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The Healer on Middle Drive: Dr. Rachel Swain and the Swain Sanitorium

Online Lecture and Q&A Session

Join us online via Zoom to explore the history of Woodruff Place’s Swain Sanitorium and the work of Dr. Rachel Swain (1835-1919). We will highlight her contributions to alternative and preventive medicine across Indianapolis at the turn of the 20th century.

Culture, History, and Society: Historic Indianapolis—This online lecture will focus on Dr. Rachel Swain (1835-1919) and her contributions to alternative and preventive medicine in late 19th- and early 20th-century Indianapolis. By exploring her background and the sanitoriums she operated, we’ll see how her emphasis on nutrition, environment, and gentle therapies reflected both the spirit of her time and ideas that feel remarkably modern today. Her work offers an early example of efforts to treat the whole person rather than just the disease. Registration is required.

Presented by: Lois DeHoff, former Indiana public school educator and current instructional librarian at Ivy Tech Community College, dedicated to exploring and sharing local Indianapolis history in ways that strengthen community connections.

This online lecture is part of the Culture, History, and Society: Historic Indianapolis online programs, hosted by the Indianapolis Special Collections Room (ISCR). It is being held as an online meeting/webinar via Zoom. Registered attendees will receive the Zoom link via email within 2 hours before the online meeting/webinar. Made possible by The Indianapolis Public Library Foundation.

Age Group: Adults

Contact: Special Collections Librarian Montoya Barker

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