Items

Title: La Tisane Cisbey [from verso]
Description: Trade card printed on two sides advertising Tisane Cisbey as a remedy for digestive ailments and skin disease.
Subjects (LC): Castles and palaces
Manufacturer: Laboratoire Cisbey (Paris (France))
Language: French
ID: WH248
Collection: William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards

Title: Dirt in Loose Milk Shops
Description: This postcard produced by the New York Milk Committe's Committee for the Reduction of Infant Mortality reprints a July 26, 1911 NY Evening Post article entitled, "Dirt in Loose-Milk Shops." The article recounts the findings of the Committee's investigations, in coordination with the New York City Department of Health, into the bacterial contamination of milk sold in bulk. On the postcard verso a photo of sickly baby fed on contaminated milk is contrasted with the photo of a healthy baby under the question,"Is It Worth the Difference?"
Subjects (LC): Milk, Food adulteration and inspection, Infants, Milk hygiene, Food contamination, Food spoilage
ID: mk1e013
Geographic Subject: New York. New York City.
Collection: New York Milk Committee Ephemera Collection

Title

Description

The collection consists of 223 late 19th and early 20th century photographs of national and international figures in medicine and public health. It was digitized by the Metropolitan New York Library Council's (METRO) Culture in Transit project and is part of the Digital Culture of Metropolitan New York (DCMNY) website.

This collection contains portraits both of lesser known individuals and of famous New York physicians, such as Abraham Jacobi, Lewis Albert Sayre, Willard Parker, Stephen Smith, Emily Blackwell, and Valentine Mott, as well as of many with international reputations: Robert Koch, Louis Pasteur, Hermann von Helmholtz, Rudolf Virchow, and others. New York photographers took a number of the photographs; others were created by the New York offices of such establishments as Mathew Brady, as well as by photographers in Paris, Berlin, and London.

EXPLORE COLLECTION ON DCMNY →

Title: Les Veillées—La Soirée Musicale
Description: Trade card featuring druggist John H. Sheehan & Co. featuring five formally-dressed figures playing music in a well-furnished house. One girl is playing the piano while another figure plays a stringed instrument. There are flowers in blue vases atop the piano. The back lists the company advertised and its address.
Subjects (LC): Advertising, Bows, Children, Children's Clothing, Costume, Domestic Scenes, Ethnic Costume, Fans, Flower Vases, Flowers, Girls, Musical Instruments, Piano Ensembles, Ribbons, Rugs, Stringed Instruments
ID: WH210
Collection: William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards

Title: If You would have a darling Ride, Try the Catville Toboggan Slide
Description: Trade card advertising Dr. Thomas' Eclectric Oil featuring a cat on a toboggan. It has a red blanket over the bottom half of its body and is reaching for its kittens who seemingly fell off the ride. A crescent moon and stars are in the sky. The back lists the ailments the Oil can cure.
Conditions Cured (LC): Backache, Burns And Scalds, Cold (Disease), Cough, Deafness, Earache, Hoarseness, Throat—Diseases, Toothache
Subjects (LC): Advertising—Medicine, Animals, Blankets, Cats, Moon, Nature, Sleds, Snow, Toboggans, Trees
ID: WH365
Collection: William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards

Title: Parker's Ginger Tonic
Description: Trade card advertising Parker's Hair Balsam and Parker's Ginger Tonic featuring a formally-dressed man sitting in an armchair defending himself against devilish creatures with an oversized box of Parker's Ginger Tonic. On the creatures' wings are written various ailments the Tonic cures. There is a broken crutch by the man's feet. The back describes the ailments the Balsam and the Tonic cure.
Conditions Cured (LC): Body Fluids, Cold (Disease), Cough, Dandruff, Diarrhea, Heartburn, Indigestion, Itching, Neuralgia, Rheumatism, Tuberculosis
Subjects (LC): Advertising—Medicine, Clothing And Dress, Costume, Crutches, Demonology, Devil, Domestic Space, Folklore, Men, Mythology
ID: WH318
Collection: William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards

