Publisher:
Wildwood Design Group, McLean, VA
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The *reproduction*, “A Taste of Her Own Medicine,” may have been given a comedic aspect by virtue of caption, but the original postcard from which it was taken is a studio portrait of a nurse posing in the role of dispensing medicine. The fact that it is a black nurse, and one of the extremely rare postcard portrayals of same, is the primary significance of the image, not that of the comedic reproduction.
Thank you, Mr. Zwerdling, for raising an interesting point in your comment! As you stated, it is of note that an African American nurse being featured in a postcard of this era is a rarity. The section of Pictures of Nursing titled “Nursing and Respectability: Nursing and Race” (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/picturesofnursing/exhibition4s1.html) addresses the scarcity of images of African American nurses in postcards. The depictions of nurses in this section convey the professionalism of the women shown and the text identifies how uncommon these images are.
The caption for the image in this blog post paraphrases the caption that is on the back of the postcard, which reads: “A Taste of Her Own Medicine: Nurse Osgood kept experimenting trying to discover the formula for Love Potion No. 9.”
This postcard is thought-provoking and rich with visual information about nursing and society.
Thank you again for your comment!