By Ellen F. Harris
Dr. Linda Fisher was digging in the archives of the Missouri Historical Society Library in the early 1990s, looking for clues to how public-health officials handled the cholera outbreak that killed 10 percent of St. Louis’ population in 1849, when she discovered a young German émigré’s century-old diary and started down the path to a second career.
The chief medical officer of the St. Louis County Health Department at the time, Fisher was fascinated by the firsthand account, and she kept researching the roots of the author, Joseph J. Mersman, in the hopes of one day publishing his diary. After years of work, The Whiskey Merchant’s Diary (Swallow Press/Ohio University Press) hit bookstores in May. Tragically, Fisher wasn’t able to celebrate its release. She died at the age of 58 last year after a heart transplant.
“Once she got onto this particular case, there was no stopping her,” says her life partner, Chris Byrne. “She had to know everything she could about this man.”
