During the Victorian era, trading cards were used to advertise products, but they also reveal the racism and sexism that was rife at the time. They look so playful and innocent, but there’s a sinister underbelly to their cartoonish surface… The Charles and Laura Dohm Shields Trade Card Collection is

Text via Victorian Era Female hysteria was once a common medical diagnosis, made exclusively in women. The history of the notion of hysteria can be traced to ancient times. Galen, a prominent physician from the second century, wrote that hysteria was a disease caused by deprivation in particularly passionate women: hysteria

The Bigelow-Wallis and Warren-Kaula watercolor collection is a set of 189 watercolor paintings commissioned by Harvard professor of surgery Henry Jacob Bigelow from lithographer Oscar Wallis between 1849 and 1854. There are a lot of weird and gross images in this collection worth checking out, but my favorites are the skulls

via The Line Up Although British anatomists often hunted for fresh cadavers in the 15th century, it was only in the 18th century that the demand for bodies boomed. An explosion of new medical schools and rising requirements for students meant that there were not enough bodies to go around.

The passing of a loved one defines life for most human beings. How we celebrate and/or mourn that passing defines a culture. In the 19th century, death was a solemn affair that society obsessed over, rife with superstition and replete with traditions that must be followed in order to ensure the

Women have long been associated with food, whether it’s as providers and preparers in the domestic setting, or as a sexual feast to be consumed. Our relationship with food is complex, and every woman I know has at some point in her life been questioned by herself and others about