Erin McLeary (Mütter Museum)
The Mütter Museum, founded in 1863 as a teaching museum for physicians and medical students, holds approximately 6000 human remains, collected by physicians to teach and illustrate pathology, the premier medical science of the late 1800s. For many years, it was assumed that these remains had been transformed through this act of collection into specimens that are forever severed from their human identity. In this talk, Mutter Museum staff will discuss how they are testing that assumption; how they are applying the extended specimen concept, first articulated within biodiversity collections, to collections of human remains; and how affiliating a specimen with its human identity can expand our understanding of the lived experience of those who came before us. This talk will also discuss how this project has raised questions of what counts as “data,” what counts as “research,” and what counts as “human.”