collections

Special Exhibit:

September 22nd, 2011- past February 2012

Cadwalader Gallery

Curated by guest curator Barbara London

Free with Museum Admission

In an exciting collaboration with Barbara London, Associate Curator, Department of Media and Performance Art at The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City, the Mütter Museum of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia debuts a new exhibition in the Cadwalader Gallery entitled "Through the Weeping Glass." The exhibition is in conjunction with the newest film by the internationally renowned Quay Brothers, Through the Weeping Glass: On Consolations of Life Everlasting (Limbos & Afterbreezes in the Mütter Museum) (2011), commissioned by The College of Physicians of Philadelphia and made possible by a grant from the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage through the Philadelphia Exhibitions Initiative.

Curated by London, "Through the Weeping Glass" explores themes at the heart of the captivating Quay Brothers' film and showcases many of the medical devices, College Historical Library books, and historic images that appear in the film.

The exhibition employs vitrines from the 1900s as well as contemporary cases to display the artifacts, which highlight the remarkable doctors, patients, and artists whose stories fascinated the Quay Brothers. Along with artifacts, the exhibition features the Quays' film Through the Weeping Glass, shown in an intimate theaterette, along with film footage from Behind the Scenes with the Quay Brothers by producer Edward Waisnis.

Supported by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage through the Philadelphia Exhibitions Initiatives.

Film Viewing Times

Special Exhibit: “Mütter Museum Photographs”

September 22nd 2011- February 22nd 2012

Thomson Gallery Hall

Free with Museum Admission (Gallery may be closed for private or College events at scheduled times)

In this exhibition of contemporary fine-art photographs of the Mütter Museum’s collections and historic images from the Museum’s archives, guest curator Laura Lingren explores the vital bond of medicine, photography and art.
The contemporary works among the 37 photographs presented here are by a distinguished group of photographers who have engaged with the Mütter Museum’s collections for more than twenty-five years, heralding a burgeoning international interest in historic medical collections.
The exhibition includes photographs by Shelby Lee Adams, Max Aguilera-Hellweg, Gwen Akin and Allan Ludwig, Candace diCarlo, Steven Katzman, Mark Kessell, Scott Lindgren, Olivia Parker, Rosamond Purcell, Richard Ross, Ariel Ruiz i Altaba, Arne Svenson, William Wegman, and Joel-Peter Witkin, and a selection of historic images from the Mütter Museum’s collection.
Originally organized to coincide with the publication of the book Mütter Museum an expanded form of this exhibition has traveled nationally since 2002.

The Soap Opera

The Mütter Museum is actively involved in ongoing research using 21st century technology to solve the 19th century mystery that is the Soap Lady. Dr. Joseph Leidy, known as the Father of American Vertebrate Paleontology, originally reported that she died of the Yellow Fever epidemic in 1792 and was buried at 4th and Arch Streets. The Yellow Fever epidemic victims were indeed buried at 4th and Arch, but they were buried in 1793. Everything Leidy believed about her time of death and interment were proven false by the original x-rays taken of her in 1986. These x-rays showed buttons and pins on her clothing which postdated her death at least until the 1830s, when these items were first manufactured in the United States.

Thanks to the radiology team from Quinnipiac University led by Jerry Conlogue and Ron Beckett, we have finally finished a new set of x-rays, done in both digital and print. As an initial result of these x-rays, we have revised her age from about 40 to significantly younger than 40, perhaps in her late 20s.

We are now working with Dr. Frederic Rieders of NMS Labs to conduct forensic analysis on the Soap Lady. We are hoping these tests will answer the following questions:

When did she die?
How did she die?
Why did she lose her teeth so early in life?

As part of the testing, NMS will run a toxicological analysis of her hair. They will also run trace and chemical analysis of her adipocere, the fatty substance that encases her body. We have also retrieved a piece of her fingernail, upon which NMS will conduct nutritional profiling, chemical composition, and hormonal evaluation.

This is an ongoing process which may take years. Every test yields new information and interpretations. When the analysis is complete, we hope to have a much clearer picture of the Soap Lady's life and death.