Dr. Burns, 78, told STAT his collection includes approximately one million historical photos. Roughly 100,000 of them involve medical science, depicting how the profession used to be practiced. The photos document some of the earliest survivors of anesthetically aided surgery, teams of men handling typhus-infected bedding and patients with “mysterious” medical conditions, among others.
Though he donated “tens of thousands” of images to museums in the past, Dr. Burns claimed he never considered selling the images until representatives from Sotheby’s, a fine arts brokerage firm and auction house, approached him about a potential auction.
Sotheby’s will auction off roughly 50 photos during a public sale in New York City Oct. 5.
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