Mutter Museum Philadelphia - Human Remains Policy Update

Sarah Tuberty

The Mutter Museum started by the donation of the private collection of anatomical and pathological artifacts by Dr. Thomas Dent Mutter in 1858 to the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. In 1863, the college opened the museum to serve as a teaching resource for medical education and research. Over the years the museum has acquires more and more artifacts, some are human remains, some are medical tools and instruments, and others are wax molds of various pathologies.

The museum has previously displayed artifacts with anonymity, in a very medical model understanding of pathology. The museum features a large wall of human skulls, some with the now out-dated medical term "moron" inscribed in the side.

As a museum guest several years ago, there was this overwhelming feeling of "these are my friends" as I was able to witness so many body variations from the disability community - in ways never experienced before. I find often in medical spaces there is the expectation that a body will look and function in a specific way-and that everything else is a deviation from this, however, this is not true. In fact the "specific way" is more of a average of the various deviations vs the "gold standard." In that being said, the museum has a medical way of displaying and describing the artifacts.

The museum has undergone leadership change launched a 2 year Postmortem Project in 2023 to engage with the public on re-examining the ethics of displaying human remains. As this project is coming to a close, the Mutter Museum has committed to sharing the context and the story of the people who lived in these bodies.

What are your opinions of displaying human remains of disabled bodies? Is this beneficial or exploitive? What does leadership need to consider when engaging with disabled medical history in this way?

What are other museums who have displayed similar content or engaged in similar conversations? What have they done well? What needs to be worked on?

https://www.sciencealert.com/secret-bodies-no-longer-to-be-displayed-at-us-medical-museum

https://muttermuseum.org/mutter-matters