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Living (and Breathing) Museum Research

When the museum receives donations from the community, sometimes little surprises find their way into unexpected collections. Frequently, we classify artifacts based on the donor's description and our expectations. Until we dig into their stories for an exhibit, these unexplored artifacts sit on shelves among surgical sets, microscopes, and pharmaceuticals, waiting to be discovered. One such specimen found its way into our work space as we pulled items for a recent installation on Obstetrical Anesthesia from 1850 to 1890. We were familiar with the Bennett Inhaler (Fig. 1), a handheld device intended to be filled with chloroform for laboring women to self-administer...

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One Lump or Two? Phrenology Diagnosed by the Bump

Diagnosing by the Bump Franz-Joseph Gall (1758-1828), proposed that different functions, such as memory, language, emotion, and ability, were situated in specific “organs” of the brain. These portions of the brain would grow or shrink with use, and the changes would appear as bumps or depressions on the skull. Called Phrenology, the practice of “reading” the bumps supposedly allowed a practitioner to assess different abilities and personality traits. It's a curious idea: what might our own phrenological assessment look like? Phrenology and the American Dream Sometimes, we see what we want to see... Americans were very receptive to phrenology when it arrived...

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Livers and Freckles — 19th Century Humoral Theories about the Summer Sun

"Of all the results that exposure of the skin to the sun or air produces, the most disagreeable is that known by the name of tan, or freckles. The finest and fairest skin is most liable to this affection, and such is the consolation usually offered to females who suffer -- the state is nevertheless a disease when numerous." 1 --Dr. William Kittoe, 1845 In 19th century summers, most Americans considered tans more pathological than fashionable. Patent medicines like Faricum Almandine above (Fig. 1) and compounds from doctors and pharmacists provided men and (primarily) women the means to eliminate any evidence...

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Contraception or Bust: Marketing Around the Comstock Laws

Blog by Diana Suciu, student at Case Western Reserve University Essay winner, USNA 287Q Gothic Science, SAGES 2015 Instructor: Dr. Brandy Schillace From the late 1800’s until the 1960’s, the distribution and acquisition of contraceptives was banned in many American States. It was a popular belief, upheld by the enactment of the Comstock Law, that contraception would lead to promiscuous behavior. Passed in 1873, the Comstock Law enforced a heavy ban on all paraphernalia or literature associated with the topics of pornography, erotica, and contraception (Sex in the City, 1840’s, Dittrick Museum). The law was named after Anthony Comstock, a man who...

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