Thomas Söderqvist 
As you can see if you scroll down a bit (or search for ‘anatomy’/’anatomical’ in the search field), we have written quite a lot about different activities, both in Europe and elsewhere, around the topic of anatomical collections.
The next initiative on this central topic for medical museums is a conference titled ‘Cultures of Anatomical Collections’ to be held at Universiteit te Leiden, 15-18 February 2012. The aim is to explore anatomical preparations and collections and anatomical models (e.g., moulages) as parts of the cultural heritage — asking questions like
- What do the technical details of anatomical preparations tell us about the ideas of their makers?
- How do ideas on beauty and perfection shape anatomical preparations?
- How have anatomical preparations been handled and used for teaching purposes?
- How have the interest of non-medical audiences shaped anatomical preparations and collections?
- How have particular anatomical collections been built up?
- How have curatorial decisions affected the build-up of collections
- How does the housing of a collection affect its outlook and popularity?
Deadline for proposals is already next week — 16 September!! The organiser, Rina Knoeff (r.knoeff@hum.leidenuniv.nl) is prepared to extend the deadline with a week or so if you let her know if they intend to submit an abstract. For more general info, see here.