Title: Seeing New York
Description: Addressed to students attending summer school at Columbia University and NYU, this folded circular produced by the New York Milk Committee asks students to pay attention to a novel New York attraction -- the successful reduction of summertime infant mortality. From July 1-29, 1911 ,the Committee's efforts were bolstered by educational outreach, the cleanliness of milkmen, nurses, applied hygene, and the activities of the "Little Mother's League." Statistical data and a range of photographs accompany an assesment of the goals and accomplishments of the Committee's infant mortality reduction program. Information pertaining to the location of educational seminars and the methodology employed when recording facts is also provided. Labeled "Efficient Citizenship No. 460" on the final page.
Subjects (LC): Milk, Mothers, Infants, Health, Summer, Poetry, Health, Hygiene, Hygiene, Girls
ID: mk1e007
Geographic Subject: New York. New York City.
Collection: New York Milk Committee Ephemera Collection

Title

Tabulae Selectae

Description

The Tabula Selectae, a portfolio of 40 loose plates, illustrates the human skeleton and muscular system through Andreas Vesalius’s iconic skeletons, muscle men, and flayed men. The plates are from Vesalius’s anatomical atlas, De humani corporis Fabrica, which was originally published in 1543. The illustrations come from 227 original wood blocks that were re-discovered at the University of Munich’s library in 1932. However, during a bombing in 1944, these wood blocks were destroyed, making this item very rare. They are all approximately 56.6 centimeters high by 41.9 centimeters wide

READ MORE→

Title: Dr. White's Celebrated Cough Drops [from verso]
Description: Trade card advertising Dr. White's Cough Drops featuring a sailboat in a body of water at sunset. To the left is a a rocky outcrop with a lighthouse. At the top of the card are a bunch of pansies. The back lists the ailments the Cough Drops can cure.
Conditions Cured (LC): Cold (Disease), Cough, Hoarseness
Subjects (LC): Advertising—Medicine, Boats And Boating, Flowers, Lighthouses, Nature, Ocean, Pansies, Rocks, Sailboats, Sunset Phenomena, Water
ID: WH379
Collection: William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards

Title

Facendo Il Libro: The Making of Fasciculus Medicinae, an Early Printed Anatomy

Description

The collection includes five editions of the Fasciculus Medicinae printed between the years of 1495 and 1522. The Fasciculus medicinae—literally, the “little bundle of medicine”—is a small group of independently-authored medical treatises and illustrations first printed in 1491. Remarkable as one of the earliest illustrated medical books to be printed, the Fasciculus was reprinted in dozens of different editions and translated into the major European vernacular languages into the 1520s. The Fasciculus also serves as an important witness to a dynamic period of change, reflecting both medieval medical ideas and new advances spurred by the humanistic surge associated with the Renaissance. This is perhaps best illustrated by the inclusion of the first printed scene of human dissection, an indication of the growing importance of empirical investigations of the interior. The images attached to the Fasciculus are a blend of diagrams copied from medieval manuscripts alongside newer, narrative-based scenes demonstrating the modern taste for classical styles in figures and interiors.

EXPLORE OUR NEW ONLINE EXHIBIT TO LEARN MORE →

This digital collection was made possible by generous support from The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation.

Title: Compliments of John S. Shaffer & Co., Druggists, Dealers in Dr. C. McLean's Liver Pills and Vermifuge
Description: Trade card advertising Dr. C. McLane's Liver Pills and Vermifuge featuring a bunch of pansies tied together with a red string. The back contains a customer testimony.
Conditions Cured (LC): Helminths
Subjects (LC): Advertising—Medicine, Bouquets, Bows, Flowers, Pansies, Ribbons
ID: WH297
Collection: William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards

Title: If you feel irritable take Cas-car-ria [from verso]
Description: Trade card advertising Cas-car-ria featuring a young girl with a dog running devil-esque creatures, presumably representing the ailments listed next to their bodies, into the water. The girl is wearing a bright pink dress and holds a switch in her hand. The dog is large and brown and white. The back quotes a piece by Henry Ward Beecher.
Conditions Cured (LC): Asthenia, Rheumatism
Subjects (LC): Advertising—Medicine, Animals, Children, Cliffs, Demonology, Devil, Dogs, Folklore, Grasslands, Mythology, Staffs (Sticks, Canes, Etc.), Trees, Water
ID: WH246
Collection: William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards

