Nettie Florence Keller (née Armstrong; 18 March 1875 – 15 January 1974) was an American doctor, social reformer, feminist, prohibitionist and early vegan. Keller was a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. She was born in Carthage, Missouri, United States.[1]
Florence Keller | |
|---|---|
 Florence Keller (right), with her husband Peter and daughter Frances. Passport application photo, 1919 | |
| Born | Nettie Florence Armstrong March 18, 1875 Carthage, Missouri, U.S. |
| Died | January 15, 1974 (aged 98) Los Angeles, U.S. |
| Education | |
| Occupations |
|
| Spouse |
Peter Martin Keller
(m. 1901; died 1931) |
| Children | 1 |
| Medical career | |
| Institutions | University of Auckland |
Biography edit
Nettie Florence Armstrong was born in Carthage, Missouri, on March 18, 1875. Her family later moved to Arkansas, before settling in Washington, where she studied at Walla Walla College, which her father helped construct.[2]
She later studied medicine at the American Medical Missionary College in Battle Creek, Michigan, where she met Māui Pōmare and her future husband Peter Martin Keller.[3] Peter Keller went to Australia to work on behalf of the Seventh Day Adventist Church. Florence graduated in 1900 and later joined Peter, becoming the first Seventh Day Adventist female doctor to be sent overseas.[4] The couple married in Christchurch, New Zealand on 13 August 1901. When Seventh Day Adventist medical institutions in Australia became overstaffed, the General Conference asked the Kellers to make room for the older doctors by entering private practice. The Kellers worked as locums in various parts of Australia, then moved to Huntly, New Zealand, in 1903.[3] In 1906 the couple returned to Washington, to ensure American citizenship for their daughter Frances; their only child.[2]
Later they set up in private practice in Auckland. While in New Zealand Florence Keller became an outspoken campaigner for many health-related issues including the temperance movement, the rational dress movement,[5][6] improvements to prevention and treatment of tuberculosis[7] and support of sunbathing as a healthy activity.[8] She was invited to join the faculty at the University of Auckland and taught hygiene and health principles. Keller was also appointed to the Board of Governors of Auckland General Hospital, a position she held from 1913–1921.[9]
In 1913 she was elected as a member of the Auckland Hospital Board as an independent candidate. She was re-elected for three further terms on the Labour Party ticket where she "topped the poll", receiving more votes than any other candidate.[1] Keller was instrumental in arranging an honorarium to be paid to Constance Frost, the bacteriologist at Auckland Hospital.[10]
The Kellers returned to the United States permanently in late 1919[11] after about twenty years in New Zealand and worked at the College of Medical Evangelists in Los Angeles. Dr. Peter and Dr. Florence began the Departments of Obstetrics and Gynecology, respectively. In 1923, Dr. Peter Keller took over a post at the Glendale Sanitarium which he held until 1931, when he was fatally shot by an insane patient.[9] Dr. Florence Keller remained at the College of Medical Evangelists and became emeritus professor of gynecology there in 1941.[3]
She died soon before her 99th birthday, on January 15, 1974, in Los Angeles.[2]
Surgery edit
A fellow of the International and American College of Surgeons, Keller was known mainly as a surgeon in the later part of her life.[3] One notable operation quite early in her career, in 1919, was an appendectomy performed on board a ship at sea in the Pacific. The engineer's mess room was used as an operating theatre and surgical instruments were sterilised in the ship's galley.[12] Keller was still doing surgery and seeing patients six days a week until she was 92.[3][13]
Veganism edit
Keller was an early vegan who argued against vegetarians consuming dairy and egg products.[14] She commented that "I don't allow that anybody who touches animal products at all, even eggs, butter and milk, can claim to be a vegetarian."[14]
References edit
- ^ a b McKergow, Fiona. "Nettie Florence Keller". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 23 April 2017.
- ^ a b c "Keller, Nettie Florence". Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand. 1996. Retrieved 16 December 2022.
- ^ a b c d e Johnson, Catherine Joy (7 December 1959). "Florence A. Keller, M.D.: Legend and superb reality" (PDF). Australasian Record and Advent World Survey. 63 no, 49: 1–2.
- ^ "Adventist women of distinguished service". Adventist Women's Ministries. 2016. Retrieved 10 April 2019.
- ^ "Slaves to fashion". Marlborough Express. 4 June 1904. Retrieved 10 April 2019.
- ^ "Conventional dress". Star. 25 September 1901. Retrieved 29 June 2019.
- ^ "Consumption scourge". Hawera & Normanby Star. 22 October 1913. Retrieved 10 April 2019.
- ^ "Sunbath scandal". Auckland Star. 27 March 1915. Retrieved 10 April 2019 – via Papers Past.
- ^ a b "Dr M. Keller shot". Auckland Star. 6 October 1931. Retrieved 10 April 2019 – via Papers Past.
- ^ Mary Creese (2010). Ladies in the Laboratory III: South African, Australian, New Zealand, and Canadian women in science : nineteenth and early twentieth centuries ; a survey of their contributions. ISBN 978-0-810-87288-2. OCLC 699866310. Wikidata Q104657105.
- ^ Consulate-General of United States in Auckland (13 August 1919). "Emergency Passport Application". Ancestry.com (Passport application by Peter Keller to Consulate-General of United States in Auckland. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Washington D.C.; Volume 001: New Zealand, retrieved from Ancestry.com. U.S. Passport Applications, 1795-1925). Retrieved 10 April 2019.
- ^ "Operation at sea". New Zealand Herald. 3 November 1919. Retrieved 10 April 2019.
- ^ Banks, Rosa Taylor (1992). A woman's place: Seventh Day Adventist women in church and society. Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald Publishing Association. p. 58. ISBN 9780828006828.
- ^ a b Amey, Catherine. (2014). The Compassionate Contrarians: A History of Vegetarians in Aotearoa New Zealand. Rebel Press. p. 40. ISBN 978-0-473-27440-5
