History of Med- Primary Sources Starred only

most likely these sources

Explain the context:

"The Agnew Clinic"

Who:

When:

Where:

Type of Source:

What was going on at the time:

Who: Thomas Eakins (artist)

When: 1889

Where: A University Lecture Hall

Type of Source: Oil painting - historical medical painting

What was going on at the time: This was a time of transition from premodern to modern medicine, characterized by embracing scientific methods, formal training for doctors, and hospital-based clinical instruction. Surgical practices were taught with audiences present.

Explain the literal meaning:

• depicts Dr. Agnew performing surgery in front of an audience at a university.

• The light is focused on the operation- spotlight signifies importance.

• The students observing are all male, white, and dressed nicely (upper class).

• The only female present is a nurse.

• Dr. Agnew's stance, attire, and body language suggest he is powerful, clean, and respected. (heirarchy).

• The body is exposed, indicating an impersonal treatment for learning purposes.

Explain the significance:

• reflects a time of transition in medicine.

• highlights the emerging scientific methods and formal medical training.

• illustrates the gender roles of the time,

  • women as caregivers, men as hands-on, decision-makers.

• The exposed body shows a shift towards a more impersonal, scientific approach to medicine in educational setting

• composition also subtly reveals the social stratification of the time through the depiction of the students.

• all students eager to see the surgery demonstrates the evolution of surgery as an essential component of medical education (importance of demonstrations in teaching practices)

^{(not primary source, just important image)}

^{Explain what is meant by:}

^distance

^choice

^{interpretive lense}

distance: ex. May find something cruel that was once thought to be funny

choices: ex. Where we focus research temporally and spatially (what questions will I ask)

interpretive lenses: ex focus on political history, gender history, etc

^{not primary source but likely to come up}

Fill in the blank

^{not primary source but likely to come up}

Fill in the blank

• according to Galen, food absorbed, transported to liver...  transformed with natural spirit (liver referred to as seed of life)

•   food goes to liver and transforms to blood... goes to lung where it is filled with "vital spirit" (air)

• then blood flows outward to arteries and veins, to all organs including brain

• at brain it has animal spirit- a source of motion

•  health depends on balance of humour and how strong is life forces.... animal spirit and vital spirit.

Explain the context:

Who:

When:

Where:

Type of Source:

What was going on at the time:

Who: The ideas presented came from Aristotle, who believed men and women were the same sex, but women were "less developed". The manuscript is housed in the Oxford Library.

When: 1250-1310 (mid 13th to early 14th century)

Where: Oxford England Likely Western Europe, within the Roman world's influence.

Type of Source: Manuscript - medical anatomical

What was going on at the time:

Medieval warm period (surge in harvest, population)

This period represents Christian medicine and its understanding of anatomy, heavily influenced by classical ideas, but with limited empirical research due to a lack of dissection.

Explain the literal meaning:

• diagram of male anatomy on the left

• female anatomy on the right.

• female anatomy is displayed as an inverted male, suggesting a "one-sex model."

• A muscular baby is depicted inside the female diagram.

• The vaginal canal is shown as an inverted penal shaft.

• menstrual blood drawn in sacs

• Mirror images of each other

Explain the significance:

reveals the ideas of Christian medicine & lack of research in female anatomy during this period.

• exemplifies the "one-sex model" (we are all men at different stages of development)

• Humoural theory: women are colder, genitalia need to be inside

  • They “didn’t cook” long enough (women wet and cold, men dry and warm)

  • Considered underdeveloped men

• drawings not based on dissection, indicating limitations in medical knowledge and educational practices.

• demonstrates the belief that women were inferior and needed care.

• inclusion of the baby reinforces the expectation of women carrying children.

• These ideas contributed to gender bias in biology, medicine, and society, with lasting social and cultural effects, including restrictions on women's rights.

• The belief that male semen was "pure" and menstrual blood "impure" further reinforced these biases.

Context:

The Triumph of Death

Who:

When:

Where:

Type of Source:

What was going on at the time:

Who: Pieter Bruegel the Elder

When: 1562

Where: ?

