Women in Science and Wartime Medicine: Laboratory Work on Penicillin, Vaccines, and Public Health in Press Photography, 1920s to 1940s

Woman in StemPharmacology

Photograph

[Women’s History] [Medical History] [Science] Various press photographers. Women in medical and scientific professions photographs, 1920s to 1940s document female participation in laboratory research, pharmacology, and public health during the interwar period and World War II. The archive provides direct visual evidence of women engaged in clinical and experimental work, including early antibiotic production, blood analysis, and vaccine preparation, while also recording milestones in women’s professional advancement such as the academic achievement of Phyllis Sully. The material supports research into the expansion of women’s roles in science, the development of modern medicine, and the institutional contexts in which women contributed to major medical advances.

United States, United Kingdom, and Canada, 1920s to 1940s. Archive of 10 original silver gelatin press photographs, including one formal portrait and nine laboratory and institutional scenes, each with press captions or stamps on versos identifying subjects and locations. One photograph depicts Phyllis Sully following her receipt of a Bachelor of Pharmacy degree from London University, marking her entry into a professional field historically dominated by men. Other images show women technicians and researchers working in laboratories associated with institutions including Wyeth Laboratories, the U.S. Public Health Service, the National Institutes of Health, St. John’s Hospital in Brooklyn, Notre Dame University, and Connaught Medical Research Laboratories in Toronto. Activities documented include preparation and testing of penicillin using laboratory equipment, analysis of blood samples, and handling of materials related to poliomyelitis vaccine research. Several photographs include detailed captions describing experimental procedures and institutional affiliations.

The archive situates women’s scientific labor within a period of rapid transformation in medicine, when advances in antibiotics, virology, and public health infrastructure reshaped clinical practice. Wartime demand accelerated the integration of women into laboratory and technical roles, particularly in pharmaceutical production and disease research, while educational milestones such as Sully’s degree reflect broader shifts following women’s suffrage and increased access to higher education. These photographs document both the visibility and the often underrecognized contributions of women in scientific environments, linking individual achievement to institutional and global developments in healthcare. Minor creasing and typical press handling marks; images remain clear with legible captions. Overall very good condition. A concentrated visual record of women’s work in medicine and science during a formative period in twentieth century medical history.

Item #21847

Price: $750.00