Mary_Phylinda_Dole

Mary Phylinda Dole (August 31, 1862 – February 23, 1947)[1] was an American physician who practiced medicine in New England and was the first to earn a bachelor's degree at Mount Holyoke College.[2] She is thought to be the first female physician to have practiced at Franklin County Public Hospital, now known as Baystate Franklin Medical Center.[3]

Early life and education
Mary Phylinda Dole was born in 1862 to George Carpenter Dole, a farmer, and Philinda Field Dole in Shelburne, Massachusetts.[4] After the deaths of both parents, in 1871 she moved to live with a relative in Ashfield, Massachusetts, where she attended a local school and then Sanderson Academy.[4] She attended Mount Holyoke Female Seminary between 1881 and 1884 before graduating in 1886.[2] Dole then studied medicine at the Women's Medical College of Baltimore from 1886-1888, earning her M.D. in just two years.[2] She attended Mount Holyoke again, now Mount Holyoke College, from 1888-1889 after the school received its college charter and became the first graduate to complete a Bachelor of Science degree there.[2] Dole spent additional time studying at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, France and visited medical clinics in Berlin and Dresden, Germany from 1894-1896.[2]

Mary Phylinda Dole named a number of influences in her life and career, including Marie Elizabeth Zakrzewska,[5] her mentor Cornelia Clapp,[6] and Elizabeth Blackwell.[5]

Medical practice
After graduating from Mount Holyoke College, Dole practiced medicine for a short time in Shelburne Falls, MA before accepting an internship and working at the New England Hospital for Women and Children in Boston until 1891.[7] [8] At that time, she opened a private practice in the Hovey House, which is now the Greenfield Public Library in Greenfield, Massachusetts.[9] Dole supported Mount Holyoke College as a trustee from 1901-1907, and remained involved in the college community for many years.[8] She served as a traveling "country doctor" to the area until she moved to New Haven, Connecticut in 1906 and established a new practice.[2] She moved back to Massachusetts in 1919 and practiced medicine in Northampton until 1927.[8]

Later life
Dole's career was cut short by health issues, and she retired from medicine in 1927 at age 65.[10] She began a secondary career in hand-weaving, and became successful in this field as well.[2] She worked with the Deerfield Society of Blue and White Needlework.[11] Dole used the funds obtained from selling her work to create a fellowship to support the education of female medical students at Mount Holyoke.[10] The scholarship exists today as the Dr. Mary P. Dole Medical Fellowship.[12] Funds for the scholarship were also provided by the sale of her autobiography.[2] Dole died in her home in Shelburne in 1947 and is buried in the East Shelburne Cemetery.[4][13]

Honors
In 1902, Dole was elected as a member of the Franklin District Medical Society.[14]

She was President of the Mount Holyoke Club of Franklin County and Honorary President of the Mount Holyoke Club of New Haven[15]

In 1937, she became one of the fourteen first recipients of Mount Holyoke College's Medal of Honor for her service to the college as an alumna.[16]

Autobiography
She privately published her autobiography, A Doctor in Homespun, in 1941.[2] It chronicles her life and her medical practice, focusing on her time as a "country doctor."[17]