Postmortem: Mütter Museum

The College of Physicians/Mütter Museum

A display of wax models showing various eye conditions used to train physicians at the Mütter Museum. Photo by Constance Mensh.

A visitor reading a label at the Mütter Museum. Photo by Constance Mensh for the Mütter Museum.

A display of wax models illustrating skin disorders at the Mütter Museum. Photo by Constance Mensh for the Mütter Museum.

Recipient

Grant Year 2023

Grant Amount $285,500

Status Active

Updated May 30, 2024

An audience-centered project explores complex questions around respect, consent, and ethics related to the Mütter Museum’s interpretation and display of human remains. Through a variety of public discussions, focus groups, and interviews, the museum gathers direct feedback from museum visitors and community members—in addition to guidance from experts in areas such as public health, medical history, and race and disability studies—to consider its future interpretative and exhibition practices. This feedback and research inform newly contextualized material for a variety of programming, including an exhibition, workshops, discussions, and videos.

Visit the project website.

The total grant amount represents project funding plus an additional 20% in unrestricted general operating support.

Primary EventsEvents & Exhibitions

Postmortem Exhibition

May 25–Dec 31, 2024
The Mütter Museum
19 S 22nd St.
Philadelphia, PA 19103

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Recipient

The College of Physicians/Mütter Museum

The Mütter Museum of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia encourages the public to appreciate the mysteries and beauty of the human body while understanding the history of diagnosis and treatment of disease. The Museum displays its preserved collections of anatomical specimens, models, and medical instruments in a 19th-century "cabinet museum" setting. In addition to long-term displays, museum staff organize short-term exhibitions and commission artists to make work inspired by museum holdings.

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