Photographs of surgical cases and specimens

By United States. Surgeon-General's Office

Subjects: Case studies, History, Wounds and injuries, Operative Surgery, Pictorial works, General Surgery, Medical care, American Civil War, Military Medicine, Atlases

Description: Comprising approximately 400 plates of mounted albumen photographic prints with accompanying case histories, Photographs of Surgical Cases and Specimens contains extensive visual documentation of patients who suffered traumatic wounds during and shortly after the Civil War. The majority of the subjects were soldiers (both Union and Confederate), though the later volumes in the series, compiled and published after the war, include civilian cases that were considered relevant additions to the collection. The work contains both portraiture and specimen photography, as well as a small number of photographically-reproduced drawings and paintings. The majority of specimens illustrate fractures or necrotic bone degeneration arising from shrapnel or gunshot wounds.