Finding Aid for the Charles Lancaster ledger Biomed.1245

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 unknown (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.

Gift of Russell A. Johnson, 2017.

UCLA Catalog Record ID: 8174398 

[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.

Collections are processed to a variety of levels depending on the work necessary to make them usable, their perceived user interest and research value, availability of staff and resources, and competing priorities. Library Special Collections provides a standard level of preservation and access for all collections and, when time and resources permit, conducts more intensive processing. These materials have been arranged and described according to national and local standards and best practices.

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.

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.

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