History of Scudder Service

Scudder Memorial Hospital

The four institutions founded by Scudder in South India and granted funds by the Foundation are:

Scudder Memorial Hospital, Ranipet: founded in 1866:
Christian Medical College & Hospital, Vellore: founded in 1902
Arni Secondary School, Arni,: founded in 1876
Walter Scudder High School, Tindivanam: founded in 1922

Haystack Prayer Monument – Williams College

“Service to Others” can be traced to a thunderstorm at Williams College in Massachusetts in 1806 when five students took shelter in a haystack. In what became known as the “Haystack Prayer Meeting” they came to the common conviction that “the field is the world” and inspired the creation of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions in 1810. These young men were part of the Great Awakening of religious fervor that swept the country in the early to mid-19^th century. Dr. John (“Pioneer John”) Scudder and all of his descendants served under the American Board of Commissions for Foreign Missions.

Over a 1000 Years of Service

Dr. John and Harriet Scudder

A recent medical graduate of Princeton University, John Scudder, responded to the thunderclap call heard that fateful day in Williamstown, Massachusetts. He was the first of many generations of Scudders to hear it. In 1819, young Dr. Scudder and his devoted wife, Harriet, left Boston to begin a tradition of family service that has left a legacy of more than 1,250 combined years of medical mission assistance by four generations of the Scudder family in Sri Lanka, India and Saudi Arabia. The spirit of “Service to Others” that John Scudder responded to continues to live through The Scudder Association Foundation. As Scudders, we take pride in the pioneering medical mission work our relatives embarked on. The Foundation was founded to assist in supporting and perpetuating this work.  The Foundation’s purpose is to provide a base and a voice, for those members of the founding American Scudder families, to gather in support in fulfilling Dr. John Scudder’s vision.  The Foundation provides a direct connection for Scudders from around the world, with the vast medical community, in India, that resulted from that vision.  A medical network that is nothing short of miracle.

Every miracle requires a saint.  Enter Aunt Ida.

A freshly minted doctor, Ida Scudder makes a house call in her mobile office.

Ida Scudder was the granddaughter of Dr. John Scudder, Sr.  She grew up in India.  At an early age she recognized that the women of India were denied the advantages of western medicine due to the cultural taboo of India women being attended by male doctors.  Ida returned to America to attend the Cornell Medical School, becoming one of America’s first woman doctors.

She returned to Vellore, India and began a medical practice catering to the women of Vellore and surrounding countryside.

Her dedication and unswerving commitment of “service to others”, over the course of 70 years, resulted in what is today India’s finest and largest private hospital and medical schools. In time, she became known to the people of India affectionately as, “Aunt Ida”. To those Scudders back in America, she became a source of pride and inspiration.