Type of Source: painting

What was going on at the time: Plague, widespread death taking on humanity

Literal Meaning:

• woman holding spindle while dying

• skeletons everywhere

• dog eating baby in dying woman’s arms

• skeleton stealing belongings (hats)

• king dying, skeleton holding up hourglass

• dead bodies everywhere

Significance:

• fragility of life and the inevitability of death. spread of disease

• Death is an unstoppable force, sweeping away all in its path. 

• skeletons represent death → The Dance of Death

• hourglass= time is running out

• ultimate defeat of life. 

• skeletons razes the Earth, scorch the land, pollutes, and deforests. 

• barren landscape with warm tones → hellish atmosphere. 

• People react in different ways to Death, some fighting to survive, others resigned or frightened. 

• skeleton of death leads his armies on a red horse (hell)

• woman still holding spindle, shows what was expected of women at the time

Context:

“a winter landscape with Bird Trap”

Who:

When:

Where:

Type of Source:

What was going on at the time:

Who: Peter Brueghel the Elder (artist)

When: 1565

Where: Europe - Hadsburg Netherlands

Type of Source: Painting

What was going on at the time: the little ice age → period of colder temperatures, harsher winters, impacted agriculture and social life

Explain the literal meaning:

• ice skating, playing games, on frozen water

• snow, bare trees.

• There is a bird trap (wooden structure) on the right.

• The people are wearing winter clothing.

Explain the significance:

• reflects cultural, climatic, and social context of "the little ice age"

• shows how rural life adapted to cold temperatures and harsh winters for recreation

• seemingly positive picture…

  • The bird trap = subtle reminder of danger and fate (even in a seemingly peaceful scene)

  • highlights the challenges (famine & disease) during/for years after this period.

Context:

Who:

When:

Where:

Type of Source:

What was going on at the time:

Who: James Gillray (artist)

When: 1802

Where: England

Type of Source: Painting - antivax propaganda (political cartoon)

What was going on at the time:

• Edward Jenner recently introduced smallpox vaccine,

  • faced public resistance, skepticism, and misinformation

  • This period represents a clash between emerging medical science and popular belief systems at the end of the Enlightenment.

Explain the literal meaning:

• people with mutations

• turning into monsters with cow parts (horns, snouts, etc.).

• A dairymaid is in the middle

• a man (likely Edward Jenner) distributing vaccines.

• painting in the background shows the golden bot statue

• People with shovels

Explain the significance:

• attempt to induce public fear, skepticism towards smallpox vaccine

• represents public resistance to medical innovation

• pseudoscientific fears vaccines

• painting symbolizes a clash between emerging medical science and traditional beliefs,

  • some placed their hope in divine intervention ("golden bot statue") rather than scientific advancements.

• It highlights the use of propaganda to spread misinformation.

  • similar to COVID-19… anti vax is not new!

Context:

Who:

When:

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Type of Source:

What was going on at the time:

Who: John Snow (physician)

When: Mid-1800s

Where: Soho, London

Type of Source: Map

What was going on at the time:

• Cholera outbreaks = major public health concern

• The prevailing miasma theory suggested that disease came from bad smells/air

• debate about the causes of disease

Explain the literal meaning:

• map (Soho area of London) shows

  • streets

  • buildings

  • water pumps

• Black squares on the map indicate tracked cases of cholera.

Explain the significance:

• first use of data visualization and disease mapping for public health

• plotting cholera cases (traced to the Broad Street pump)

• disproved the idea that poverty = disease

  • that anyone using the contaminated pump could get sick regardless of their status.

• evidence went against miasma theory

  • suggesting that cholera was waterborne.

• led to the first water boil advisory

• kickstarted urban sanitization and public health efforts

• demonstrates power of scientific communication and advocacy

  • challenging established beliefs, even when facing resistance from authorities.

Context:

Who:

When:

Where:

Type of Source:

What was going on at the time:

Who: ?

When: 1873.

Where: Likely the United States.

Type of Source: Painting.

What was going on at the time:

• period of westward expansion in the United States

• driven by the ideology of Manifest Destiny

  • belief that the expansion of the US across continents = justified & inevitable

Explain the literal meaning:

• Indigenous people on the left chased out towards the west

• An angelic-looking, able-bodied white woman dressed in white

  • moving towards the west

  • carrying a bible

  • accompanied by symbols of progress (power lines, trains)

Explain the significance:

• exceptionalist mentalities

• belief in a god-given right to take over and cultivate land

• white woman symbolizes destiny, bringing Western ideas, "brightness and light," to the land.

