Snapshots of the Past

Operating room of the Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston – Antique Print

Operating room of the Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, c1907. — historic photograph
Operating room of the Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, c1907.. Historic photograph from the Boston collection.

(Originally scanned by the Library of Congress. Each image is professionally and digitally cleaned of artifacts such as color bars and extra borders prior to printing.)

Description

A window into the past: Operating room of the Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, preserved in this historic photograph. An authentic image from the Library of Congress, it carries the weight of the real historical record.

Framed, it is ready for the wall; unframed, it is ready for the frame you choose. It brings character to any room and makes a memorable gift. Free shipping in the lower 48 states. Snapshots of the Past, founded in 2001, has served tens of thousands of customers worldwide.

Operating room of the Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston

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The operating room at Massachusetts General Hospital is best known as the place where ether anesthesia was first demonstrated publicly in 1846. This print reproduces a daguerreotype made around 1850 by the Boston firm Southworth & Hawes, one of the earliest photographic studios in the country. The original image was copied again around 1907, so it reflects two photographic eras. Notice the tiered seating for observers, a reminder that surgery was then often watched as a public event rather than performed in private.

Created / publishedc1907.
Medium1 photographic print.
NotesPhoto, copyrighted, of daguerreotype by Southworth & Hawes, ca. 1850. Reference copy may be in SSF - Anesthesia. This record contains unverified, old data from caption card. Caption card tracings: Anesthesia; BI; Ph. Ind.; Hospitals; Geogr.; Shelf.
SourceLibrary of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division
Original scan1,536 × 1,212 px · prints to 5 × 4 in at 300 dpi
ReferenceAMZ-SOTP-HPA-141850

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