Coming back to life: Hadassah photo collection

Rare collection, documenting Zionist medical activity at beginning of 20th century, saved thanks to Prof. Donchin, a senior physician at Hadassah Ein Kerem. Now you can also see how infectious patients were treated, what small children were given and which bacteria were fought against during 1920s. Diseases have never looked better

Nadav Man, Bitmuna|Published: 11.17.06 , 17:58

Prof. Yoel Donchin, a senior doctor at the Department of Anesthesiology and the Intensive Care Unit at the Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem, is also known at the hospital as the "Lord Keeper of the Seal of Hadassah."

For years he has been researching and preserving rare historical documents which were accidentally found at the corridors of the Hadassah Women's Zionist Organization.

The collection in his possession includes many glass negatives taken at the beginning of the century, which show sanatoriums and the organization's medical activity, and which were found in an abandoned cupboard at the Ein Kerem neighborhood.

The rest of the historical documents were drawn "at the last moment" from a pile of documents slated to be shredded ahead of the renovation of the Hadassah building on Jerusalem's Neviim Street.

I was approached by Prof. Donchin, an enthusiastic reader of the Trip to the Past section, and was asked to scan the great collection of the Hadassah Center and present parts of it to our readers.

We attached minimal captions to some of the photos, revealing the place or the period of time when they were taken, but most of them are missing explanations. Those of the readers who can provide us with more details on the photographed people or sites are invited to turn to the Bitmuna lab.