Final report, 2004

File — Box: 8, Folder: 1

Scope and Contents

From the Series: This collection of the records of the Mütter Museum span the years 1969 through 2006, although the bulk of the material dates from 1999 to 2009. The records document the educational programs of the Museum, including portrait tours, lesson plans, and the grants used to support them; two major exhibitions, “Only One Man Died” and “The Medical World of Benjamin Franklin;” and the renovations made to the Museum during the 1980s and early 2000s. The collection is divided into ten series.

Series I contains a typescript copy of (former) curator Ella Wade’s article, “A Curator's Story of the Mütter Museum,” dated 1970.

Series II holds the 1992 College of Physicians Collection Development Policy.

Series III contains reports, minutes, and correspondence of the Committee on the Mütter Museum for the years 1977 to 1990, as well as some monthly and annual curator’s reports from 1975 through 2003. Please note that these records are intermittent, and do not include every year in the date ranges noted.

Series IV: Museum Education dates from 1983 through 2000, and includes information relating to some of the earliest education programs the Museum offered to school groups, including lesson plans for “Infectious Diseases: The Human Response” and “On Human Variation: Genetics and Nutrition” (circa 2000). Also housed in this series are an overview of the Museum Assessment Program, and the meeting notes of staff members on the self-assessment team.

Series V: Tours dates from 1997 to 1999 and holds a 1997 “Guidelines for Group Visits;” planning, training, and scripts for the portrait tour offered; and slides used for presentations during tours. Researchers should note that the Library does not have the required equipment to play the slideshow.

Series VI: Exhibits documents the planning, installation, and publicity surrounding two major exhibitions curated by Museum staff, “Only One Man Died” (2003) and “The Medical World of Benjamin Franklin” (2006).

Series VII: Gretchen Worden spans the years 1992 to 1996 and 2000-2003, and contains materials related to the Philadelphia Open House Tours, in which the College participated in during the early 2000s. Correspondence and membership information regarding the Thomas Dent Mütter Associates membership program is also included in this series.

Series VIII: Renovations details the renovations done in the Museum and Museum storage spaces during the 1980s, including lighting, exhibit cases, air conditioning, and the mezzanine area (carpeting, railings, stairway to lower level). The folders are arranged somewhat chronologically for planning documents, maps, grant information, and exhibit cases; and also by contractor. Researchers interested in major renovations to museums and galleries will find this series particularly rich in detail, from wood choices for exhibit cases to paint colors to cost of labor and supplies. A small file regarding the electrical work done in the 1990s can also be found in this series.

Series IX: Grants makes up the bulk of the collection and contains applications, award letters, planning documents, meeting minutes, and reports which reflect some of the various grants the Museum received during the years 1994 through 2006. Many of the grants were used to plan, implement, and improve educational programming surrounding the Museum’s collections, particularly the “Only One Man Died” exhibit, which opened in 2003. Foundations in support of the Museum’s education initiatives include the Fund for the Improvement of Education, Philadelphia History Exhibits Initiative, the Pennsylvania Historical Museum Commission. Other grants awarded included wet specimen preservation grants from the Conservation Center for Arts and Historic Artifacts and the Groff Trust, as well as general operating grants from the Pennsylvania Historical Museum Commission.

Series X: Elizabeth Moyer correspondence re History of Nursing Project is a small series dating from 1975 to 1973, and which documents former curator Elizabeth Moyer’s involvement in the project.

Series XI is a citation from the City Council of Philadelphia honoring and commending the Mütter Museum.