More information on Phineas Gage

Recently Matthew Lena, who is working with Malcolm Macmillan, one of the leading experts on Phineas Gage, contacted CHS. He has provided us with a number of items relating to the photograph recently found as well as the most updated information on Gage. Below are resources which are either available on-line or at the CHS Museum • http://www.deakin.edu.au/hmnbs/psychology/gagepage/PgNews.php
• Article from the Journal of the Hisotry of the Neurosciences, "Face to Face with Phineas Gage."
• A copy of “Phineas Gage-Unravelling the Myth” by Maclcolm Macmillan updates a familiar tale, 160 years after its inception
• Copy of a poster promoting Phineas Gage as “The World’s Wonder.”

The CHS museum is open Sunday’s from 2-4 pm and at other times by request.

If you have old diaries or records dating back to 1848, the year of the injury, please check them for any possible references to Phineas Gage.

FMI: 226-7807 or margoc@tds.net

First Photo of Phineas Gage Discovered

A pair of photograph collectors in Maryland, have uncovered what they believe to be the first and only photograph of Phineas Gage, the railway worker who survived an iron tamping rod passing straight through the front of his brain, following an explosives accident in Cavendish in 1848. Gage’s injuries were well documented and serves as one of the first cases of recorded brain injury. The photograph shows Gage as a scarred, handsome, proud man, smartly dressed, with one eye closed, wielding the tamping iron that made him famous. Jack and Beverly Wilgus originally thought the image was of a whaler, but after posting the picture on Flick-r, they soon learned from experts that this was not the case (it was a tamping rod, not a harpoon, that he was holding), and they followed up on an alternative suggestion that perhaps the image was of Gage. For more information, go to http://bps-research-digest.blogspot.com/2009/07/first-ever-photo-of-phineas-gage-is.html

Old Home Day July 4

Old Home Events Schedule
Old Home Day will be spread out among three locations in Cavendish, with events occurring as follows on July 4 (Saturday):

8:30 Annual Plant and Museum tours Cavendish Historical Society Museum Green

9:30 Dedication of the Craig and Pat Rankin Bench in front of the Museum

10:00: Cavendish Green opens after the Bench dedication. This area includes a variety of booths, food sales, Chicken BBQ and more

11:00 Games for children and families on the Cavendish Green

Noon-4 pm: Winston Churchill Retrospective opens at the Stone Church

FMI: margoc@tds.net or 226-7807