Bertillon System Cards

Date:
1888
Reference:
GALTON/2/4/18/13
Part of:
Galton Papers
  • Archives and manuscripts
  • Online

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Contains: 10 images

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In copyright

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Credit

Bertillon System Cards. In copyright. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider

The original material is held at UCL Special Collections. This catalogue is held by the Wellcome Library as part of Codebreakers: Makers of Modern Genetics.

About this work

Description

Completed Bertillon cards for Eugene Durand and Georges Pimpeterre.

Alphonse Bertillon was a Parisian police clerk who devised a system for recording information that could be used to identify people in police custody. This involved taking standardised photographs of the person's face in full and in profile as well as recording various measurements and distinguishing features such as hair and eye colour, scars and tattoos. These were all noted on cards known as the "Bertillon System Cards". Bertillon also devised a method for classifying and filing the cards so they could be easily retrieved.

Publication/Creation

1888

Physical description

5 cards

Location of duplicates

A digitised copy is held by the Wellcome Library as part of Codebreakers: Makers of Modern Genetics.

Terms of use

The papers are available at UCL Special Collections and Archives subject to the usual conditions of access to Archives and Manuscripts material, after the completion of a Reader's Undertaking.

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Location of original

The original material is held at UCL Special Collections. This catalogue is held by the Wellcome Library as part of Codebreakers: Makers of Modern Genetics.

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