The first mention of a proposal calling for the establishment of a photographic department at Bellevue appears in this hospital report for the year 1867. In a later report, O. G. Mason comments about the opposition this proposal encountered. It is unclear when the proposal was finally resolved.*

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Schedule of Drugs and Medicines purchased and expended during 1867 :
Photographic Department, Bellevue Hospital...................$281.12

—J. Frey, Apothecary.

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The addition of a photographic department to the Hospital will form a valuable accession to our means of placing on record the complete history of cases. In many cases the preservation of the external appearances is necessary to the history of the individual disease. In all the large Military Hospitals photography came to be regarded as an indispensable feature in the records of the sick and wounded, and it will prove not less important in a large civil Hospital.

—Stephen Smith, Secretary.

* Corporate authors, Eighth Annual report of the Commissioners of Public Charities and Correction, New York for the year 1867 ; Albany: Van Benthuysen & Sons' Steam Printing Office, 1868.