Highlights from W. Eugene Smith's "Nurse Midwife," 1951

Photographer W. Eugene Smith spent two-and-a-half months following Callen, as she served impoverished communities in a 400 mile area of rural South Carolina known as Hell Hole Swamp. Callen often provided the only medical assistance available, as many doctors refused to tend the area.

As detailed in the Life magazine story Nurse Midwife: “Callen drives 36,000 miles within the county each year, is reimbursed for part of this by the state, and must buy her own cars, which last 18 months. Her work day is often sixteen hours and she earns $225 a month.”

Nurse Midwife described the grueling days Callen typically endured:

“On her daily rounds she sees dozens of patients suffering from countless diseases and injuries. She visits the nine schools in her district to check vaccinations, eyes and teeth…She tries to keep diseases isolated and when she locates a case of contagious illness like tuberculosis she must comb through her territory like a detective, tracking down all the people with whom the patient may have been in contact...Whenever she is home—she is childless and her husband, a retired custom-house employee, sees her only at odd hours—she throws open a clinic in her house to take care of anyone who wanders in.”

“Crippled girl greets Maude... Maude arranged for her to go to a state camp for crippled children, which had strict entrance requirements—each child had to have 2 dresses and 1 pair of pajamas. The girl could not meet these, but after Maude got her 1 dress and 1 pair of pajamas, she could.”

“Tuberculosis case, 33-year-old Leon Snipe, sits morosely on bed while Maude arranges with his sister for him to go to state sanatorium [hospital]. Maude had met him on the road, noticed he was thin, wan and sickly.”

“New dresses for 9-year-old Carrie (right) and 8-year-old Mary Jane Covington were dropped off by Maude... Occasionally, as in this case, she gets clothing from friends or charitable organizations and distributes it where she thinks it is most needed. But sometimes she buys the clothes herself.”

“Extra duty assumed by Maude includes cashing of relief checks and dealing with storekeepers for several people who are mentally incompetent or, like this man, blind. She paid his bills for him and counted out change so he could buy some tobacco.”

Photographs published in Nurse Midwife feature Callen tending to a seventeen year old woman named Alice Cooper as she endured a difficult labor.

W. Eugene Smith's photographs show that Callen performed duties that went well beyond delivering babies. It is estimated, however, that Callen delivered between 600 and 800 babies during her career.

W. Eugene Smith was in awe of Callen, and in many of his photographs one is reminded of Old Master religious paintings depicting saints and Madonnas.

Writing of his experience with Callen Smith said: “No story could translate justly the life depth of this wonderful, patient, directional woman . . . I love her with a respect I have for almost no one.”

W. Eugene Smith’s essay deeply moved many Life readers, who donated $27,000 in unsolicited funds for the construction of the Maude E. Callen Clinic in Pineville, South Carolina. The clinic opened in 1953 and operated until Callen retired in 1971.

Though W. Eugene Smith produced many remarkable photo essays during his lifetime, Nurse Midwife remained his favorite.