Dayton Ohio NCR Employee Spine Brace Family Portrait 1910s Postcard Unposted

This postcard, produced in the early twentieth century and tied to events following an October 23, 1906 workplace injury, depicts a National Cash Register employee from Dayton, Ohio wearing a rigid medical spinal brace while posed with his wife and child.

Industrial injuries were a frequent reality in American manufacturing cities during the early decades of the twentieth century. Dayton was home to the National Cash Register Company, one of the nation’s most prominent manufacturers, and factory accidents were widely reported in newspapers and company records. Medical braces such as the rigid torso apparatus shown here were commonly prescribed for severe spinal injuries, intended to stabilize the body and allow damaged vertebrae to heal while the patient attempted to resume some level of mobility.

The photograph shows the injured man seated and wearing a complex orthopedic support harness across the chest and torso while his wife stands behind him and their young child sits in his lap. Printed text below the image identifies the incident as occurring while decorating a new office building for the National Cash Register Company, when a plank fell and broke his neck. The portrait was taken by Souslin of Dayton, Ohio, and the postcard format suggests it may have circulated as part of a fundraising or awareness effort for the injured worker and his family.

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