21 Incredible Pictures From The History Of New York City Hospitals
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Nurses at St. Mark’s Hospital, 1905.
New York City is only as strong as the medical and emergency workers who keep its residents safe and healthy. Today, as the coronavirus pandemic has brought the city to a standstill, health care professionals are bravely heeding the call to action and saving countless lives despite the dangers to their own health.
These heroic actions stem from a long tradition of service to society. To explore some of the parallels between the past and present, BuzzFeed News spoke with Sean Corcoran, curator of prints and photographs at the Museum of the City of New York, who shared with us a fascinating collection of pictures from the turn of the 19th century that capture the innovation and dedication of New York City hospitals from over 100 years ago.
The Byron Company Collection is the archive of a multigenerational commercial photographic company that began with Jospeh Byron in 1892 and was eventually taken over by his son Percy Byron and run until 1942. The collection came to the Museum of the City of New York under the auspices of the first curator of photography, Grace Mayer.
Without access to the company logbooks, which are inaccessible at the moment, it’s impossible to say specifically why these particular images were made. They could have been made at a client’s request or in speculation that a commercial client or newspaper might use the image in the future, like stock photography today, or a somewhat obsessive interest in the city combined with a master’s ability to make very large format photographs in almost any environment.
These photographs are fascinating because they are images made just as the United States began the professionalization of a doctor’s training — Johns Hopkins Hospital had only introduced basic science instruction and a residency program in 1891. This was a time when the city’s tenements were rife with disease and a better understanding of the causes and ways to combat the illnesses were slowly being understood. Remember, in just a few short years, the saga of Typhoid Mary would grip the city, and the nation then faced the 1918 flu pandemic.
I just think it is important to reiterate that health care workers have been on the front lines battling infection and disease here in the city for centuries. Although our scientific understanding has improved, it continues to be these individuals working for the common good who are our true line of defense. Additionally, these images make you consider the critical investments, and lack thereof, in infrastructure that ensure the city’s health and safety.
A Bellevue Hospital ambulance driver boards a horse-drawn ambulance as it prepares to leave the hospital yard, 1896.
Left: Two nurses walk down a spiral staircase in the Vanderbilt Pavilion of St. Luke’s Hospital, 1899. Right: Bellevue Hospital on Blackwell’s Island, mid-1890s.
Bellevue Hospital on Blackwell’s Island, mid-1890s.
Roosevelt Hospital, late 1890s.
Two men laying down in a hospital room, ear to ear for an “ear grafting” surgery, 1904.
Left: A woman in a chairlike vibrating machine used for therapy at the Zander Institute, 1908. Right: Baby in an incubator at the Sloane Maternity Hospital, late 1890s.
Interior of a ward at Sloane Maternity Hospital, late 1890s.
Unidentified waiting room in a New York City hospital, 1907.
Drug room at St. Luke’s Hospital, 1900.
Patients, 1898.
Patients wait for medicine at the Harlem Hospital dispensary, 1896.
Operating room at the New York Foundling Hospital, 1890s.
Tennis court and sun parlor at the Roosevelt Hospital, 1921.
Ambulance house at St. Luke’s Hospital, 1900.
Dr. John Allan Wyeth performs an operation in front of a classroom of students at New York Polyclinic Medical School and Hospital, 1902.
X-ray laboratory at St. Francis Hospital, 1920.
Nurses dining room at Roosevelt Hospital, late 1890s.
Laboratory at St Mark’s Hospital, 1904.
Gabriel H. Sanchez is the Senior Photo Essay Editor for BuzzFeed News and is based in New York City.
Contact Gabriel H. Sanchez at [email protected].
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