Dittrick Museum of Medical History

Last updated
Dittrick Museum of Medical History
Dittrick Museum.jpg
Entrance
Location map United States Cleveland.png
Red pog.svg
Location within Northeast Ohio
USA Ohio location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Dittrick Museum of Medical History (Ohio)
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Dittrick Museum of Medical History (the United States)
Established1898
1926 (current location)
Location11000 Euclid Avenue
Cleveland, Ohio 44106
Coordinates 41°30′21.5″N81°36′30.5″W / 41.505972°N 81.608472°W / 41.505972; -81.608472
Type Medicine
CuratorAmanda Mahoney
Public transit access Cleveland RTA logo.svg Adelbert Road
Website artsci.case.edu/dittrick/museum/

The Dittrick Museum of Medical History is part of the Dittrick Medical History Center of the College of Arts and Sciences of Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio. The Dittrick Medical History Center is dedicated to the study of the history of medicine through a collection of rare books, museum artifacts, archives, and images. The museum was established in 1898 by the Cleveland Medical Library Association [1] and today functions as an interdisciplinary study center. It is housed in the Allen Memorial Medical Library on the campus of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio's University Circle.

Contents

Exhibit on the Cleveland Health Museum featuring Juno the "invisible woman" and historic photos from 1943 through the 1960s. Juno exhibit.jpg
Exhibit on the Cleveland Health Museum featuring Juno the "invisible woman" and historic photos from 1943 through the 1960s.

History

The Dittrick started as a collection about doctors and the medical profession and has been transformed by the artifacts that the curator and founder provided in attempt to document the advancement of medical history in relation to instruments and technology. Since the foundation and initial intent of the founders the Dittrick Museum has become more analytical of medical technology of the past and seeks to study the doctor-patient relationships throughout time. [2] A prominent figure in making the Dittrick Museum was a man by the name of Dudley Peter Allen who was a surgeon in the late 19th century. In 1894 when the committee for the museum came to be, Allen was a major contributor who donated throughout his life and until he died in 1906. He steadily continued to add to the museum's collection. After his death his wife Elizabeth Severance Allen continued to donate funds in order to build a library in her husband's memory named the Allen Memorial Medical Library as well as a museum. The museum first opened its doors to the public in 1960 and has since maintained this open policy. [3] In 2017, the museum serves as a study center for the College of Arts and Sciences at Case Western Reserve University as well as a museum.

Notable Figures

Dudley Peter Allen Dudley Peter Allen, by August Reinhold Franzen.jpg
Dudley Peter Allen
James Edmonson serves as the curator of the Dittrick Museum. Dittrick Museum curator.jpg
James Edmonson serves as the curator of the Dittrick Museum.

Dudley Peter Allen

Allen was born on March 25, 1852, in Kinsman, Ohio. His father Dudley Allen and grandfather Peter Allen were both doctors as well. He went on to study at Oberlin, where he received his A.B. in 1875, and then onto Harvard Medical School where he received his M.D in 1879. After college he chose to return to Ohio and settled in Cleveland in 1883. Allen was one of the first physicians in Cleveland to confine his medical practice to surgery. He went on to have a successful medical career, teaching surgery at Western Reserve Medical College from 1884 to 1890, becoming the Professor of Principles & Practice of Surgery in 1893, and finally the professor emeritus of surgery in 1910 and senior professor of surgery in 1911.

James Edmonson

James Edmonson is a retired (2017) curator of the Dittrick Museum as well as an alum of the College of Wooster in Wooster, Ohio. He has written many publications such as: American Surgical Instruments: An Illustrated History of Their Manufacture and a Directory of Makers to 1900, A Companion to American Technology, Dissection: Photographs of a Rite of Passage in American Medicine, as well as an excerpt in the book Medical Museums: Past, Present, and Future that talks extensively about the Dittrick Museum.

Collections

The museum has an archives, and artifacts and image collections.

The Blaufox Hall of diagnostic instruments is known as one of the most comprehensive of its kind, displaying medical instruments over the years that have been used in hospitals and show the growing relationships between doctors and patients. [4]

The museum has a wide display of reproductive and medical history: however, the majority of their collection is not displayed in the museum due to space. Instead, this information such as their collection on smallpox and dermatology as well as other exhibits can be found online through their website.

