| Repository: | Western Reserve Historical Society |
| Creator: | Marcus, Sarah |
| Title: | Sarah Marcus Papers |
| Dates: | 1932-1991 |
| Extent: | 0.21 linear feet (1 container and 1 oversize folder) |
| Abstract: | Sarah Marcus was a physician who specialized in obstetrics and gynecology in Cleveland, Ohio. The daughter of Aaron and Etta Marcus, Sarah graduated from Central High School in 1912, and from Flora Stone Mather College of Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, in 1916. She graduated from the University of Michigan Medical School in 1920, and completed an internship at Akron (Ohio) City Hospital in 1923. Returning to Cleveland in 1923, she established a medical practice on the city's South Side. In 1924, she began practicing at Women's Hospital, where she later served as Chief of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology from 1933-1970. In 1928, she began work as a voluntary clinician with the Maternal Health Association, forerunner of Planned Parenthood. In the 1950s, she was instrumental in the establishment of a marriage counseling and fertility clinic at Planned Parenthood. She married Dr. Samuel Cowan, with whom she had one child, Joseph Marcus. The collection consists of tributes, newspaper clippings, and an oral history. |
| MS Number | MS 4710 |
| Location: | closed stacks |
| Language: | The records are in English |
Sarah Marcus (1894-1985) was a distinguished physician who specialized in the field of obstetrics and gynecology in Cleveland, Ohio. Born in Somerville, South Carolina, she was one of seven children of Aaron and Etta Marcus, both immigrants from Rumania. Her father earned his living as a merchant, moving his family from city to city to make ends meet. He finally settled in Cleveland where Sarah graduated from Central High School in 1912. Determined to continue her education, Marcus won a scholarship to Flora Stone Mather College, the women's college of Western Reserve University (later known as Case Western Reserve University), from which she graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1916. When Marcus was denied entrance to Western Reserve University Medical School because she was a woman, she enrolled in the University of Michigan Medical School from which she graduated in 1920. Upon her return to Cleveland, she was unable to secure an internship because of her gender, and she completed her internship at Akron City Hospital in Akron, Ohio, in 1923. Returning once again to Cleveland in 1923, she established a practice on the city's South Side in a neighborhood of Eastern European immigrants where a long tradition of midwifery made women partial to the care of a female physician. In 1924, Marcus began practicing at Women's Hospital (later Women's General Hospital) where she later served as Chief of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology (1933-1970). She became a member of the hospital's Board of Trustees in 1932, serving as its Vice-President from 1939 to 1957 and as its President from 1958 to 1972. In 1928, Marcus began working as a voluntary clinician with the newly-established Maternal Health League, the forerunner of Planned Parenthood. Through her private practice with working class women and her work at Planned Parenthood, she had become aware of the desperate demand for medically safe and reliable contraception and abortion, as well as a strong need for marital counseling. Recognizing the need to improve her counseling skills to address these issues, she traveled to Vienna in 1932 to study with Paul Federn, a follower of Freud. In the late 1950s she was instrumental in establishing both a marriage counseling clinic and a fertility clinic at Planned Parenthood. She gave up her work at Planned Parenthood in the early 1960s but remained on its medical advisory board until 1970. Divorced from her first husband, William Schwartz, she later married Dr. Samuel Cowan, an EENT specialist. Marcus and Dr. Cowan had one child, Joseph, who became a prominent child psychiatrist affiliated with the University of Chicago. At some point, Joseph changed his last name from Cowan to Marcus. One of Sarah Marcus' brothers, Al, also became a physician, practicing in Cleveland. Sarah Marcus died in 1985 in Chicago at the home of her son.
click here to view the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History entry for Sarah Marcus
The Sarah Marcus Papers, 1932-1991, consist primarily of tributes, clippings, and an oral history.
This collection is valuable to researchers interested in the role of women in the early twentieth century, in general, and specifically in the role they played in the delivery of health services. Of particular interest is the transcript of a sixty-four page oral history conducted by the Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe College, in March 1976. The project, in which Marcus discussed the role of women in health care, maternal child care, family planning, marriage counseling, and sex education.
None.
Separated MaterialAll photographs have been removed to the photographic collection.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
[Container ___, Folder ___ ] MS 4710 Sarah Marcus Papers, Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio
Arthur P. Marcus, 1994; and Dr. Joseph Marcus, 1994
Processed by Marjorie Stern in 1995
Sarah Marcus Papers 1932-1991 undated |
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| Box | Folder | ||||||||||
| 1 | 1 | Clippings 1932-1991 undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 1 | Tributes (oversize tributes dated 1971 and 1976 removed to Oversize Folder 1) 1963-1978 | |||||||||
| 1 | 1 | Miscellaneous 1970-1972 | |||||||||
| 1 | 2 | Oral history 1976 | |||||||||