Operation

This glass-plate negative captures a scene at Severance Hospital in which Avison performed surgery with the assistance of his Korean assistant, Bak Seo-yang. As a rare photograph showing the operating room, surgical instruments, surgical staff and surgical attire of the Korean Empire period, the original plate film has great documentary value. O. R. Avison (1860–1956), a Northern Presbyterian mission doctor who graduated from the University of Toronto medical school, began treating patients at Jejungwon, Korea's first modern hospital, in July 1893, and went on to expand and reorganise Jejungwon into Severance Hospital and the Severance Union Medical College, laying an important foundation for the introduction and spread of modern Western medicine in Korea. Bak Seo-yang (1885–1940), seen in the photograph handing Avison a pair of scissors, was a member of the first graduating class of the Severance Hospital Medical School in June 1908. He worked as a professor at his alma mater before crossing into Manchuria around 1918, where he founded hospitals, churches and schools and worked for Korea's independence.

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Where it is

Region

Seodaemun-gu, Seoul

Designation

Registered Cultural Heritage · 국가등록문화유산