Skip to main content

Virginia Voorhies Milner oral history collection

 Collection
Identifier: HHC176

Scope and Content

This interview with Dr. Virginia V. Milner (1912-1992), focuses almost exclusively on her two years of service in the late 1930s and early 1940s as a medical missionary in the Sangre de Cristo mountains of northern New Mexico. Among the subjects discussed are Dr. Milner's personal and professional background; the health and sanitation problems in the mountain plazas of northern New Mexico; the facilities and personnel of Brooklyn Cottage Hospital (Dixon, New Mexico) and Embudo Presbyterian Hospital (Embudo, New Mexico); and the life of a medical missionary.

Dates

  • October 1983
  • Majority of material found in Placeholder Unit Date Text

Creator

Language of Materials

English

Access Restrictions

The collection is open for research.

Copy Restrictions

Limited duplication of print materials allowed for research purposes. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.

Biography / History

Virginia Voorhies Milner was born and raised in Iowa, the daughter of a Presbyterian minister. Early in life, Dr. Milner decided to become a medical missionary to India. She graduated from the University of Iowa Medical School in 1933, one of six women in a class of 106. She completed an internship in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and her residency at Women's Hospital in New York City.

Dr. Milner arrived in New Mexico in 1939 as an assistant physician for the Presbyterian Women's National Mission Board first at Dixon's Brooklyn Cottage Hospital and then at Embudo Presbyterian Hospital. While her appointment was to be temporary as she waited for an opportunity to go to India, Dr. Milner spent two years working in Embudo. She married in 1941 and moved to Albuquerque where she worked for the New Mexico Department of Health giving health clinics. She opened a private practice in 1960 and retired in 1985. Dr. Milner published a memoir of her time in Embudo in 1989.

Virginia Voorhies married Richard Milner, the architect for the Embudo Hospital, in 1941, and had four children. Dr. Milner died in Albuquerque, New Mexico January 1, 1992.

Extent

1 folder and 1 audio cassette

Abstract

This interview with Dr. Virginia V. Milner (1912-1992), focuses almost exclusively on her service in the late 1930's and early 1940's as a medical missionary in the Sangre de Cristo mountains of northern New Mexico.

Related Materials

WZ 100 M63 1989La Doctorcita: memoirs of Virginia Voorhies Milner, M.D.: February 1939-September 1941. New Mexico/Southwest Collection, Special Collections, UNM Health Sciences Library and Informatics Center.

Processing Information

The oral history was processed by Janet Johnson.
Title
Finding Aid of the Virginia Voorhies Milner Oral History, October 1983
Status
Edited Full Draft
Author
Prepared by Janet Johnson. Revised by Peggy McBride
Date
© 2008
Language of description
English
Script of description
Code for undetermined script
Language of description note
Finding aid is in English

Revision Statements

  • Monday, 20210524: Attribute normal is missing or blank.

Repository Details

Part of the UNM Health Sciences Library and Informatics Center Repository

Contact:
MSC 09 5100
1 University of New Mexico
Albuquerque New Mexico 87131 United States
505-272-2311