Stanley Hart Osborn, an American Doctor in Serbia in 1915 Cover Image

Стенли Харт Озборн, амерички лекар у Србији 1915. године
Stanley Hart Osborn, an American Doctor in Serbia in 1915

Author(s): Biljana Vučetić
Subject(s): Military history, Social history, Pre-WW I & WW I (1900 -1919)
Published by: Српска академија наука и уметности

Summary/Abstract: The danger of contagious diseases was evident at the beginning of the WWI. Still, the knowledge of typhus was not enough to save Serbia from the most deadly epidemic in the recent history. In 1914, in the USA became apparent that is necessary to remove responsibilities from military physicians and to find officers with special skills in sanitation, sanitary engineering, in bacteriology, or other sciences related to sanitation and preventive medicine. One of those officers was Stanley Hart Osborn (1891–1975), a graduate from the Harvard-MIT School for Health Officers. He joined a group of doctors and sanitary engineers volunteering with the Red Cross to fight typhus and other epidemic diseases in Serbia and Montenegro. His journal, A Diary of the American Red Cross Sanitary Commission to Serbia 1915–16, became valuable historical source for the work of American doctors in fighting typhus in Serbia. Osborn vividly described sanitary engineering, fighting with lice and vaccination in Peć, Djakovica, Mitrovica, Djevdjelija, Dojran and Skoplje. Nevertheless, his Diary contains historical data and descriptions of culture, food and people. It also contains over 300 photographs that correspond to events. Osborn’s legacy is not only thorough sanitary work and gaining battle with typhus, but also written and visual notes on people and events in the summer of 1915 in Serbia.