Talking with the Dead: Narratives from The Old Anatomy Museum

Recorded 16 February 2023. A hybrid lecture by Evi Numen (TCD) as part of the Medical and Health Humanities Seminar Series. Medical museums begun their existence as galleries of wonder, a way to celebrate God’s creations through collecting and publicly accessible display. As medical knowledge and teaching developed, medical collections moved from this quasi-religious domain to establishments of scientific research and education out of the public eye. The advent of modern imaging and other teaching technologies pushed some of these difficult-to-upkeep collections into obscurity altogether. In recent years, they are coming out of the shadows, bringing with them some difficult questions and inconvenient narratives, entwined as they are with stories and practices of a colonialist past. Others complicate our understanding of human diversity, ability, and consent, and invite us to bridge the gap between specimen and visitor. This lecture investigates that transition by tracing the past of the Old Anatomy Museum and discussing its future. How did medical education practices evolve from body snatching to body donation? What lessons can we learn from a 200-year-old skeleton in a cabinet? What can an illustration of a syphilis sufferer tell us about public health today? These are some of the questions we are called upon to grapple with, as we embark on a project to establish a medical heritage centre around a collection that spans 300 years of medical education in Ireland, and includes human remains, anatomical models, medical illustrations, and striking portraits of patients and physicians. Learn more at: https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/