--- title: Cancer: Photos From the Early Fight Against a Killer Disease description: Photos chronicling the battle against cancer in the middle part of the 20th century -- when a cure seemed within reach. canonical: https://time.com/3877095/cancer-photos-from-the-early-fight-against-a-killer-disease/ author: Ben Cosgrove article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2013-05-19T23:16:22.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:03:52.332Z og:title: Cancer: Photos From the Early Fight Against a Killer Disease og:description: Photos chronicling the battle against cancer in the middle part of the 20th century -- when a cure seemed within reach. og:url: https://time.com/3877095/cancer-photos-from-the-early-fight-against-a-killer-disease/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt636df7426ff63b09/69884a0f0b72e3549b6e358a/23_009356301.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1500 og:image:height: 844 og:image:alt: Fighting Cancer 1958 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Cancer: Photos From the Early Fight Against a Killer Disease twitter:description: Photos chronicling the battle against cancer in the middle part of the 20th century -- when a cure seemed within reach. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt636df7426ff63b09/69884a0f0b72e3549b6e358a/23_009356301.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Stalking a Silent Killer: Photos From the Early Fight Against Cancer > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove May 19, 2013 11:16 PM UTC  Caption from LIFE. "Diseased cells, enlarged 2,000 times, are studied by Dr. George Z. Williams at National Cancer institute, Bethesda, Md., on ultraviolet TV microscope he helped develop. It reveals enzyme action." Caption from LIFE. "Diseased cells, enlarged 2,000 times, are studied by Dr. George Z. Williams at National Cancer institute, Bethesda, Md., on ultraviolet TV microscope he helped develop. It reveals enzyme action."Andreas Feininger—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove May 19, 2013 11:16 PM UTC Angelina Jolie’s bombshell announcement that she underwent [a preventive double mastectomy](http://healthland.time.com/2013/05/14/angelina-jolies-double-mastectomy-what-we-know-about-brca-mutations-and-breast-cancer/) in hopes of minimizing her risk of breast cancer still has, understandably, an awful lot of people talking. Some commentators have suggested that Jolie’s action and, more importantly, the powerful, public way that she let the world know of her decision — on her own schedule, in her own words — could end up saving lives, if only because so many women who might have put off testing for years are now avidly searching for all the information they can find on breast cancer. Of course, guarded optimism (and open pessimism) in the face of cancer is hardly new. Or rather, the last half century or so has seen truly extraordinary strides in treatment of myriad types of the disease. Sixty-five years ago, in May 1958, LIFE magazine published a cover story that considered an arsenal of new medical, technological and chemical approaches to diagnosis and treatment — approaches, the magazine suggested, that might do away with some cancers within the lifetime of those then fighting them. The article, titled titled, “Cancer — on Brink of Breakthroughs,” put it this way to LIFE’s millions of readers: --- > “” --- --- > “” --- --- > “” --- Some of the photos in this gallery, meanwhile, will no doubt surprise and even shock contemporary readers. Prisoners injected with cancerous cells in order to test patient’s resistance to some cancers after exposure? Obviously, testing (of drugs, surgeries, exposure to pathogens, etc.) on both animals and on humans has always been a central component of the practice of medicine. But rarely does one see as graphic a representation of the way such tests were conducted in the middle part of the last century as in some of the pictures in this gallery. [**\[MORE: See all of TIME.com’s coverage of cancer.\]**](http://topics.time.com/cancer/) _Liz Ronk, who edited this gallery, is the Photo Editor for LIFE.com. Follow her on Twitter_ [_@lizabethronk_](https://twitter.com/LizabethRonk)_._  Caption from LIFE. "Learning how to tell, 1,000 women in Elmhurst, Illinois, watch American Cancer Society's film on detection routine, Breast Self-Examination. In seven years 6.5 million women have seen it." NOTE: This image is a composite of two photos, with the "onscreen" picture literally taped on to the other of the film audience. Al Fenn—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  A movie theater showing the American Cancer Society's film on detection routine, Breast Self-Examination. Al Fenn—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Women learn about cancer, 1958. Peter Stackpole—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  "Ladies' line-up forms in Bry's department store, Memphis, Tenn., for cervical smear test. Of 114 Bry employees taking test, one had cancer. Memphis is the first U.S. city to start mass testing." Peter Stackpole—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Cancer patient, 1958. Peter Stackpole—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Studying cancer patient, 1958. Peter Stackpole—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Women study cancer cells under microscopes, 1958. Peter Stackpole—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Lab conducting cancer research, 1958. Peter Stackpole—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Cancer researcher, 1958. Al Fenn—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. "Nitrogen mustard, a cancer-killing drug related to World War I poison gas, is dripped into cavity where a patient's cancerous lung has been removed." Al Fenn—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Cancer research, 1958. Al Fenn—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. "World's top expert on malignant cells, Dr. George Papanicolaou of New York's Cornell Medical College, displays projected cell images. He devised smear test that saves thousands of women." Walter Sanders—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. "At men's shelter, social worker Rubin Blum recruits men from Bowery for cancer diagnosis project. Of 800 men diagnosed, 90 had prostate cancer, 72 of these early, curable cases." Walter Sanders—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Testing for prostate cancer at the Francis Delafield Hospital in New York, 1958. Walter Sanders—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Cancer researchers and patient at Francis Delafield Hospital, 1958. Walter Sanders—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. "Prostate x-rays of Bowery men ... are studied before operation at Francis Delafield Hospital to weed out incurable cases." Walter Sanders—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Doctors at Ohio State Penitentiary inject living cancerous cells into a prisoner's arm to test natural immunity, 1958. Peter Stackpole—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. "Injecting cancer cells into prisoners is done in immunity study." Ohio, 1958. Peter Stackpole—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Doctors at Ohio State Penitentiary inject living cancerous cells into a prisoner's arm to test natural immunity, 1958. Peter Stackpole—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Cancer research on Ohio State Penitentiary prisoners, 1958. Peter Stackpole—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Cancer research on Ohio State Penitentiary prisoners, 1958. Peter Stackpole—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Doctors at Ohio State Penitentiary remove growth of pre-injected cancerous cells from a prisoner's arm, 1958. Peter Stackpole—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. "Diseased cells, enlarged 2,000 times, are studied by Dr. George Z. Williams at National Cancer institute, Bethesda, Md., on ultraviolet TV microscope he helped develop. It reveals enzyme action." Andreas Feininger—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images   LIFE magazine, May 5, 1958\. Best viewed in Full Screen mode. See button at right. LIFE Magazine  LIFE magazine, May 5, 1958\. Best viewed in Full Screen mode. See button at right. LIFE Magazine  LIFE magazine, May 5, 1958\. Best viewed in Full Screen mode. See button at right. LIFE Magazine  LIFE magazine, May 5, 1958\. Best viewed in Full Screen mode. See button at right. LIFE Magazine  LIFE magazine, May 5, 1958\. Best viewed in Full Screen mode. See button at right. LIFE Magazine  LIFE magazine, May 5, 1958\. Best viewed in Full Screen mode. See button at right. 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