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Zita Stead

Black and white photograph of Zita Stead, in a white lab coat, seated at a desk and looking down a microscope.
Zita Stead at the Anatomy Department, St Bartholomew's Hospital, c.1933-1936

Zita Mary Stead Blackburn (née Stead; 1904–1986) was a medical illustrator and one of the founders of the Medical Artists Association of Great Britain.

Early life

Zita Stead was born on 21 March 1904 in Bedale, North Yorkshire.[1] Her parents were Robert Stead, a blacksmith, and Mary Helen. She had a brother, George Robert, and three sisters; Mary Helen, Christina and Winifred.[2]

Training and career

Stead gained a diploma in fine art from the Scarborough School of Art and studied anatomy and histology at King's College London.[3][4]

In 1933 she was appointed as artist and research assistant in the Department of Anatomy under H.H. Woollard at St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical College. In addition to her work for the department, Stead provided illustrations of surgical procedures, pathological specimens, teaching exhibits and other medical artwork for various clinical units at St Bartholomew's Hospital.[4] Stead was also an expert in photomicrography and examples of her work were featured in medical journals and textbooks including Gray's Anatomy and Cunningham's Textbook of Anatomy.[5][4]

In 1936, Stead moved to University College London along with H.H. Woollard. During the Second World War, Stead was assigned to work with Arnold Kirkpatrick Henry at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School in Hammersmith, London. They collaborated on the publication Extensile Exposure Applied to Limb Surgery (Edinburgh: E. & S. Livingstone Ltd. 1945), a revised edition of Henry's previous book Exposure of the Long Bones (1927).[6] According to Stead, most of the research and illustration work for this was carried out in the post-mortem room where tutorials were held for paratroop surgeons being taught how to access main arterial supplies between muscles without resort to drastic surgery.[4]

After the war, Stead worked mainly in a freelance capacity. In 1949 she was one of a group of established medical illustrators, along with Dorothy Davison, Audrey Arnott, Margaret McLarty, Clifford Shepley, Dr David Thompsett and Dorothy Barber, who founded the Medical Artists Association of Great Britain.[7] The chief aim of the Association was to set professional standards and act as a qualifying body for new entrants to the field. Stead served as the Association's Honorary Secretary.

Following the death of her husband, Stead returned to full-time employment as Medical Artist at the University of Manchester from 1958 until 1959.[8]

Personal life

Zita Stead married Edgar Blackburn in April 1940 in Kensington, London.[9] Following her marriage, Stead was known by the name Zita Stead Blackburn. Edgar Blackburn died on 19 October 1956.[10] Stead spent her retirement in Kingston-upon-Thames where she indulged her hobbies of golf and fishing.[4] She died on 31 August 1986, aged 82.[11]

References

  1. ^ Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. Entry for "Zita Mary Stead," in England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915 (database online). Provo, UT, USA, 2006. Accessed March 4, 2021 (subscription required).
  2. ^ Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. Entry for "Zita Mary Stead," in 1911 England Census (database online). Provo, UT, USA, 2011. Accessed March 4, 2021 (subscription required).
  3. ^ "Papers of Zita Stead". Private papers and personal collections of individuals associated with St Bartholomew's Hospital. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
  4. ^ a b c d e Cull, Peter (1972). "Medical Artist at Barts" (PDF). St Bartholomew's Hospital Journal. 76: 28–30.
  5. ^ Woollard, H. H. (July 1937). "Intra-Epidermal Nerve Endings". The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease. 86 (1): 54–60.5. doi:10.1097/00005053-193707000-00024. ISSN 0022-3018. PMC 1252783. PMID 17104628.
  6. ^ Group, British Medical Journal Publishing (8 December 1945). "Pathology". Br Med J. 2 (4431): 806–807. doi:10.1136/bmj.2.4431.806-b. ISSN 0007-1447. S2CID 215482573. {{cite journal}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  7. ^ Wilson, Philip (2014). "A Tribute – A Man Ahead of His Time: Professor Peter George Cull, MBE FMAA HonFIMI OStJ. (1927 – 2012)" (PDF). Newsletter of the Medical Artists' Association of Great Britain: 1–12.
  8. ^ Evans, Raymond (2010). "The Life and Death of a Unit - A Brief History of Medical Illustration in Manchester" (PDF). Newsletter of the Medical Artists' Association of Great Britain: 1–6.
  9. ^ Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. Entry for "Zita M. Stead," in England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1916-2005 (database online). Provo, UT, USA, 2010. Accessed March 4, 2021 (subscription required).
  10. ^ Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. Entry for "Edgar Blackburn" in England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007 (database online). Provo, UT: 2007. Accessed March 4, 2021 (subscription required).
  11. ^ Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. Entry for "Zita Mary Stead," in England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1995 (database online). Provo, UT, USA, 2010. Accessed March 4, 2021 (subscription required).
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