The USA has over 30,000 museums, some of which are world-famous. But did you know, the country has museums dedicated to the history of medicine? A visit to a medical museum can be a great opportunity for immersive learning experience with interesting insights.The upcoming line-up of CME and other conferences in the USA can give you a chance to explore the 8 medical museums we have listed here.

Historically, medical museums served as an important source of teaching. In the modern times, even though this method may have become obsolete, the museums still play a significant role in helping us understand the key historical shifts in healthcare and medicinal science. They also represent the ever-changing relation between a patient and a doctor, thus, proving their relevance even today.

While some medical museums focus on the progression of medicinal science, some display the strangest of practices and treatments used from aeons ago. Some of the most popular medical museums showcase various artefacts, records, documents, specimens, etc. on a variety of subjects; anaesthesiology, pathology, psychiatry, osteopathy, wartime surgical methods, are just some of them.

If you are attending any of the upcoming conferences in the USA, we highly recommend checking out any of the following medical museums during your visit.

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The Mütter Museum, Philadelphia

Named after Dr. Thomas Dent Mütter, the museum is located in the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. The museum was built with the help of Dr. Mütter’s donation of cash and hundreds of objects for use in the museum.

The space uses a cabinet set to display carefully preserved anatomical specimens and medical instruments. Given that the museum helps visitors understand the fantastic ways of the human body, it is a big draw for school students. There are several models on display to explain the older methods of diagnosis and treatment.

Not to miss: Dr. Joseph Hyrtl’s human skull collection, plaster cast and conjoined liver of “Siamese twins” Chang & Eng, Einstein’s brain, and the tallest skeleton on display in North America, among others.

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The Glore Psychiatric Museum, Missouri

Labelled as one of the 50 most unusual museums in the country, the Glore Psychiatric Museum showcases some bizarre exhibits based on actual cases. You can also see models or illustrations of the mental health treatments put to use through the years at the museum.

The museum is adjacent to the state mental hospital, which is almost one and a half centuries old. Many old items, tools of treatment, uniforms, notes, etc. used at the hospital are displayed at the museum. The museum was conceptualised after George Glore created replicas of the actual treatment devices used in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. These specimens are still on display at the museum.

Not to miss: Artworks by patients of the mental asylum, a mute schizophrenic patient’s embroidered words, and an exhibit of a patient who swallowed over 400 nails.

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The Indiana Medical History Museum, Indianapolis

This museum houses the oldest pathology facility of the USA, which puts it on the National Register of Historic Places. It also illustrates the very beginning of modern medicine and scientific psychiatry.

At the pathology facility, you can see labs for bacteriology, clinical chemistry, and histology, an autopsy room, and more. The anatomical museum here preserves specimens of brains, organised by pathology. An exhibit called the Doctor's Office has plenty of artefacts that a family physician would use in the olden days (before WW II). The showcase is dedicated and based on family physicians, who treated diseases and injuries and even delivered babies.

Not to miss: Original equipment and specimens of post-autopsy cases that were performed here to identify the physical causes of disturbed mental health.

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The Dittrick Museum, Cleveland

This museum came into existence after the historical committee of the Cleveland Medical Library Association started preserving medical artefacts, instruments, write-ups and more around the 1880s. Gradually, the museum came to include a medical library and objects of professional interest, as well. In 1998, it was renamed as the Dittrick Medical History Centre.

With its extensive collection of surgical instruments and tools, the museum beautifully documents the innovations in medical history. The Blaufox Hall displays diagnostic tools that have come into existence and used over the years. There is also a collection of birthing techniques and midwifery spanning a century.

Not to miss: Archives of Darwin’s letters, the Percy Skuy collection of historical contraception, the exhibit on Scientific Technology and Medicine, and the HF Aitken collection of biomedical art.

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The Medical Heritage Centre (MHC), Ohio

A part of the Ohio State University, the Medical Heritage Centre holds a unique collection of rare books, archives and medical artefacts. The Centre was founded to preserve, celebrate and pass on the healthcare legacy of Central Ohio, which has paved a way for health sciences.

Here you can find over 20,000 books, which include several limited editions and ancient monographs from the 1500s. The archives here contain papers and memorabilia by renowned contributors to health sciences. You can also explore the wide range of medical equipment, some of which date back to the 1800s.

Not to miss: Documentations on Robert Zollinger, M.D., Arthur G. James, M.D., and William G. Myers, M.D., Ph.D.

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The Yale Medical History Library, Connecticut

While Yale itself is well-known as a premier institution, its Medical History Library is popular for an enormous collection of medical books, leaflets, journals, prints, etc. Perhaps, this is one place where you can find the works of Hippocrates, Galen, Vesalius, Boyle, and many other luminaries, all under one roof.

There are over 300 medical incunabula (prints before 1501) available at this library. You can find some interesting literature on anaesthesia and smallpox inoculation and vaccination, as well.

Not to miss: A one of a kind Edward Clark Streeter Collection of Weights and Measures and fine prints and sketches on medical subjects covered from the 16th century to the present.

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The National Museum of Civil War Medicine, Maryland

The real-life cases during the Civil War of America gave birth to several medical innovations. This museum located in Maryland showcases the plight of the soldiers that might have been and the harsh conditions in which the surgeons had to operate on the wounded.

You can explore five immersion exhibits here, which simulate the reality of Civil War medical issues. These are named as life in an army camp, evacuation of the wounded from the battlefront, a field dressing station, a field hospital, and a military hospital ward’ first-hand – all showcasing detailed replicas of the scenes.

Not to miss: Medical equipment used during the war, surgical kits, and apparatus used for veterinary medicine.

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The Museum of Osteopathic Medicine, Missouri

A whole museum dedicated to Osteopathic Medicine, can you imagine that? Here you can find records of researches, treatments, innovations and any other significant contributions made by osteopathic physicians to the stream.

The collection here includes over 80,000 artefacts, photos, etc. right from the 1800s. A part of the A. T. Still Research Institute, the museum continues to document information and insights that can be of use to anyone in the osteopathic community.

Not to miss: The exhibit on the formative years of osteopathy and one on osteopathic treatments and practises, which gradually replaced the orthodox practises of the early 19th century.