Ready… Set… CLICK!

By Ginny A. Roth

Surgeon General William Stewart with Rebecca Ansah Asamoah, recipient of the 25 millionth smallpox inoculation, 1968
National Library of Medicine #A018285

After a long winter, Spring is greeted with much anticipation. There is no better time to dust off those cameras, head outside into the sunshine and unleash your creativity behind the lens.

May is National Photography Month (NPM) in the United States. NPM was officially recognized by Congress in 1987 as a month-long event to celebrate photographers and the images they capture, and promote education, activities and a little friendly competition.

The National Library of Medicine (NLM) has in its holdings in a diverse collection of photographic formats ranging from magic lantern slides to modern day black and white prints.  Images date back to the Civil War and document historic and compelling moments in medical history. In honor of NPM, we take this opportunity to showcase some of the photographs from the historical collections at NLM.

American Red Cross Bloodmobile, 1953.

A senior citizen demonstrates her support of Medicare and Lyndon Johnson at the 1964 Democratic National Convention, 1964.

Heinrich Matthaei and Marshall W. Nirenberg working. Photograph is staged from a “behind the blackboard” perspective, 1962.

Anti-polio vaccine for Australian children, ca1950.

“Meal time in the jaw ward,” American Red Cross Military Hospital no.1, ca1918.

Captain Leslie J. Weil of the 549th Medical Ambulance Company, left, accepts the U.S. Fifth Army plaque awarded to his company for services performed at Anzio in evacuating hospital ships, 1944.

A National Health Service Corps physician listens to the heartbeat of an infant, 1975.

Spraying enlisted men’s barracks with DDT at 3rd Platoon, 26th Field Hospital, 1944.

Blind woman teaching a blind man to read Braille, ca1945.

More photographs can be viewed in the National Library of Medicine’s Images from the History of Medicine database.

Ginny A. Roth is the Curator of Prints & Photographs in the History of Medicine Division at the National Library of Medicine.

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