Jakob’s historic classroom photos
Bandaged heads, feet and tails
Heinrich Jakob (more commonly known as Professor H. Jakob) was brought in from Germany to serve as professor of Veterinary Medicine. Jakob's legacy includes a wonderful series of glass slides - now in safe hands at the Utrecht University Museum (UMU) - depicting Jakob and animal trainer Andries Veensma interacting with various dogs on the examination table.
Jakob used these photos in his classes to show students how to examine a patient, demonstrate what patients look like before and after treatment and illustrate procedures like applying a bandage to a dog. We have made a selection from the photos of dogs in bandages.
Outside
It is worth noting that the photos in this series were all taken outside. While the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine's in-house photographer Bas Niemans still takes patient photographs for teaching and research purposes today, these are all shot in a studio. 'Camera's weren't as light-sensitive back then, so photos were shot outside to catch as much daylight as possible. Due to the long shutter speeds at the time, the animals had to remain still for a long time in order to get focused pictures. Nowadays, we work in a studio with artificial lighting and the possibilities are almost endless compared to those days', Niemans explains.
Some of the photos were taken on the street. This is confirmed by Charlotte Hartong, assistant curator of Utrecht University Museum's Veterinary Medicine collection. As she explains, all the photos were taken outside in and around the grounds on Biltstraat.
Issue 13 of Vetscience features another image from Jakob's series of glass slides, see: Spot the differences: “The Ophthalmoscope”