When nothing remains: anatomical collections, the ethics of stewardship and the meanings of absence. (19th July 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Claes, Tinne; Deblon, Veronique
• Is Part Of: Journal of the history of collections. Volume 30:Number 2(2018:Jul.)
• Page Start: 351
• Page End: 362
• Publication Date: 2017-07-19
• Subjects: Collectors and collecting -- Periodicals; Collectors and collecting -- History -- Periodicals; Museums -- Acquisitions -- History -- Periodicals; Collectibles -- History -- Periodicals; 069
• DOI: 10.1093/jhc/fhx019
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0954-6650

Abstract

Abstract: In 1845, a collection of 200 skulls was transferred from the prison in Ghent to the city's university museum. For over a century, the skulls served various purposes. They were objects of curiosity, sources for phrenological and anthropological research, and anatomical teaching aids. After the Second World War, however, the collection was destroyed, condemned as a reminder of a past tainted by collaboration. In this article, we build on the history of the skulls to discuss (1) the polysemic nature of anatomical collections, as well as the limits of their adaptability, (2) the importance of the study of disposal and absent objects to historians of anatomy, and (3) the culturally-determined ethics of stewardship governing the contemporary conservation or disposal of anatomical collections from the past.