Forceps
Forceps
Previous
Next
Usage conditions apply
- Description (Brief)
- Midwives have been helping deliver babies for millennia. Midwives in the early 20th century, with the advent of big-city hospitals continued to serve the needs of immigrants and rural American women.
- The owner of this midwife kit was Rosa Bonfante. Rosa was from Palermo, Sicily, and immigrated to the United States in 1922, settling first in Buffalo, NY, and later in Albany. Her satchel and its contents, along with her story are shrouded in mystery. Rosa's grandson, Joseph Badlotto, writes in a brief statement that according to family lore, Rosa had an affair in Sicily with Carlo Chirchirillo (the donor's natural grandfather). Born of that affair in 1918 was a baby girl, named Mary (the donor's mother). Carlos and his wife, Felicia, raised the child, and in 1920 immigrated to the United States. Rosa followed about two years later posing as the child's godmother. Years passed before the truth about Mary's parentage became known.
- Straight forceps with diagonally-serrated edges (5 cm) that come to a point and has six locking ridges and a covered screw joint. The forceps are nickel plated and were part of a midwife's kit from Buffalo, NY about 1920.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Object Name
- forceps
- midwife's kit
- Physical Description
- metal (overall material)
- Measurements
- overall: 3/8 in x 7 in x 3 1/8 in;.9525 cm x 17.78 cm x 7.9375 cm
- overall: 18 cm x 8.5 cm x 1 cm; 7 3/32 in x 3 11/32 in x 13/32 in
- ID Number
- 2012.0128.22
- accession number
- 2012.0128
- catalog number
- 2012.0128.22
- accession number
- 2012.0128
- catalog number
- 2012.0128.22
- Credit Line
- Gift from Joseph Badlotto in memory of Rosa Bonfante and her daughter Mary Bonfante Chirchirillo Badlotto
- subject
- Women's Health
- Medicine
- Surgical instruments
- See more items in
- Medicine and Science: Medicine
- Health & Medicine
- Midwife Kit
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
Nominate this object for photography.
Our collection database is a work in progress. We may update this record based on further research and review. Learn more about our approach to sharing our collection online.
If you would like to know how you can use content on this page, see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use. If you need to request an image for publication or other use, please visit Rights and Reproductions.
