1889 Graduating Class, Rush Medical College: CARLI Digital Collections Featured Image

1889 Graduating Class, in the Rush Medical College I Class Composites Collection, (#4748), Rush University Medical Center Archives
From Rush Medical College Class Photos (Rush University) in CARLI Digital Collections

Of all the photo composites in the Rush digital collection, the Class of 1889 caught my eye. Class composites from this period tend to feature oval-shaped portraits arranged symmetrically in a geometric formation on a white background. In the 1889 composite, the contrast provided by the atypical black background accentuates the uncommon circular and almost-square shapes of the portraits. At first glance I was reminded of a womb world mandala. Upon further examination, it seems more of a passing resemblance than a true imitation. Nevertheless, I was tempted to seek out some arcane connection, hoping to impose rhyme and reason on the painstaking layout.

Following convention, the faculty is positioned as the symbolic center of the academic community through its prominent central placement. Naturally the centermost image depicts the leading member of that community—J. Adams Allen, who served as the medical college’s president from 1877 to 1890. Ringed around Allen in concentric circles are portraits of other full or emeritus professors, numbered in roughly the same order as the names listed on page three of the 1889-1890 catalog. The numbering starts over for the 118 (out of a graduating class of 139) students pictured. The portraits are not arranged numerically, however, and absent an identification key the organizing principle remains uncertain.

The presentation of the Rush 1889 composite is not entirely unique in the photographer’s repertoire: One year earlier Ed. L. Fowler produced a comparable design for the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Chicago’s 1888 graduating class. So, as much as I’d like to read into this image—that the mandala-like form deliberately alludes to the physician’s role as compassionate healer, or that an esoteric numerological scheme underlies the composition—any aesthetic similarity may be coincidental. Sometimes a picture is just a picture.

Written by Ellen K. Corrigan, Assistant Professor, Cataloging Services, Booth Library, Eastern Illinois University

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