Caroline M. McGill

Caroline M. McGill (1879–1959) was an American pathologist and doctor. She was a co-founder of the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman, Montana, the first pathologist for the state of Montana, and the first successful female doctor in Butte, Montana. Her father was a farmer and music teacher and her mother was a midwife. Although later living on a hardscrabble farm on the Missouri Ozarks, McGill's parents were strong supporters of higher education for all their children and McGill received her Teaching Certificate from Lebanon Normal School in 1901. an endowment that paid for a year of study in Europe, with the opportunity to meet and study with authoritative persons in her field of Zoological science. McGill studied at University of Berlin in Germany, University of Tübingen in Germany, and Naples Zoological Station in Italy.

In 1955, McGill was awarded an honorary doctorate by Montana State College for her "accomplishments in the medical field and in historic and wilderness preservation". The Butte Business and Professional Women’s Club awarded McGill as "Woman of the Year" in 1955. and an organizer of the Butte Anti-Tuberculosis Society.

McGill was also an outdoor recreationalist. Not only did she treat the miners of Butte, but she also hunted and enjoyed outdoor life with them. In her diary, she wrote, "never was any older woman more differently or more kindly treated...the relaxation of this outdoor life made it possible for me to carry on my heavy practice in Butte".

Later years

After retiring from her medical practice in 1956, she started working with Merrill G. Burlingame in 1957, donating to the people of Montana the gift of her large collection of artifacts, collectible antiques, her personal and professional papers, and her time to catalog all the materials; the two became co-founders of the Museum of the Rockies.

Publications The Effect of Low Temperatures on Hydra. McGill, Caroline. Biological Bulletin, , 01/1908, Volume 14, Issue 2, pp. 78–88 The structure of smooth muscle in the resting and in the contracted condition. McGill, Caroline. American Journal of Anatomy, , 1909, Volume 9, Issue 1, pp. 493–562 The early histogenesis of striated muscle in the esophagus of the pig and the dogfish. McGill, Caroline. The Anatomical Record, , 01/1910, Volume 4, Issue 1, pp. 23–47 The effect of contraction on the volume of the smooth muscle nucleus. McGill, Caroline. The Anatomical Record, , 12/1909, Volume 3, Issue 12, pp. 633–635 The chromosomes of anasa tristis and anax junius. Lefevre, George and McGill, Caroline. American Journal of Anatomy, , 02/1908, Volume 7, Issue 4, pp. 469–487 Blood Urea Determinations in 211 Cases. Schwartz, Harold and McGill, Caroline. Archives of Internal Medicine, , 01/1916, Volume XVII, Issue 1, p. 42 Abstracts. Corson, Eugene R; McGill, Caroline; Kirk, Edwin G; Coghill, G. E; Pohlman, A. G; Retzer, Robert. The Anatomical Record, , 07/1908, Volume 2, Issue 4, pp. 143–156