As promised in our November print edition (“America’s Amputee Attic“), we present here some of the treasures we found in the Library of Congress that reflect the history of limb loss in the United States.
We found many of them by searching the LOC catalog on a variety of terms, including “amputee,” “prosthetic,” “prosthesis,” “disabled veteran,” “disability,” and “limb.” We also had some luck by using the “find related items” feature, once we’d located an individual catalog record pertaining to limb loss.
There are hundreds of additional images in the LOC’s collections. To start exploring, visit their website at loc.gov.
Click on any image below to get the story behind the picture, then scroll through the entire set.
