Every type of health and care in one place — 5 chapters, Clinical medicine, Nursing, Allied health and the rest, with the plates and an inventory to download.
Medicine is the family where clothing was asked to carry an argument the practice could not yet make on its own. For most of the nineteenth century a physician's dress said 'gentleman', because medicine had social authority long before it had reliable technical authority. When it acquired the technical kind it changed clothes — and borrowed the new outfit from the laboratory rather than inventing one.
Nursing took the opposite route. Its dress was designed deliberately, at a specific moment, by people who intended the garment to make a claim about discipline and respectability, and it stayed remarkably stable for eighty years afterwards. The two chapters read against each other better than either reads alone.
Five chapters. The contents are public; the plates and the inventory are for subscribers.
Unlock full access
You are viewing a free sample. The full collection contains 1,400 images of 5 uniform subtypes and an inventory spreadsheet with metadata. Free for personal and commercial use. No attribution required. Share individual images, never the whole collection.
Up to five plates from each of the 5 chapters, in full, free to anyone. Every one is credited to the collection that holds it and links back to the record.
Clinical medicine
Physician's Tray Art Institute of Chicago · 14643 · c. 1760 · Alcora Pottery Spanish, 1727-1895 · Public DomainAlexander's Confidence with his Physician Philip Art Institute of Chicago · 151462 · c. 1770 · Benjamin West American, 1738-1820 · Public DomainEphraim Bonus, Jewish Physician Art Institute of Chicago · 29084 · 1647 · Rembrandt van Rijn Dutch, 1606-1669 · Public DomainThe Physician Art Institute of Chicago · 30498 · n.d. · Hans Holbein, the younger German, 1497-1543 · Public DomainThe Physician Considered as God, plate one from Allegories of the Medical Profession. Art Institute of Chicago · 51100 · 1587 · creator not recorded · Public Domain
Nursing
Army Nurse Corps uniform, US, c. 1945 - North Carolina Museum of History - DSC06033 Wikimedia Commons · 16917168 · 2011-10-05 11:30:15 · Daderot · Public domainHet Dolhuys Haarlem nurse costume Flickr: Het Dolhuys Haarlem · 25186028 · 2013-02-27 15:24:50 · FaceMePLS · CC BY 2.0Nursing; photograph of a nurse in uniform Wellcome L0010489 Wikimedia Commons · 35952114 · 2014-10-07 00:39:42 · creator not recorded · CC BY 4.0Nursing; photograph of a nurse in uniform by Wellcome L0010490 Wikimedia Commons · 35952126 · 2014-10-07 00:41:01 · creator not recorded · CC BY 4.0An English hospital nurse in full uniform. Watercolour drawi Wellcome V0015191EL Wikimedia Commons · 36490917 · 2014-10-30 09:10:53 · creator not recorded · CC BY 4.0
Allied health
Assistant Pharmacist Wikimedia Commons · 113421584 · 2019-09-02 13:44:48 · M Joko Apriyo Putro · CC BY-SA 4.0Pharmacist Wikimedia Commons · 24049553 · 1988-08 · Bill Branson (Photographer) · Public domainApothecary dispensing medicine, from Tacuinum sanitatis Wellcome L0011275 Wikimedia Commons · 35953823 · 2014-10-07 03:37:26 · creator not recorded · CC BY 4.0An apothecary; oil painting by Stacey, probably 19th c. Wellcome M0003359 Wikimedia Commons · 36316590 · 2014-10-22 17:20:41 · creator not recorded · CC BY 4.0Pharmacist at work Wikimedia Commons · 45984573 · 2015-12-21 18:38:43 · Marrik · CC BY-SA 4.0
Residential and social care
Woman, boy and a pram (2780164703) Woman, boy and a pram
Uploaded by mrjohncummings · 26198468 · circa 1890date QS:P,+1890-00-00T00:00:00Z/9,P1480,Q5727902 · National Media Museum from UK · No restrictionsTracy Logan and his devoted nurse, Changde, Hunan, China, ca.1900-1919 (IMP-YDS-RG008-358-0008-0062) Wikimedia Commons · 30906811 · 1900/1919 · creator not recorded · Public domainJapanese Nanny in China by Afong c1875 gwen1280 · 42722979 · circa 1875date QS:P,+1875-00-00T00:00:00Z/9,P1480,Q5727902 · Lai Afong · Public domainBessie on her travels (1870) (14573640059) Wikimedia Commons · 43695096 · 1870 · Internet Archive Book Images · No restrictions
Veterinary
Rozalia M. Tazieva Wikimedia Commons · 160765298 · 2025-02-27 · Amina Mahmutova · CC0A veterinary surgeon and a blacksmith attacking dandies on velocipedes, in an attempt to preserve the use of horses as a means of transport, and therefore securing their own trades. Coloured etching by C. Williams, 1819. Wellcome Collection · dbe64cbv · date not recorded · Williams, Charles, active 1797-1830. · Public Domain MarkThree veterinary surgeons attempting to cure a horse of various ailments, using dubious and violent means. Coloured etching by Giles Grinagain, 1800/1815?. Wellcome Collection · jfdhscn3 · date not recorded · creator not recorded · Public Domain MarkRichard Grosvenor, 2nd Marquis of Westminster, with Ellis (veterinary surgeon) and Tommy Lloyd (horse dealer). Pen and ink drawing by D. Macgregor, 1864. Wellcome Collection · ms38tmn7 · date not recorded · Macgregor, Duncan, active 1864. · Public Domain MarkVeterinary surgeon on a home visit Wellcome Collection · tvhf9rv8 · date not recorded · Caroline Gunn · Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
This post is only for paying members
Get access to premium content by becoming a member.
Hedda Maartens — MA in fashion design, then eleven years in the industry designing for people who had no say in what they wore. Now writes about prescribed dress: how a garment was made to work, and what it was made to make a person into.
Back
Nametape
Free
$0
Every Research post and every Essay, free to read.
All Research posts — one uniform at a time, in archive photographs
.jpg?ref=blog.neutrino.website){kind=link}
.jpg?ref=blog.neutrino.website){kind=link}
_(14573640059).jpg?ref=blog.neutrino.website){kind=link}
