Cabinet Card Photo of Nakamura Yasu The first Japanese female dental college student in the US
[Japan] Fascinating portrait photo of Nakamura Yasu, who appears to have been the first female Japanese student of dentistry at the Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery (which, in 1909, became part of the University of Pennsylvania). According to the Penn Libraries site, Ms. Nakamura graduated in 1897 and returned to Japan to treat the teeth of members of the Japanese royal family. We have been unable to find any Japanese information about her life in Japan nor whether she ended up working for the Imperial Household. Signed on the rear, 'Yasu Nakamura Tokio Japan', presumably in her hand. Her pose is very interesting as it is quite informal and she is in a US photo studio wearing a very casual kimono. One wonders whether the kimono was the studio's or her own.
Philadelphia. Phillips' Photographer, 1206 Chestnut Street. ND [c1895].
10.8 x 14.6cm.
In good condition. Some minor age wear and marks. p36101722