Rediscovering the Class of 1885

Rediscovering the Class of 1885 highlights the rediscovery of 25 19th-century photographs at SUNY Upstate Medical University. In 2007, portraits of 9 graduates and 16 faculty of the Syracuse College of Medicine were found in a most unusual place. These are now the earliest original class pictures in Historical Collections.

On display in the SUNY Upstate Health Sciences Library beginning in April 2008, the exhibit offers glimpses of the lives of medical students in Syracuse in the late 19th century through photographs, medical instruments, student notebooks, exams and other original documents.

By telling the story of how these photographs were "lost" for 70 years and then found, the exhibit also draws attention to the underlying question of how the historical record may be preserved -- or lost -- for future generations, and how our interpretation of the past may be incomplete, or faulty, if the picture itself is incomplete.

View the online version of the exhibit using the links below.