To Believe In Women: What Lesbians Have Done For America - A History – A Compelling Landmark Account of 19th and 20th Century Rights
by Lillian Faderman
Partner Emma B. Culbertson
Queer Places:
University of Zurich, Rämistrasse 71, 8006 Zürich, Switzerland
33 Newbury St, Boston, MA 02116, USA
Dr. Mary Almira Smith (November 22, 1849 – March 31, 1921) was a pioneering surgeon, medical innovator, and leader in the early wave of female physicians in the United States.
Her biography illustrates both the arduous path early female doctors had to forge and the vital role same-sex partnerships played in supporting these women.
Born in 1849, Mary Almira Smith pursued medicine at a time when American medical schools routinely barred female applicants. To secure top-tier surgical training, she traveled to Europe, attending the University of Zurich. Zurich was one of the very few institutions in the late 19th century that permitted women to matriculate and earn full medical degrees.
After graduating with her M.D. in Zurich, Dr. Smith returned to the United States to practice as a surgeon.
Dr. Smith established herself in Boston, serving as a prominent surgeon on the staff of the New England Hospital for Women and Children. The institution was a crucial hub founded by and for women doctors, providing clinical opportunities denied to women elsewhere.
Recognized for her clinical skill and precision in major abdominal surgeries, she broke barriers in a medical subspecialty that was particularly hostile to women.
In 1913, when the American College of Surgeons was founded, Dr. Smith was among the small, historic cohort of women admitted as early Fellows.
In historian Lillian Faderman's landmark book To Believe in Women: What Lesbians Have Done for America, Dr. Mary Almira Smith is highlighted as a prime example of the professional and romantic partnerships that sustained 19th- and early 20th-century female leaders.
Dr. Smith shared a life and home with Dr. Emma V. P. B. Culbertson, a fellow physician and senior surgeon.
Dr. Smith and Dr. Culbertson lived together in Boston for decades (notably on Newbury Street), practicing medicine side-by-side and navigating the barriers of the male-dominated medical establishment together.
As Faderman notes, these "Boston marriages" provided essential emotional, financial, and moral support. Partnering with another female physician allowed women like Smith and Culbertson to balance demanding surgical careers without the traditional domestic expectations imposed by 19th-century heterosexual marriage.
While contemporary records often labeled these arrangements as simple "companionships" or "co-habitation," modern historians recognize them as foundational models of female-centered, romantic, and domestic partnerships in LGBTQ+ history. When Dr. Culbertson passed away in early 1920, Dr. Smith was listed as the informant on her death record. Dr. Smith died a year later, in March 1921.
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To Believe In Women: What Lesbians Have Done For America - A History – A Compelling Landmark Account of 19th and 20th Century Rights by Lillian Faderman |
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