Joint Meeting of the Railway Surgeons Association, Claypool Hotel, Indianapolis
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Gravelle Studio
1920
Gelatin silver print.
9 x 26 inches (22.86 x 66.04)
Purchased as the gift of Peter J. Cohen.
2015.53
Provenance:
Winter Works on Paper, Inc., Brooklyn, NY.
Inscription:
Inscribed in negative, upper right: "Joint Meeting / of the / Railway Surgeons / Association / Pennsylvania Lines / East and West of Pittsburg."; inscribed in negative, upper right: "Claypool Hotel. Indianapolis Ind., Oct. 18-19-20. 1920"; signed in negative, upper right: "Photo / By / Gravelle / 814N Meridian / Indianapolis"; numbers 1-64 inscribed in negative in front of each subject; 64 signatures inscribed in negative along lower half.
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The conventioneers in this 8x20 inch view-camera photograph belong to an aging brotherhood. Railway surgeons--pioneers of the modern practice of trauma medicine--spent their careers attending to the grave injuries of railway workers, often in challenging conditions far from any hospital. In testimony to the photographer's industriousness, each of the sixty-four attendees of the Indianapolis convention was prevailed upon to sign the negative before their three-day meeting ended. Their group portrait thus serves as both a visual memento of the event and an attendance list enriched by a conventional signifier of character: handwriting.