The museum's galleries include but are not limited to: Diagnostic Instruments, Doctor's Office 1870s, Doctor's Office 1930s, Early Medical Practice and Education, Hospital Medicine, 1865-1920, Laboratory Medicine 1865-1920, Microscopes, Millikin Room, Pharmacy 1880s, Stecher Room, Science, Technology, Medicine 1895-1950, Surgery, Obstetrics Instruments, Castele Gallery, Virtue, Vice, and Contraband: A history of Contraception in America and the HF Aitken collection of biomedical art,

Membership

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cleveland</span> City in Ohio, United States

Cleveland, officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in Northeast Ohio along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the U.S. maritime border with Canada and lies approximately 60 miles (97 km) west of Pennsylvania. Cleveland ranks as the most populous city on Lake Erie, the second-most populous city in Ohio, and the 54th-most populous city in the U.S. with a 2020 population of 372,624. The city anchors the Cleveland metropolitan area, the 33rd-largest in the U.S. at 2.18 million residents, as well as the larger Cleveland–Akron–Canton combined statistical area, the most populous in Ohio and the 17th-largest in the country with a population of 3.63 million in 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Case Western Reserve University</span> Private university in Cleveland, Ohio, US

Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) is a private research university in Cleveland, Ohio. Case Western Reserve was established after Western Reserve University—which was founded in 1826 and named for its location in the Connecticut Western Reserve—and Case Institute of Technology—which was founded in 1880 through the endowment of Leonard Case Jr.—formally federated in 1967.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">College of Wooster</span> Private liberal arts college in Wooster, Ohio, US

The College of Wooster is a private liberal arts college in Wooster, Ohio. Founded in 1866 by the Presbyterian Church as the University of Wooster, it has been officially non-sectarian since 1969. From its creation, the college has been a co-educational institution. It enrolls about 2,000 students and is a member of The Five Colleges of Ohio, Great Lakes Colleges Association, and the Association of Presbyterian Colleges and Universities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cleveland Museum of Natural History</span> Natural history museum in Cleveland, Ohio, US

The Cleveland Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum located approximately five miles (8 km) east of downtown Cleveland, Ohio in University Circle, a 550-acre concentration of educational, cultural and medical institutions. The museum was established in 1920 by Cyrus S. Eaton to perform research, education and development of collections in the fields of anthropology, archaeology, astronomy, botany, geology, paleontology, wildlife biology, and zoology. The museum traces its roots to the Ark, formed in 1836 on Cleveland's Public Square by William Case, the Academy of Natural Science formed by William Case and Jared Potter Kirtland, and the Kirtland Society of Natural History, founded in 1869 and reinvigorated in 1922 by the trustees of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Washington Crile</span> American surgeon and co-founder of Cleveland Clinic

George Washington Crile was an American surgeon. Crile is now formally recognized as the first surgeon to have succeeded in a direct blood transfusion. He contributed to other procedures, such as neck dissection. Crile designed a small hemostatic forceps which bears his name; the Crile mosquito clamp. He also described a technique for using opioids, regional anesthesia and general anesthesia which is a concept known as balanced anesthesia. He is also known for co-founding the Cleveland Clinic in 1921.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cleveland Clinic</span> Hospital in Ohio, United States

Cleveland Clinic is an American nonprofit academic medical center based in Cleveland, Ohio. Owned and operated by the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, an Ohio nonprofit corporation, Cleveland Clinic was founded in 1921 by a group of faculty and alumni from the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. The Clinic runs a 170-acre (69-hectare) main campus in Cleveland, as well as 14 affiliated hospitals, 20 family health centers in Northeast Ohio, 5 affiliated hospitals in Florida, and cancer center in Nevada. International operations include the Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi hospital in the United Arab Emirates and Cleveland Clinic Canada, which has two executive health and sports medicine clinics in Toronto. Another hospital campus in the United Kingdom, Cleveland Clinic London, opened to outpatients in 2021 and fully opened in 2022. Tomislav Mihaljevic is the president and CEO.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center</span> Hospital in Ohio, United States

University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center (UH Cleveland Medical Center) is a large not-for-profit academic medical complex in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center is an affiliate hospital of Case Western Reserve University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University Circle</span> Neighborhood of Cleveland, Ohio, United States

University Circle is a district in the neighborhood of University on the East Side of Cleveland, Ohio. It is home to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Severance Hall, the Cleveland Institute of Art, the Cleveland Cinematheque, Case Western Reserve University, the Cleveland Institute of Music, the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland, the Cleveland Botanical Garden, historic Lake View Cemetery, the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, and University Hospitals/Case Medical Center.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walker and Weeks</span> Architecture firm based in Cleveland

