In 1999, Dr. H. William Gillen donated a collection of over 1,500 texts on the history of medicine to Randall Library’s Special Collections department, which is now part of the Center for Southeast North Carolina Archives and History. Dr. Gillen was especially interested in neurology, and as a result of this interest, there are a surprising number of books in our collections focusing on sexually transmitted diseases and their effects on the brain. One of the more fascinating titles from this part of the collection is Corky the Killer: A Story of Syphilis, written and illustrated by Dr. Harry A. Wilmer and published by the American Social Hygiene Association in 1945.

At the time this book was published, World War II had resulted in a surge in sexually transmitted diseases among American servicemembers. Psychiatrist Harry A. Wilmer, a gifted artist and humorist and a pioneer in the advent of group therapy, had recently experienced some success with his illustrated book Huber the Tuber, which aimed to explain the disease of tuberculosis in plain language that anyone could understand. Believing that he could build on this success to help meet the critical public health crisis of venereal disease, Dr. Wilmer partnered with an organization known as the American Social Hygiene Association (ASHA), a national nonprofit that aimed to, among other things, “advocate the highest standards of private and public morality; to organize the defense of the community by every available means against the disease of vice; and to conduct on request inquiries into prostitution and venereal disease.”

Corky the Killer is presented one passage at a time, with each passage accompanied by a relevant illustration by Dr. Wilmer and a paragraph of medical commentary by Wilmer and/or the ASHA. The villain of the story is Corky, an anthropomorphized syphilis spirochete, who accompanies an army of his brethren on a mass invasion attempt in “Man-World,” with towns and villages representing the various parts of the human body that syphilis is known to attack.  The leader of the spirochete army is General Paresis, a commander known for delusions of grandeur.  

The “good guys” consist of the Foreign Body Investigators (FBI), aka the “G-Men,” as well as the Bloodhounds, a tactical police force dispatched to eradicate the invaders. Corky is ultimately captured by the bloodhounds, and the book ends with Corky’s execution in the “Soap and Water Chamber of Torture.”

Corky the Killer is a unique piece of World War II propaganda, particularly because of its heavy reliance on patriotic rhetoric. This isn’t surprising, given the fact that the U.S. government was engaged in a targeted public health campaign to combat venereal disease during the war. Posters like the one below portrayed spreading venereal disease as being tantamount to sabotage and treason.  

In keeping with this spirit, Dr. Wilmer and the ASHA take care to draw a direct connection between preventing the spread of syphilis and winning the war. Sometimes this is done through symbolism. For instance, this quote on page 8 regarding effective treatment for syphilis: “It is just as useless to treat the sore as it is to barricade a bomb-pitted road after the invading army has passed over it.”  Other passages draw a more explicit connection between STD prevention and the war effort, such as this snippet from page 18 of the book:

The book helps improve sexual hygiene, but its misogynistic rhetoric is overt – and worthy of study. The ASHA and the U.S. government certainly were not shy about targeting sexually active women in their STD prevention propaganda - a quick internet search will reveal dozens of examples of WWII-era posters and leaflets that objectified women and blamed them for both the spread of disease and hampering the war effort. It’s important to note that even though there are no female characters, and especially no sex workers, depicted in Corky the Killer, the ASHA has clearly chosen to use the book’s medical commentary as a platform to promote their anti-prostitution agenda. See, for instance, this quote from the last page of the book:

The Center’s public services unit assists students and faculty in a wide variety of disciplines who are working on projects related to some aspect of local history or engaging in research with primary sources. Primary sources like Corky the Killer can be incorporated into a variety of courses, because they illustrate the interdisciplinary applications of historical research – in this example, drawing connections between public health, political science, gender and sexuality studies, communication studies, biology, and medicine. Reach out to us if you’d like to brainstorm some ways that the Center’s collections can support your research or teaching! 

This post was contributed by Bella Thomas, a student worker in the Center’s public services unit.

Nestled within the Center's collections is a piece of rare United States history: a Civil War-era Wade and Ford medical kit filled with supplies that were most likely used on civilians who needed medical attention. The kit, something I was completely unfamiliar with, introduced me to a new type of history, and also made me appreciate modern surgical technology! 

During the Civil War, there were several medical achievements that paved the way for modern healthcare, such as the establishment of general hospitals and the safe use of anesthetics. Upon opening the wooden kit, I was greeted with a trephine (pictured below), a tool used to open the skull. The trephine has a sharp metal head that attaches to another wooden tool. These types of Wade and Ford kits were created starting in 1861, when William Ford and George Wade partnered with Dr. James R. Wood, a surgeon who later became one of the founders of Bellevue Hospital Medical College in New York City.  

Laid against the green velvet interior of the kit are several scalpels, including curved bistouries that were used for the dissection of ligaments and tissue. There are large and small amputation tools, such as a metacarpal knife and a long catlin. A traveler folding tenaculum (pictured below) was used to remove bullets or to pull out arteries to tie them off. A saw with a curved handle and serrated edges was used for lifting metacarpals, cutting fingers, and cutting tendons. Small, sharp, hooked instruments most likely used for cataract or other eye surgeries are housed next to the trephine. A lightly used bone brush accompanies these tools, as well as forceps, a straight probe tenotome used for relieving pain in tendons, and a large bone saw. Other tools were used for bullet extraction, picking up blood vessels, and neurosurgery. Only one postmortem instrument was housed in this kit - a simple, small knife.  

This kit allows us to get a glimpse of civilian life during the Civil War. It houses not only medical equipment, but stories of loss and survival. Viewing this kit allows us to appreciate modern medical technology while simultaneously studying tools that were considered revolutionary for the time. History is found in human stories, whether they are bound tightly in a stack of letters, placed in books, or within artifacts that allow for reflection, contemplation, and discovery of those who came before us.  

Special thanks to Dr. Doug Arbittier, Vice President of Atlantic Health System, for helping identify some instruments.

Sources consulted in research:

• “Antique Surgical Instrument Identification” and “Civil War Medical Books/Medical College Index”, American Civil War Surgical Antiques and Medicine, accessed August 2024, American Civil War Surgical Antiques and Medicine.
• Reilly RF. Medical and surgical care during the American Civil War, 1861-1865. Proc (Bayl Univ Med Cent). 2016 Apr;29(2):138-42. doi: 10.1080/08998280.2016.11929390. PMID: 27034545; PMCID: PMC4790547.