Early-20th-Century Haunting Portraits of Dr. Harvey Cushing’s Surgery Patients

Yale University’s Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library

Dr. Cushing, who also performed some of the first successful brain surgery, was a pioneer in neuroscience. The first effective electro-cautery device and the first use of x-rays to identify brain malignancies were developed by him.

The striking, sometimes unsettling photographs portray patients before and after Dr. Harvey Cushing (1869–1939) surgery. About 10,000 black and white pictures were taken between 1900 and 1932 to chronicle medical issues and may have been part of patients’ medical records. Unknown photographers took the photos.

Yale University’s Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library

Yale University’s Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library

Yale University’s Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library

Yale University’s Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library

Yale University’s Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library

Yale University’s Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library

Yale University’s Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library

Yale University’s Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library

Yale University’s Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library

Yale University’s Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library

Yale University’s Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library

Yale University’s Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library

Yale University’s Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library

Yale University’s Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library

Yale University’s Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library

Yale University’s Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library

Yale University’s Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library

Yale University’s Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library

Yale University’s Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library

Yale University’s Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library

Yale University’s Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library

Yale University’s Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library

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