Walker and Weeks was an architecture firm based in Cleveland, Ohio, founded by Frank Ray Walker and Harry E. Weeks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kent State University College of Podiatric Medicine</span> University medical school in Ohio, US

Kent State University College of Podiatric Medicine (KSUCPM), is the graduate podiatric medical school of Kent State University (KSU). As of 2022, it is the only fully public podiatry medical school in the U.S. The college is located in Independence, Ohio, south of Cleveland, approximately 30 miles (48 km) from the main KSU campus in Kent. Established in 1916, the college, formerly the Ohio College of Podiatric Medicine, was among the first in the nation to offer a program in podiatric medicine and surgery. The 122,000-square-foot (11,300 m2) facility operates as a regional KSU facility in podiatric medical education.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John B. Rice</span> American politician

John Birchard Rice was an American medical doctor and politician who served as a U.S. Representative from Ohio for one term from 1881 to 1883.

The Case School of Dental Medicine (CSDM) is a graduate school of Case Western Reserve University. It is an American dental school located in Cleveland, Ohio. The Case School of Dental Medicine is a clinically oriented dental school. It has been ranked consistently high with its affiliated medical school. Admission to Case Dental School has an acceptance rate of 2.1%. Over 3700 applications for admission are received every year, and 300 applicants are interviewed for the limited 75 positions. The most recently admitted class had a mean undergraduate GPA of 3.61 and a mean DAT of 20.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Allen Memorial Medical Library</span> United States historic place

Allen Memorial Medical Library is located along Euclid Avenue on the campus of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. Completed in 1926, the building was named in honor of Dudley P. Allen. Designed by the Cleveland firm of Walker and Weeks in a classical revival style, it was constructed with Indiana limestone on a pink Georgia marble base. It was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on 1982-11-30 and is a Cleveland Landmark. Along with serving as a library, the building's 450 seat auditorium serves as classroom for students of Case Western Reserve University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jared Potter Kirtland</span> American politician

Jared Potter Kirtland was a naturalist, malacologist, and politician most active in the U.S. state of Ohio, where he served as a probate judge, and in the Ohio House of Representatives. He was also a physician and co-founder of Western Reserve University's Medical School, as well as what would become the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. The Kirtland Bird Club of Northeast Ohio, founded on September 28, 1940, is named after him.

Case Western Reserve School of Medicine is the medical school of Case Western Reserve University, a private research university in Cleveland, Ohio. It is the largest biomedical research center in Ohio. CWRU SOM is primarily affiliated with University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, Cleveland Clinic, and the MetroHealth System.

Robert S. Biscup is an American orthopaedic surgeon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louis Severance</span> American oilman, philanthropist and sulfur magnate

Louis Henry Severance was an American oilman and philanthropist who was a founding member of the Standard Oil Trust, the first treasurer of Standard Oil, and a sulfur magnate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert P. Madison</span> American architect

Robert Prince Madison is an American architect.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dudley Peter Allen</span> American surgeon, teacher, and writer

Dudley Peter Allen was an American surgeon, teacher, writer, and art patron.

Sanjay Rajagopalan is the Herman Hellerstein Professor of Medicine and Chief Scientific and Medical Officer at the Harrington Heart and Vascular Institute, University Hospitals and Professor Medicine at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) in Cleveland, Ohio. He holds secondary appointments in the Case Western Reserve University Departments of Physiology, Radiology and Biomedical Engineering. Much of his research has been on using technology to guide the detection and treatment of heart disease and more recently on the impact of environmental exposures and climate change on cardiovascular health.

References

  1. ↑ Dittrick Medical History Center: Then and Now, Case Western Reserve University. Retrieved on 2007-12-29.
  2. ↑ Hallam, Elizabeth (2013). Medical Museums:Past, Present, and Future. United Kingdom: The Royal College of Surgeons of England. pp. 159–161. ISBN   978-1-904096-21-4.
  3. ↑ DeMarco, Laura (2016-10-03). "Inside Cleveland's fascinating Dittrick Museum of Medical History (video, event schedule)". cleveland.com. Retrieved 2019-09-04.
  4. ↑ "Dittrick Medical Museum". Atlas Obscura. Retrieved 2017-03-07.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.