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The Collection and Exhibition of a Fetal and Child Skeletal Series

Journal Article · · Museum Anthropology
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1111/muan.12070· OSTI ID:1400903
 [1]
  1. Joint Pow/Mia Accounting Command—Central Identification Laboratory
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Abstract

Discussions of repatriation dominate the topic of human remains in museums. For the large portion of remains that are not subject to the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990, however, concerns regarding how to curate, exhibit, and interpret them are paramount, especially when the remains are those of children. The contents of anthropological collections often reflect a shared past that may be uncomfortable to address, but was formative and valuable to the discipline. Understanding the motivations and circumstances that contributed to bringing human remains into museums, as well as the changing uses and interpretations of those remains over time, is an are important aspect of collections care and public engagement. This article examines a skeletal series of fetuses and children at the National Museum of Health and Medicine as a case study for uncovering and conveying to museum visitors the complex histories behind the acquisition, curation, and display of juvenile human remains. [Army Medical Museum, National Museum of Health and Medicine, juvenile human remains, exhibition, visitor studies, museum collecting, history of anthropology]

Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
OSTI ID:
1400903
Journal Information:
Museum Anthropology, Journal Name: Museum Anthropology Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 38; ISSN 0892-8339
Publisher:
Wiley-BlackwellCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
Country unknown/Code not available
Language:
English

References (9)

A Fifteen-Year Search for First-Stage Human Ova journal January 1989
The rise of academic physical anthropology in the United States (1880–1980): A historical overview journal December 1981
Research Materials and Reproductive Science in the United States, 1910???1940 book January 1987
Experiencing Body Worlds: Voyeurism, Education, or Enlightenment? journal September 2007
Skulls, science, and the spoils of war: craniological studies at the United States Army Medical Museum, 1868–1900 journal September 2009
Let the Dead Teach the Living: The Rise of Body Bequeathal in 20th-Century America journal January 2007
Both Sides of the Collecting Encounter: The George W. Harley Collection at the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University journal March 2009
Icons of Life book September 2009
Mother Love and Infant Death, 1750-1920 journal September 1986

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