Visual Culture and Health Posters

Title:: At the Gates: Our Safety Depends on Official Vigilance

(high resolution jpg) High resolution version (8,094,595 Bytes)

Description:

This photo print of a wood engraving from Harper's Weekly in 1885 illustrates another forum for public health images provided by the creation of the magazine as a form of mass media in the late-nineteenth century. The image demonstrates disease in metaphorical terms, a technique commonly used by later poster artists. In this case, the shrouded and skeletal specters representing cholera, yellow fever, and smallpox recoil in fear as an angel holding a sword and shield emblazoned with the word "cleanliness" blocks their way through the quarantine barrier at the Port of New York. Over the years serpents, skulls, monsters, thieves, and even extraterrestrial figures have been used as representations of disease. The discoveries by microbiologists inspired new visual metaphors for disease in the 19th century, such as anthropomorphic germs and grotesque bacteria.

Number of Image Pages:

1 (1,092,067 Bytes)

Date:

1885

Creator:

Unknown

Source:

Periodical: "At the Gates: Our Safety Depends on Official Vigilance." Harper's Weekly, (1885). Photographic Print. Slide. 1 Image.

Original Repository: The History of Medicine Division. Prints and Photographs Collection.

This image may also be accessed from the Images from the History of Medicine (IHM).

URL: http://wwwihm.nlm.nih.gov/

IHM Order Number: A012795

Publisher:

Harper & Row

Rights:

This item is in the public domain. It may be used without permission.

Subject:

Medical Subject Headings (MeSH):: Cholera; Yellow Fever; Smallpox; Public Health

Exhibit Category:

Brief History

Unique Identifier:

VCBBBB

Document Type:

Photographic prints

Slides (photographs)

Language:

English

Format:

image/jpeg

image/tif

Physical Condition:

Good

Metadata Last Modified Date:

2006-05-23

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