Title: Should Midsummer Urgency Be Met By Midsummer Appeal?
Description: Articles from the NY Times and the New York Press are reproduced on this 1911 postcard printed by the New York Milk Committee's Bureau of Municipal Research. "Asks $10,000 To Aid Babies," from the Times, highlights the efforts of Commissioner Lederle to increase city appropriations for the service of milk depots. "Why Milk Stations Are Worth While," from the NY Press, compares infant mortality statistics from 1911 to those of the previous year, noting the crucial role played by milk stations in the current year's reduction of deaths. A portrait of a healthy baby and a list of "Babies' Rights,"almost all of which deal with milk, are found on the postcard verso.
Subjects (LC): Milk, Health, Mortality, Law and legislation
ID: mk1e011
Geographic Subject: New York. New York City.
Collection: New York Milk Committee Ephemera Collection

Title: If you are Weak, Languid, Nervous or Suffer from Dyspepsia
Description: Trade card printed on two sides advertising Iron Bitters for the treatment of digestive ailments.
Subjects (LC): Care giving, Couples
Language: English
ID: WH281
Collection: William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards

Title: Your Cough or Cold can be Cured by Using Hartshorn's Cough Balsam
Description: Trade card advertising Hartshorn's Cough Balsam featuring an image of a tree with songbirds. In the background there is a body of water with a house on the shore. The back outlines why Hartshorn's Cough Balsam has gained popularity in the past, the ailments it cures, and the price.
Conditions Cured (LC): Bronchitis, Cold (Disease), Cough, Influenza, Lungs—Congestion, Pneumonia, Whooping Cough
Subjects (LC): Advertising—Medicine, Birds, Carriage Houses, Nature, Trees, Water And Architecture
ID: WH137
Collection: William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards

Title: Hunnewell's Universal Cough Remedy
Description: Trade card printed on two sides advertising Hunnewell's Universal Cough Remedy — "will cure your cough."
Subjects (LC): Birdcages, Mothers and children
Manufacturer: Gilman Brothers (Boston (Mass.))
Language: English
ID: WH278
Collection: William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards

Title: The Conclusion of the Matter [from verso]
Description: Trade card printed on two sides advertising compound oxygen, to be inhaled as a treatment for disease and debility.
Subjects (LC): Corsets, Interiors, Women
Manufacturer: Drs. Starkey and Palen (Philadelphia (Pa.))
Language: English
ID: WH250
Collection: William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards

Title: Naughty Puss!: Jayne's Tonic Vermifuge [from verso]
Description: Trade card advertising Dr. Jayne's Expectorant, Dr. Jayne's Liniment, and Dr. Jayne's Tonic Vermifuge featuring a young girl inspecting a scratch her cat, to her left, seemingly just gave her. She is wearing a blue, frilled dress. There is a ball on the floor by her right foot, and she is surrounded by ornate home decorations, such as a rug, tablecloth, and vase on a table filled with pink flowers. She has a blue bow in her hair, and the cat has a yellow ribbon around its neck. The back features the curative properties of the items advertised.
Conditions Cured (LC): Asthma, Bronchitis, Cold (Disease), Cough, Croup, Helminths, Indigestion, Pleurisy, Throat—Diseases, Tuberculosis, Whooping Cough
Subjects (LC): Advertising—Medicine, Animals, Balls—Sporting Goods, Bouquets, Bows, Carpets, Cats, Children, Children's Clothing, Domestic Space, Dress And Clothing, Dwellings, Flower Vases, Flowers, Infants—Wounds And Injuries, Ribbons, Rugs, Skin—Wounds And Injuries, Textile Fabrics
Language: English
ID: WH166
Collection: William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards

Title: Saving Through Education: Will You Reprint This?
Description: A double-sided postcard promoting healty diets for inants and children aged 18 months to three years, including sample breakfast, lunch, and dinner menus. The abilities of science and common sense to reduce infant mortality are also touted. On the back, photos depicting a plump, healthy baby and a guant, distressed baby are contrasted. "A Story" accompanies the images, as does the New York Milk Committee's address, where care givers can find more information to "make mother knowing."
Subjects (LC): Infants, Nutrition, Food, Menus, Poetry
ID: mk1e015
Geographic Subject: New York. New York City.
Collection: New York Milk Committee Ephemera Collection

LIBRARY DIGITAL COLLECTIONS & EXHIBITS

Warning message

Pages

Pages