Lucy Hobbs Taylor

Lucy Hobbs Taylor (March 14, 1833 – October 3, 1910) was an American dentist, known for being the first woman to graduate from dental school (Ohio College of Dental Surgery in 1866).[1]

Lucy Hobbs Taylor
Taylor in 1903
Born(1833-03-14)March 14, 1833
Constable, New York, U.S.
DiedOctober 3, 1910(1910-10-03) (aged 77)
Lawrence, Kansas, U.S.
Alma materOhio College of Dental Surgery
Scientific career
FieldsDentistry

She was originally denied admittance to the Eclectic Medical College in Cincinnati, Ohio, owing to her gender. Due to this, a professor in the college agreed to tutor her and encouraged her to practice dentistry.[2]

Once again, she applied to a dentistry school, this time Ohio College of Dentistry. She was once again refused admittance due to her gender. From there, a college graduate agreed to tutor her, allowing her to continue her studies towards dentistry.[3] In 1861, she decided to open her own practice instead of attempting to get into a college once again. After a year, she moved to Iowa and opened a dentistry practice. This allowed her to be accepted as a dentist without the diploma and become part of the Iowa State Dental Society.[3]

As part of this she was also serving as the group's delegate to the American Dental Associate Convention, only three years after moving to Iowa. With great coincidence, that same year (1865) the Ohio College of Dentistry decided to waive the policy prohibiting women being admitted to the institution.[3] Instantly, Taylor enrolled as a senior student thanks to her dentistry experience she had accumulated over the years. She graduated in 1866, becoming the first woman in the world to graduate from a dental college,[1] and to receive a doctorate in dentistry.[3]

Early life

Lucy Beaman Hobbs was born on March 14, 1833, in Constable, New York. She was seventh out of ten children total. When she was 12 she obtained a job as a seamstress to support her siblings. Hobbs subsequently attended school and eventually graduated from Franklin Academy in New York[4] and began teaching for ten years in Michigan. In 1859, she moved to Cincinnati and applied to medical school at Eclectic Medical College.[5] Hobbs was denied entrance because of her gender, but she was able to study privately under the supervision of a teacher from Eclectic.[4] Subsequently, Hobbs applied to the Ohio College of Dentistry. When she was refused admission to dental school, she began a private program of study with a professor, Jonathan Taft,[5] from the Ohio College of Dental Surgery.[6] Hobbs applied once more to the dentistry program, but was again rejected. As a response, she opened up her own practice, allowing her to practice dentistry without having to obtain a diploma.[4]

Dental career

After studying dentistry, she started her own practice in Cincinnati in 1861. She soon moved to Bellevue and then McGregor, Iowa, where she spent three years. In 1865, she finally gained professional recognition and was allowed to join the Iowa State Dental Society, and was sent as a delegate to the American Dental Association convention in Chicago.[3] That November, she entered the Ohio College of Dental Surgery as a senior, where on February 21, 1866,[7] she earned her doctorate in dentistry,[6] becoming the first woman in the world to graduate from a dental college,[1] and to receive a doctorate in dentistry.[3][8] She later wrote, "People were amazed when they learned that a young girl had so far forgotten her womanhood as to want to study dentistry."[9]

Hobbs next moved to Chicago, where she met James M. Taylor, whom she married in April 1867. Taylor then convinced her husband to also enter dentistry. The two then moved to Lawrence, Kansas, where they had a large and successful practice until he died in 1886. After her husband's death, she ceased to be an active dentist, but became more active in politics, campaigning for greater women's rights, until her own death on October 3, 1910.[6] In her time as a dentist, Lucy Hobbs Taylor opened up brand new doors to many women in the future, especially in the medical field. She believed that her journey was complete by "making it possible for women to be recognized in the dental profession on equal terms with men."[3]

Legacy

By 1900, almost one thousand women had followed Lucy Taylor into dentistry, an increase many attribute largely to her accomplishments.[10] In 1983, the American Association of Women Dentists honored Taylor by establishing the Lucy Hobbs Taylor Award, which it now presents annually to AAWD members in recognition of professional excellence and achievements in advancing the role of women in dentistry.[11]

