The Association of Philadelphia Tour Guides (APT) will hold its October monthly meeting on Wednesday, October 9 at 7 pm featuring author/filmmaker Carole Adrienne for a presentation on “Healing A Divided Nation: How the American Civil War Revitalized Western Medicine.” Adrienne will share her insights on Philadelphia’s becoming a world center for medicine and medical education as a result of the Civil War. She will speak about American medical, surgical and pharmaceutical innovators who made Philadelphia the medical powerhouse it is today. After the main presentation, we’ll award pins and certificates to our newly certified members. Please join us to congratulate them!

The meeting is held at 114 Market Street on the 2nd floor of Philly’s Gourmet Steaks. Come early for dinner and drinks! (If you are very early, beginning at 5:15 pm, APT member Lois Linden will host happy hour at Revolution House, 200 Market Street.) The meeting will be in-person and livestreamed on Zoom.

Beginning with the state of medicine at the outset of the Civil War, when doctors did not even know about sterilizing their tools, Adrienne illuminates the transformation in American healthcare through primary source texts that document the lives and achievements of the individuals who pioneered these changes in medicine and society. The story that ensues is one of American innovation and resilience in the face of unparalleled violence, adding a new dimension to the legacy of the Civil War.

Carole Adrienne received her B.F.A. from Moore College of Art and Design in Philadelphia. She has organized an archive for Old St. Joseph’s National Shrine, twice chaired “Archives Week” in Philadelphia, and has served on advisory panels for the Philadelphia Archdiocesan Historic Research Center, the Mutter Museum’s “Civil War Medicine” exhibit and its “Spit Spreads Death: The 1918 Flu Epidemic” exhibit. She is working on a documentary film series on Civil War medicine and lives in Philadelphia.

The Zoom link will be shared in the APT Tour Talk newsletter the week of the meeting. Non-members should email Marianne Ruane at president@phillyguides.org no later than 5 pm the day of the meeting to receive the Zoom link. A recording will be available on the APT YouTube page for a month following the talk.

APT meetings are open to aspiring and working tour guides as well as anyone with an interest in Philadelphia-focused history. Attend one meeting for free and then it is $60 to join the association for the year or $10 per monthly meeting in-person event. Zoom meetings are free. Please join us for convivial company, good food, fascinating presentations, and lively discussions.