• ideology that white people needed to come and make change

  • justifying displacement & oppression of Indigenous populations.

• reminder of crimes committed during the nation-state building process in countries like Canada and the US.

Context:

Who:

When:

Where:

Type of Source:

What was going on at the time:

Who: Wolfgang Willrich (artist).

When: 1938.

Where: Nazi Germany.

Type of Source: Painting - propaganda image.

What was going on at the time:

• during the Nazi regime

• promoted idea of Aryan supremacy

• aimed to "purify" German culture → creating idealized image of the "Aryan" family.

• involved the persecution of those deemed "impure".

Explain the literal meaning:

• family with white skin, blonde hair, and blue eyes

• sitting in garden

• plenty of food and flowers

• little girl is holding a doll

• older daughter looking lovingly at baby

• son is working in the dirt

• strong jawlines and rosy cheeks,

• suggestions of rural living.

• son's clothing resembles that of the Hitler Youth.

Explain the significance:

• used as propaganda

• encourage the idea of "purifying" German culture

  • promoting an ideal image of the "Aryan family"

    • desirable genetics

    • healthy connection to the land

• reinforces traditional gender roles

  • daughters seemingly destined for motherhood

  • son as a worker, fitting Nazi ideology (planting seed as future of germany).

• depiction of simpler, rural living (Nazi ideal)

• propaganda aimed to promote the "fit" & the patriarchy

• dehumanizing those considered "impure".

• Imagery was weaponized to support Nazi racial ideologies.

Context:

Literal Meaning:

Significance:

• Context:

  • American propaganda during World War II.

  • ~early 1940s

• Literal Meaning:

  • two-headed giant (representing Hitler and another leader) tearing down the Statue of Liberty

  • . The monster= huge and unstoppable

• Significance:

  • Destruction of lady liberty symbol of destruction of freedom and democratic values

  • unstoppable monster → urging everyone to resist, need to all work together

  • aimed to instill fear of the enemy, mobilize the American population (decision-makers, soldiers, civilians)

  • aim to unite against the Axis powers

  • dehumanizes the enemy, making it easier to accept the violence of war.

Context:

Literal Meaning:

Significance:

• Context:

  • Soviet Union propaganda during World War II, after the Nazi invasion.

  • 1941

• Literal Meaning:

  • dark, feline-like creature (representing the Nazis)

  • creature drooling over blonde, pure, helpless woman who has been hanged.

  • creature emerges from the darkness above.

• Significance:

  • helpless woman → This inverts Nazi racialism by portraying the supposed "Aryan" woman as a victim.

  • intended to evoke strong emotional responses (fear, outrage)

  • promote violence against Nazi invaders (depicting them as a fearful, supernatural force threatening vulnerable women)

  • dehumanizes the enemy, desensitizes people to violence by portraying them as monstrous.

Context:

Who:

When:

Where:

Type of Source:

What was going on at the time:

Who:

• photo at US Holocaust Memorial Museum

• experiment conducted by Nazi doctors on prisoners in Dachau concentration camp.

When: 1942.

Where: Dachau concentration camp, Nazi Germany.

Type of Source: Photograph - historical record of Nazi war crimes.

What was going on at the time:

• Nazi regime perpetrating systematic persecution and murder of various groups

• conducting unethical, inhumane medical experiments on concentration camp prisoners

  • in the name of "scientific" research to benefit the "Aryan race”

Explain the literal meaning:

• male prisoner

  • concentration camp uniform

• strapped into a medical testing apparatus

• low-pressure simulation chamber.

• prisoner appears unconscious.

Explain the significance:

• record of Nazi crimes against humanity

• violation of all ethical standards of medical research

• These "necessary" experiments, conducted on individuals deemed unworthy of life.

• evidence of the dehumanization of prisoners who were treated as objects of experimentation.

• knowledge gained from such experiments has led to significant ethical debates about whether it should be used, despite its unethical origins.

• led to the development of modern research ethics, such as the Nuremberg Code

• findings contributed to safety protocols for aviation regarding the effects of pressure on the human body.