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DATE: 1934

LENGTH: 36 min [edited from full length of 64 minutes]

CATEGORY: Educational & Instructional, Sound, Black & White

DIRECTOR: Joseph B. DeLee, M.D.

PRODUCER/PUBLISHER: Joseph B. DeLee, M.D.
Warning: The film contains explicit images of disease or intrusive medical treatment. Viewer discretion advised.

Summary

Dr. Joseph Bolivar DeLee, a founder in the late 1890s of the Chicago Lying-In Dispensary (for needy women) as well as the Chicago Lying-In Hospital, the model maternity center of its day, was at times called “the #1 obstetrician, USA.” DeLee also was a serious filmmaker dedicated to the visual explication of his obstetrical techniques. He acquired professional equipment, wrote scripts, improvised sound effects, and deployed as many as a dozen women over a period of hours and days if necessary to complete a movie precisely as he felt it should be. These films were intended to teach, persuade, and fundraise for the next one….Read the Essay

View another film featured in the essay.

The Science and Art of Obstetrics: Laparotrachelotomy: Low Cervical Cesarean SectionAnatomical Illustration

DATE: 1936
LENGTH: 35 min [edited from full length of 69 minutes]
PRODUCER/PUBLISHER: Joseph B. DeLee, M.D., M. Edward Davis, M.D., Fox Movietone Scientific
CATEGORY: Educational & Instructional, Clinical & Surgical, Sound, Black & White

Supplementary Materials

Film Stills from The Science and Art of Obstetrics: The Forceps Operation and Episiotomy Repair

Though DeLee expressed concern about the “awkward motions” of the camera-shy, he himself was hardly a natural on camera. Here he strikes a pose common to many of his films as he lectures on the forceps and episiotomy operation. Science and Art of Obstetrics: Forceps and Episiotomy.

In the Collections of the National Library of Medicine

NLM Historical Audiovisuals Collection

Explore digitized films on obstetrics in the NLM Digital Collections

A newborn wrapped in blankets.

NLM Prints & Photographs Collection

Two illustrations on a page showing three different caesarean methods. Some French text visible at bottom: Traité, vol. 7, pl. 77.
Caesarean Methods, plate in Traité complet de l’anatomie de l’homme, 1832
National Library of Medicine #101596989
Engraving of nine different types of forceps.
Forceps, engraving in Armamentarium chirurgicum bipartitum, 1666
National Library of Medicine #101435119
An engraving of a surgeon and five attendants performing a caesarean section.
Caesarean Section, engraving in Armamentarium chirurgicum bipartitum, 1666
National Library of Medicine #101435441

NLM Rare Book Collection

Meddlesome Midwifery in Renaissance, by Joseph B. DeLee, ca. 1916

“Joseph B. DeLee, A Eulogy” in Mother’s Aid of the Chicago Lying-in Hospital and Dispensary, April, 1942

Preliminary Report of a Case of Caesarean Section, Successful for Mother and Child, by Joseph B. DeLee, 1896
View in NLM Digital Collections

First page of a reprint with library annotations and stamps.

Related Resources from the National Library of Medicine

Joseph DeLee in PubMed Central

Obituary, in Br Med J. 1942 Jun 6; 1(4248): 711.
Joseph B. DeLee and the practice of preventive obstetrics, in Am J Public Health. 1988 October; 78(10): 1353–1361.
More in PMC…

MedlinePlus Consumer Health Information

When might forceps or a caesarean section be used today?
How are childbirth complications handled?

External Resources

Articles and Websites

Learn more about the Chicago Lying-In Hospital founded by Joseph B. DeLee.
Explore a finding aid for the archival records of the Chicago Lying-in Hospital held at the University of Chicago.

More Medicine on Screen

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