The busy scene shows numerous patients and attendants gathered beneath an outdoor covered area. A woman reclines in a wheelchair at right while a suited man at center appears to be manipulating or examining her foot. Other patients, wheelchairs and attendants crowd the surrounding treatment area.
The photograph itself is captioned:
“AT DR. LOCKE’S CLINIC.”
Dr. Mahlon William Locke (1880–1942) became internationally famous during the 1920s and 1930s for treating arthritis, rheumatism and related ailments through manual manipulation of patients’ feet. Beginning in the late 1920s, thousands of patients traveled to the small village of Williamsburg, Ontario to see him. Ontario’s historical plaque notes that his reputation spread throughout North America and overseas and that he reportedly treated hundreds of people daily.
Library and Archives Canada preserves film footage from 1932 and 1933 showing the enormous crowds at Locke’s outdoor clinic, including patients in wheelchairs and Locke treating hands and feet.
Contemporary descriptions explain that patients were arranged around a central treatment area, with Locke moving rapidly from patient to patient; by the mid-1930s accounts claimed the clinic sometimes handled well over 1,000 treatments per day.
This postcard appears consistent with that early-to-mid 1930s peak period, although no exact date is printed on the card.
Approximate size: 3.5 x 5.5 inches.
Reverse has a divided postcard back marked “Printed in Britain.” Card is unused/unposted.
A great piece of Canadian medical history, Depression-era social history, unusual therapeutics, disability history and vernacular photographic documentation.
Please note: while historical sources document Dr. Locke personally treating patients in scenes of this type, individual people in this particular photograph are not specifically identified on the card.
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