See also

References
  1. "Missouri Women in the Health Sciences – Health Professions – "Women in Dentistry" by E.N. King". Beckerexhibits.wustl.edu. Retrieved August 4, 2012.
  2. "Lucy Hobbs Taylor – Kansapedia – Kansas Historical Society". kshs.org. Retrieved December 1, 2017.
  3. "Dr. Lucy Hobbs Taylor: A Lawrence, Kansas Pioneer in the History of Women in Dentistry| The Watkins Community Museum of History". watkinsmuseum.org. Archived from the original on December 2, 2017. Retrieved December 1, 2017.
  4. Prichard, Denise. "Lucy Hobbs Taylor – Spear Education". www.speareducation.com. Retrieved December 1, 2017.
  5. Loevy, Hannelore T.; Kowitz, Aletha A. (April 1, 1998). "How the Middle West was won: women enter dentistry". International Dental Journal. 48 (2): 89–95. doi:10.1111/j.1875-595X.1998.tb00466.x. ISSN 1875-595X. PMID 9779089.
  6. "Lucy Hobbs Taylor, First Female Dentist" Archived February 21, 2013, at archive.today Accessed May 25, 2006.
  7. Edwards, Ralph W. (1951). "The First Woman Dentist Lucy Hobbs Taylor, D. D. S. (1833–1910)". Bulletin of the History of Medicine. 25 (3): 277–283. JSTOR 44443642. PMID 14848611.
  8. "Lucy Hobbs Taylor" Archived November 13, 2005, at the Wayback Machine Accessed May 25, 2006.
  9. Hyson Jr, J. M. (2002). "Women dentists: The origins". Journal of the California Dental Association. 30 (6): 444–453. PMID 12519054. Archived from the original on April 2, 2012. Retrieved August 4, 2012.
  10. "Lucy Hobbs Taylor". Celebrating Women's History Month. Accessed May 25, 2006.
  11. "2017 Lucy Hobbs Taylor Award Presented to Dr. Maxine Feinberg" (Press release). Amelia Island, Florida: American Association of Women Dentists. Archived from the original on March 13, 2018. Retrieved March 12, 2018.

Further reading
  • Matlak, A (2007). "Surfing for history: an annotated bibliography of select websites/pages on the history of dentistry". Journal of the History of Dentistry. 55 (1): 26–9. PMID 17564149.
  • "Women's role in dentistry celebrated". Dentistry Today. 19 (5): 32, 40–1. 2000. PMID 12524757.
  • Giangrego, E (2002). "Looking back. Lucy Hobbs Taylor". CDS Review: 42. PMID 11957833.
  • Dees, L A (2001). "Before we were created equally: the story of Lucy Hobbs Taylor, DDS". Journal of the History of Dentistry. 49 (3): 105–10. PMID 11813374.
  • Albert, S B (1999). "It takes determination to be a dentist". The New York State Dental Journal. 65 (1): 3–5. PMID 10079697.
  • Hine, M K (1993). "A look at women's contributions to dentistry". Journal of the Indiana Dental Association. 72 (6): 36–8. PMID 8040726.
  • "Lucy paved the way". The New York State Dental Journal. 59 (8): 72. 1993. PMID 8247450.
  • Davis, S (1988). "Lucy Hobbs Taylor: the mixed blessing of being the first". Journal of the American Dental Association. 117 (3): 443. PMID 3053854.
  • Hewitt, D L (1988). "Dentistry's first lady: Lucy Hobbs Taylor". The Ohio Dental Journal. 62 (4): 28–31. PMID 3062517.
  • Hofer, K (1981). "Dr. Lucy Hobbs Taylor, first woman dentist". CAL. 45 (4): 13–5, 18. PMID 7028217.
  • Walker, J C (1976). "Lucy had courage". CAL. 39 (10): 29–30. PMID 795514.
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