Out of the Archives: Historical Medical Library Fall Open House

The Mütter Museum is opening up its Historical Medical Library for a fall open house on Thursday, October 15, from 4:30 PM to 6:30 PM. It's part of a partnership with Archives Month Philly, and the whole thing is titled Out of the Archives—a fitting name, because the museum staff have spent the last few months digging into the library's collections to pull out materials that don't usually see the light of day.

If you've ever walked through the Mütter, you know the museum is built around the mysteries and beauty of the human body and the history of how we've diagnosed and treated disease. The library is the research side of that same coin. For this open house, they're bringing those archival materials out of the stacks and into the room where you can actually see them. You'll be able to explore the items firsthand and talk through them with the people who know them best: the museum's archivist and librarians will be on hand to answer questions and give you some context on what you're looking at.

There's also a way to take a piece of the collection home with you, though not in the way you might think. You can 'adopt' a unique piece of medical history; if you do, you get a special card and a note of support added to the item's catalog record, and the money goes toward the Library Preservation Fund. If you're in the mood to make something rather than collect something, the Senior Director of Collections and Research will be leading a craft that you can take home with you.

The open house runs from 4:30 PM to 6:30 PM on Thursday, October 15, at the Mütter Museum's Historical Medical Library in Philadelphia. It's free, though registration is strongly encouraged.