Health & Medicine - Overview
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.
"Health & Medicine - Overview" showing 865 items.
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button, NYU Awareness Week
- Description (Brief)
- Pin-back buttons serve many purposes. They are efficient advertising vehicles, handy for fund-raising in support of a cause, concise statements of a person’s beliefs, a form of educational outreach, and convenient ice-breakers for conversation. NMAH has several hundred pin-back buttons related to disability, including this 1986 one from New York University.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1986
- maker
- unknown
- ID Number
- 1999.0263.13
- accession number
- 1999.0263
- catalog number
- 1999.0263.13
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
button, Disabled People's Movement
- Description (Brief)
- Pin-back buttons serve many purposes. They are efficient advertising vehicles, handy for fund-raising in support of a cause, concise statements of a person’s beliefs, a form of educational outreach, and convenient ice-breakers for conversation. NMAH has several hundred pin-back buttons related to disability, including this 1976 one.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1976
- maker
- Hewig Marvic, Brooklyn, NY
- ID Number
- 1999.0263.14
- accession number
- 1999.0263
- catalog number
- 1999.0263.14
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
button, Power to the Disabled People's Movement
- Description (Brief)
- Pin-back buttons serve many purposes. They are efficient advertising vehicles, handy for fund-raising in support of a cause, concise statements of a person’s beliefs, a form of educational outreach, and convenient ice-breakers for conversation. NMAH has several hundred pin-back buttons related to disability, including this one.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- n.d.
- maker
- RPM Associates
- ID Number
- 1999.0263.16
- accession number
- 1999.0263
- catalog number
- 1999.0263.16
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
button, Pride+Unity
- Description (Brief)
- Pin-back buttons serve many purposes. They are efficient advertising vehicles, handy for fund-raising in support of a cause, concise statements of a person’s beliefs, a form of educational outreach, and convenient ice-breakers for conversation. NMAH has several hundred pin-back buttons related to disability, including this 1993 one from New York City.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1993
- maker
- N. G. Slater Corp.
- ID Number
- 1999.0263.17
- accession number
- 1999.0263
- catalog number
- 1999.0263.17
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
button, Sign 504, Handicapped Human Rights, ACCD
- Description (Brief)
- Pin-back buttons serve many purposes. They are efficient advertising vehicles, handy for fund-raising in support of a cause, concise statements of a person’s beliefs, a form of educational outreach, and convenient ice-breakers for conversation. NMAH has several hundred pin-back buttons related to disability, including this one created by ACCD, the American Coalition of Citizens with Disabilities. Before the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 provided the core of legal protection for most people with disabilities. Disability activists organized protests and sit-ins to pressure the government into signing the regulations needed to implement the law. Joseph A. Califano, Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare signed the regulations in 1977.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- n.d.
- maker
- N. G. Slater Corp.
- ID Number
- 1999.0263.18
- accession number
- 1999.0263
- catalog number
- 1999.0263.18
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
button, Access Illinois
- Description (Brief)
- Pin-back buttons serve many purposes. They are efficient advertising vehicles, handy for fund-raising in support of a cause, concise statements of a person’s beliefs, a form of educational outreach, and convenient ice-breakers for conversation. NMAH has several hundred pin-back buttons related to disability, including this one from Illinois.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- n.d.
- maker
- unknown
- ID Number
- 1999.0263.2
- accession number
- 1999.0263
- catalog number
- 1999.0263.2
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Button, Crips are Beautiful
- Description (Brief)
- Pin-back buttons serve many purposes. They are efficient advertising vehicles, handy for fund-raising in support of a cause, concise statements of a person’s beliefs, a form of educational outreach, and convenient ice-breakers for conversation. NMAH has several hundred pin-back buttons related to disability, including this one.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- n.d.
- maker
- N. G. Slater Corp.
- ID Number
- 1999.0263.3
- accession number
- 1999.0263
- catalog number
- 1999.0263.3
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Contraband Key
- Description (Brief)
- A patient at Winnebago State Hospital in Wisconsin made this key from “found” materials. It is one of three owned by the museum from that institution. Opened in 1873, Winnebago housed people diagnosed with psychiatric conditions. The key was confiscated but the record of it is blank as to its maker, date, or intended purpose. Although the artifact is anonymous, its maker is nonetheless powerfully evident.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- n.d.
- maker
- unknown
- ID Number
- 2000.0014.01
- accession number
- 2000.0014
- catalog number
- 2000.0014.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Contraband Key
- Description (Brief)
- A patient at Winnebago State Hospital in Wisconsin made this key from “found” materials. It is one of three owned by the museum from that institution. Opened in 1873, Winnebago housed people diagnosed with psychiatric conditions. The key was confiscated but the record of it is blank as to its maker, date, or intended purpose. Although the artifact is anonymous, its maker is nonetheless powerfully evident.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- n.d.
- maker
- unknown
- ID Number
- 2000.0014.02
- accession number
- 2000.0014
- catalog number
- 2000.0014.02
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Contraband Key
- Description (Brief)
- A patient at Winnebago State Hospital in Wisconsin made this key from “found” materials. It is one of three owned by the museum from that institution. Opened in 1873, Winnebago housed people diagnosed with psychiatric conditions. The key was confiscated but the record of it is blank as to its maker, date, or intended purpose. Although the artifact is anonymous, its maker is nonetheless powerfully evident.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- n.d.
- maker
- unknown
- ID Number
- 2000.0014.03
- accession number
- 2000.0014
- catalog number
- 2000.0014.03
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center