Photographs, Collecting, and the Patient’s Role in Constructing Clinical Case Histories

Speaker: Heidi Knoblauch, PhD

Date and Time: September 2 2015, 12:00 PM to 1:30 PM in Room 2019, Floor 2U, Claire Fagin Hall

Abstract: This talk focuses on the role patients played in constructing their clinical case histories between the 1860s and 1890s. Historians have argued that the medical record increasingly discounted patients’ own impressions of their illnesses over the course of the nineteenth century and, in doing so, have failed to account for the role the patient had in constructing his or her own record. Focusing on the Photographic Department of Bellevue Hospital in New York City and the clinical casebooks compiled by orthopedic surgeon Lewis A. Sayre between 1867 and 1892, this talk will show that photography was, undoubtedly, considered a clinical technology and that medical practitioners asked patients to collaborate and contribute photographs to their clinical case record.

Bio: Heidi Knoblauch is the Digital Projects Coordinator in the Experimental Humanities Department at Bard College. She received her Ph.D. in History from Yale University in 2015. Her areas of specialization are in 19th and 20th century history of science and medicine in America, visual studies, and material culture; she is particularly interested in the history of clinical photography, the doctor-patient relationship, and privacy in the clinic. Heidi has also served as Program Coordinator for the JustPublics@365 Project at the City University of New York, where she aimed to connect academics, journalists, and activists in ways that fostered transformation on issues of social justice. In addition to regularly contributing to academic conferences and journals, she has contributed to Slate, spoken at a number of public lectures, and taught “media camp” workshops for faculty and students interested in expanding their digital skills.

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