and Robbins; and hospitals.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Johnson, Russell A.