First Look at the Burns Collection of Early Medical Photographs

CBS News has posted a gripping set of images, mostly of cancer patients, dating to the 1880s. The photos from the Burns Archive are graphic, as much as they’re telling, instructive and rare.

 

This photograph, taken in New York City in 1886, is one of the earliest ever taken of breast surgery. Surgeons had begun to adopt infection-control measures in the operating room, but at this point they hadn’t yet adopted the use of surgical masks and hats and their surgical gowns were simply put on over their street clothes. The anesthesiologist whose hands are visible holding the patient’s arm on the left side of the frame is wearing street clothes. Anesthesiologists were the last doctors to don surgical clothing in the operating room.

Credit: Dr. Stanley B. Burns, via CBS News

According to its website, the Burns Archive houses the nation’s largest and most comprehensive collection of early medical photography (1840-1920). It turns out the collection is based on East 38th Street. It’s nearby, and I should explore it for real.

Meanwhile, I recommend that my non-squeamish readers take a look at the CBS-published images. If nothing else, these digitized relics display how far improved are surgical methods – and cancer treatments – since the late 19th Century.

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