Ellis H. Hudson photographs and papers, 1920s-1950s and undated
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Summary
- Creator:
- Hudson, Ellis Herndon, b. 1890
- Abstract:
- Ellis Hudson was an American physician who founded a Presbyterian mission hospital in Syria and studied non-venereal syphilis there. The Ellis H. Hudson Photographs and Papers date from the 1920s to late 1950s, and consist of black-and-white photographs and negatives of people in Syria with non-venereal syphilis relating to Hudson's research on this topic in the early twentieth century, as well as galley proofs of maps, charts, graphs, and tables from his book Non-Venereal Syphilis: A Sociological and Medical Study of Bejel (1958). Many of the photographs also appear in this book. Acquired as part of the History of Medicine Collections at Duke University.
- Extent:
- 1.4 Linear Feet
- Language:
- Material in English
- Collection ID:
- RL.00585
Background
- Scope and content:
-
The Ellis H. Hudson Photographs and Papers date from the 1920s to the late 1950s, and consist of black-and-white photographs and negatives relating to Hudson's research on non-venereal syphilis in Syria in the early twentieth century, as well as galley proofs of maps, charts, graphs, and tables from his book Non-Venereal Syphilis: A Sociological and Medical Study of Bejel (1958). Many of the photographs also appear in this book.
The prints and negatives primarily include black and white images of men, women, and children with cases of syphilis, and a few images of x-rays of body parts, what appear to be microsope views of cells, and aerial images of one or more towns in Syria. Images of people focus on areas of the body with significant lesions, growths, or other obvious symptoms of syphilis, and may include information such as the name, age, and gender of the person in the image, as well as some information about their medical history. The faces of people depicted in the images may appear in the original image.
Many unique original negatives were cellulose nitrate, which were digitized, then removed from the collection. Prints of those images, when present, have been retained. Some cellulose acetate film (safety film) remains in the collection.
- Biographical / historical:
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Ellis Hudson was born in 1890 in Osaka, Japan, to American missionary parents, and was educated at Milliken University and the University of Pennsylvania. He founded a Presbyterian mission hospital in Deir-es-Zor, Syria, where he studied cases of non-venereal syphilis (also known by its Arabic name "bejel") among the local Christian, Muslim, and Bedouin population.
Non-venereal syphilis, also called endemic syphilis or bejel, is a chronic skin and tissue disease. It is generally transmitted by skin-to-skin contact or the sharing of eating and drinking utensils, and not from sexual contact (as distinct from syphilis, a venereal disease transmitted by sexual contact). It often begins in childhood and causes lesions in mucous membranes and around the mouth; in later stages it causes more widespread lesions, blisters, and infections in the bones. The disease is more common in hot, dry climates such as in the Mediterranean and Saharan West Africa, in countries including Syria.
Source: https://rarediseases.org/rare-diseases/bejel/, accessed November 22, 2022.
- Acquisition information:
- The Ellis H. Hudson Photographs and Papers were transferred to the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book Manuscript Library from the Medical Center Library in 2011.
- Processing information:
-
Processed by Duke University Medical Center Library staff
Encoded by Willeke Sandler, April 2012
Description of photographs and negatives, and collection-level description updated by Tracy M. Jackson, November 2022.
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Subjects
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Collection is open for research.
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- Preferred citation:
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[Identification of item], Ellis H. Hudson Photographs and Papers, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.
- Permalink:
- https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/m13w6f