Health & Medicine

The Museum's collections of medical science artifacts represent nearly all aspects of health and medical practice. Highlights include early X-ray apparatuses, such as one of Wilhelm Roentgen's tubes, penicillin mold from Alexander Fleming’s experiments, and Jonas Salk's original polio vaccine. More recent acquisitions include the first artificial heart implanted in a human, the earliest genetically engineered drugs, and materials related to David, the "Bubble Boy." Other artifacts range from artificial limbs and implant devices to bloodletting and dental instruments, beauty products, and veterinary equipment. The contents of a medieval apothecary shop and an 1890s drugstore form part of the collections, along with patent and alternative medicines. The collections also document the many differing perspectives on health and medical issues, from patients, family members, doctors, nurses, medical students, and out-of-the-mainstream health practitioners.

This is an anatomical model of a woman, complete with removable parts. The kit includes a clear plastic body or shell, a "complete" skeleton, "all vital organs," and a round plastic display stand. The kit was designed as an educational tool to teach basic anatomy.
Description
This is an anatomical model of a woman, complete with removable parts. The kit includes a clear plastic body or shell, a "complete" skeleton, "all vital organs," and a round plastic display stand. The kit was designed as an educational tool to teach basic anatomy. The intructions explain how to assemble and disassemble the model. The "Visible Woman" was inspired by the success of another anatomical model for children, "The Visible Man." The kit includes a pamphlet, "Introduction to Anatomy," and the manufacturer's guarantee. This kit was never assembled.
One of the more interesting features or non-features of this kit is the lack of genitalia. Manufacturers of anatomical models offered male and female models with and without sexual organs. Americans in the 19th century used phrases such as "after nature" and "organs of generation" to gently refer to reproductive organs. This practice continued well into the 20th century, when paper models and later plastic model kits produced for the general public lacked sexual organs.
A note to parents in the lower left corner of the top of the box warned that the contents included the "Optional Feature: The Miracle of Creation." Separated from the other parts of the model in a brown box, the adapter kit for a 7-months pregnant female includes special instructions for assembling the eight additional parts, which include an expanded breast plate for the pregnant uterus, the small intestines, and the fetus.
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Renwal Products Company
ID Number
1998.0185.01
catalog number
1998.0185.01
accession number
1998.0185
People have long sought better ways to illustrate and understand the structure and functions of the human body. Paper dolls and wax, papier-mache, and plaster anatomical models have all been used as tools to teach human anatomy.
Description
People have long sought better ways to illustrate and understand the structure and functions of the human body. Paper dolls and wax, papier-mache, and plaster anatomical models have all been used as tools to teach human anatomy. In the wake of the launch of the Sputnik satellite, the Renwall Toy Corporatiion of Mineola on Long Island, New York, prepared a line of models for educational purposes. Participants in the project included company executives Irving Lublow amd Irving Rosenbloom and New Jersey designer Marcel Jovine. They proposed and designed this plastic anatomical model with removable parts.
Introduced in the fall of 1959, it initially sold for $4.98. The model has a clear plastic body or shell and comes with a "complete" skeleton, "all vital organs," and a round plastic display stand. The kit also includes instructions on how to assemble and disassemble the model and a pamphlet, "An Introduction To Anatomy: An Illustrated Guide to the Visible Man." This kit was never assembled.
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Renwal Products Company
ID Number
1998.0185.02
catalog number
1998.0185.02
accession number
1998.0185

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