{"id":5561,"date":"2016-03-29T08:00:50","date_gmt":"2016-03-29T12:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dittrickmuseumblog.com\/?p=2564"},"modified":"2017-10-26T10:30:06","modified_gmt":"2017-10-26T14:30:06","slug":"the-people-behind-and-in-the-museum-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/dittrick\/2016\/03\/29\/the-people-behind-and-in-the-museum-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The People Behind (and in) the Museum"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s #MuseumWeek<\/a>, where museums around the world take to Twitter in a behind-the-scenes look at collections! Today\u2019s theme is people<\/em>. Follow us here on the blog,\u00a0on Twitter and on Instagram all week to keep up with each event! #peopleMW<\/p>\n

\"Skull

A toothless male skull featured in a case of 19th century surgical instruments. Gift of Charles A. Muncaster, 1968.<\/p><\/div>\n

Although the Dittrick Museum’s collections primarily focus on medical tools and \u00a0artifacts,\u00a0a close look around the galleries reveals a few human specimens ever ready to greet visitors with perpetual (and sometimes toothless) smiles. Like the surgical sets and pharmaceuticals they’re featured next to, these specimens were also tools — tools used to teach students about the human body.<\/p>\n

\"Dissection

Class Portrait from Dissection: Photographs of a Rite of Passage in American Medicine, 1880-1930<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Our collections include many historic images of medical students engaged in dissection<\/a>,\u00a0often with each trainee’s name inscribed on the photo. Meanwhile, the identities of the cadavers, like our featured human specimens, remain unknown. Little information is available\u00a0to answer questions such as: Who were these people? Why did they become objects of anatomical study?<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t