Midwifery at The Museum

We are excited to announce that our Midwifery program at Kieffer's Place begins this week!

Rules for Midwives

Adapted from From: A Treatise on the Theory and Practice of Midwifery, by W. Smellie, M. D., 1766
To become a midwife, one must be:

• Sensible
• Decent
• Of middle age
• Able to bear fatigue
• Knowledgeable of the basic anatomy of the organs involved and how they change during pregnancy and childbirth.
• Skilled in examining and understanding the differences in labors.
• Able to live in friendship with other midwives, competing only in knowledge, sobriety, diligence and patience.

She must avoid all reflections (criticism) of male practitioners, and candidly seek their help when at a loss. When he comes, he is to understand that she is just a woman (Understand that what that phrase means is a woman is not possessing the mental capacity to deal with important matters), and quietly fix her mistakes. This will keep the patient from becoming upset, but will also silently rebuke the midwife. Since no male practitioner is completely perfect all the time, and may sometime also make a mistake, he will be glad he treated her nicely in such circumstances and expect her to treat him kindly in return.
To learn more about Midwifery (Midwives did much more than just deliver babies!) in the 19th century please visit our new midwives at Kieffer's place. Our midwives will be avaliable to discuss whatever ails you Thursday through Saturday, weekly.

We will occasionally cook period German food there as well as create authentic "Cures" from plants in our midwife's garden and from around the village.