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Two unidentified soldiers in Union private's uniforms sitting next to table with cannon ball on top; one soldier has an amputated leg and holds crutches. TIntype, between 1861 and 1865. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsca.33443

Finding Pictures: Illustrating Civil War Medicine

Posted by: Kristi Finefield

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Join reference librarian Jon Eaker and associate curator of photography Michelle Smiley this Wednesday, September 20th at 3:00pm EDT for an illustrated tour through the many facets of Civil War medicine seen in the collections of the Library of Congress. Register here for the virtual presentation. This talk will be recorded, so if you cannot tune in live, it will be available in the future from the Library of Congress website.

You will learn about our unique treasures – from a remarkable album of Army Medical Museum patient photographs by surgeon Reed Bontecou to the correspondence and personal belongings of Lincoln’s private nurse, Rebecca Pomroy. During the presentation, you will gain new insight into how photographers, printmakers, and eye-witness sketch artists pictured the vast and complicated arena of medical care during the U.S. Civil War.

Here is a sampling of the images from the upcoming talk. We hope you will join us.

Citizens volunteer hospital corner of Broad St. & Washington Avenue, Philadelphia. Chromolithograph by James Fuller Queen, 1862. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pga.03673
Two unidentified soldiers in Union private’s uniforms sitting next to table with cannon ball on top; one soldier has an amputated leg and holds crutches. TIntype, between 1861 and 1865. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsca.33443
Susie King Taylor, known as the first African American Army nurse. Halftone from a photograph taken between 1862 and 1866. Frontispiece illustration from: Reminiscences of my life in camp with the 33d United States Colored Troops, late 1st S.C. volunteers, by Susie King Taylor, with illustrations. Boston: Published by the author, 1902. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsca.57593
Unknown location. Zouave ambulance crew demonstrating removal of wounded soldiers from the field. Glass negative, between 1861 and 1865. https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cwpb.03950
Walker, Dr. Mary. Photo by C.M. Bell, between 1873 and 1916. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/bellcm.25836
Citizen volunteers assisting the wounded in the field of Battle. Drawing by Alfred R. Waud, 1862 September 17. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsca.21468

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