Roger Newton Lambert physician’s daybook

This physician’s daybook was kept by Dr. Roger Newton Lambert of Upton, Massachusetts, from 1829 to 1834. It records his visits to patients, medicine and advice dispensed, and other services rendered.

Most of the entries in this daybook record the date, the patient’s name, a general description of Lambert’s visit and services, and the amount charged. Although most accounts belonged to a male head of household, the notations in this daybook show that Lambert was often treating wives, children, and other family members. Common services included dressing wounds, performing venesections, administering plasters, and extracting teeth. Lambert also assisted in childbirth, which he described as attending a woman “in parturition.” Lambert often prescribed opiates, emetics, laxatives, salves, and cathartic drugs. Towards the end of the volume, it appears that Lambert was performing more dental work, including filling cavities and “inserting” new teeth.

Lambert lived in Upton, but he frequently traveled to Milford, Hopkinton, and other nearby towns to visit his patients. Patients paid him in a combination of cash, goods, and services. Services Lambert received in payment included shoeing his horse, mending his carriage, and repairing his rooms. Lambert often attended members of the Fisk, Rockwood, Bradish, Morse, and Childs families.

This volume is bound in green cloth over boards and has gilt text on the spine that reads “LAMBERT JOURNAL 1829-33.” It contains 82 pages of wove paper with vertical columns for accounts. Each page has handwritten notations in black ink. The first page of the volume is inscribed “Roger Newton Lambert. 1829.--/Upton--/Mass.”