Visual Materials
The Jay T. Last collection of medicine prints and ephemera contains over 4,000 printed items related to medical, dental, and vision products and services in the United States from approximately 1750 to 1929, with the bulk of the content dating from 1850 to 1910. Most items are lithographs, but engravings and woodcuts are also included. The collection deals with medical and drug-related advertising and practice including the tools, equipment, and supplies used by the medical field in the United States during the 19th and early 20th centuries. This includes products and services relating to human health care and the remedies to treat, relieve, and cure medical, dental, and vision conditions as prescribed or administered by doctors, pharmacists, dentists, and quack practitioners often affiliated with patent medicine manufacturers, drug companies, hospitals, asylums, institutes, and/or sanitariums. The collection deals with medical and drug-related merchandising, advertising, and practice including the tools, equipment, and supplies used in the medical field in the United States in the 19th and early 20th centuries. This includes the wide and varied assortment of patent medicines that proliferated during this time. The images provide a rich visual resource for studying the history of American medical practitioners, methods, and materials, as well as a perspective on ailments and illnesses common during the 19th and early 20th centuries. As graphic materials, the prints and ephemera offer evidence of developing techniques and trends in printmaking, and of the artists, engravers, lithographers, printers, and publishers involved in the creative process.
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