MEET THE COLLECTION
NEW Feature! Check back here for periodic updates. We will feature cool items from the IMHM Collections and post updates about related projects.
March 5, 2026; Kylie Barkley, Graduate Student Intern from IU Indianapolis
Object: Norito Aspirin Powders
Manufactured by: The Norito Co., Chicago, Ill.
Significance: This month, the Indiana Medical History Museum celebrates the 127th anniversary of the invention of aspirin. Aspirin, a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), is typically used to treat pain, inflammation, and arthritis. Bayer developed a stable compound of acetylsalicylic acid in Germany in 1897. This compound was officially trademarked under the name “aspirin” on March 6, 1899. After aspirin became available to the public, it was widely considered to be an effective treatment for pain. Today, aspirin is frequently prescribed by doctors and sold over the counter in groceries and pharmacies. Scientists are also researching the role aspirin could play in treating symptoms of viral infections like HIV and COVID-19.
Sources:
Cleveland Clinic: Aspirin: Uses, Warnings & Interactions
National Library of Medicine: The 125th Anniversary of Aspirin—The Story Continues - PMC
Aspirin: Uses, Warnings & Interactions
The 125th Anniversary of Aspirin—The Story Continues - PMC
The 125th Anniversary of Aspirin—The Story Continues - PMC
February 10, 2026: Kylie Barkley, Graduate Student Intern from IU Indianapolis
Object: Stethoscope
Manufactured by: Unknown
Significance: This month, the Indiana Medical History Museum recognizes American Heart Month, which educates the public about ways to improve their cardiovascular health and how to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). President Lyndon B. Johnson established American Heart Month in 1964 as cardiovascular disease became a national priority. During the 1970s, CPR became a common practice and American Heart Month supported educational initiatives to teach the public how to perform CPR. Today, cardiovascular disease continues to be a frequent cause of death in the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “…1 in every 4 deaths in the United States was caused by heart disease” in 2023. Physicians encourage patients to eat a healthy diet, exercise, and stop smoking to improve their cardiovascular health.
Stethoscopes are commonly used to listen to a patient’s heart and lungs. The first stethoscope was invented by Rene Theophile Hyacinthe Laennec in 1816.
Sources:
American Heart Month Communications Toolkit | Heart Disease | CDC
American Heart Month | American Heart Association
History of the Stethoscope | American Diagnostic Corporation
American Heart Month | American Heart Association
American Heart Month Communications Toolkit | Heart Disease | CDC
History of the Stethoscope | American Diagnostic Corporation
January 9, 2026: Kylie Barkley, Graduate Student Intern from IU Indianapolis
Object: Hemocytometer
Manufactured by: Aloe Scientific Division, A.S. Aloe Company, St. Louis, MO.
Significance: In 1970, National Blood Donor Month was created to encourage the public to donate life-saving blood. The organizers chose the month of January since blood donations typically decrease during the winter due to “…weather conditions, holiday travel, and seasonal illnesses”. National Blood Donor Month was officially established by President Richard Nixon in Proclamation 3952, which states that “[n]o manifestation of this generosity of spirit is more expressive, and no gift more priceless in time of personal crisis, than the donation of one’s blood”.
Hemocytometers are typically used to analyze blood samples by counting the number of cells in each sample. Louis Charles Malassez invented the first hemocytometer in 1874. This technology is still used today because these devices are versatile and inexpensive.
Sources:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6591278/
https://mauve-contrabass-2fh2.squarespace.com/s/NBDM-Proclamation.pdf
https://www.blooddonormonth.org/aboutnbdm
December 20, 2025: Kylie Barkley, Graduate Student Intern from IU Indianapolis
Object: Pocket Surgical Kit/Scalpel Set
Manufactured by: Max Wocher, Surgical Instruments, Sixth Street between Vine and Race, Ohio Medical College Building, Cincinnati
Significance: During the month of December, the Indiana Medical History Museum recognizes two momentous events in medical history related to surgery. On December 2, 1982, the first artificial heart was successfully transplanted into a patient at the University of Utah Hospital. Dr. Barney Clark, a dentist, required a heart transplant after years of treatments with steroids damaged his heart. The surgery was performed by cardiothoracic surgeon William DeVries, MD. Clark received the Jarvik-7 permanent artificial heart, which connected to a 400-pound air compressor. Unfortunately, Clark died 112 days after the surgery on March 23, 1983, due to “circulatory collapse and secondary multi-organ system failure”. In an interview with University of Utah Health in 2012, DeVries stated that Clark “…[gave] his life to thousands of people. All medicine is like that – it came from someone who dared to do something like this.” Today, patients in heart failure receive a left ventricular assist device (LVAD) that weighs 10 ounces.
On December 23, 1954, the first successful human kidney transplant occurred in Boston, Massachusetts. Richard Herrick, a patient with end-stage renal disease, received a kidney from his twin brother Ronald. Richard lived for eight years after the surgery and the lessons learned from his surgery led to further innovations in the field of organ transplantation. For instance, the discovery of the first immunosuppressive drugs, corticosteroids and azathioprine, prevented rejection of transplanted organs; thus, organ transplantation became a more widespread practice. The IMHM’s pocket surgical kit represents the tools used by surgeons to perform these cutting-edge surgeries. Pocket surgical kits were used by traveling physicians to perform surgeries in the field.
https://healthcare.utah.edu/healthfeed/2012/12/first-artificial-heart-30-years-later.
https://healthcare.utah.edu/healthfeed/2012/12/first-artificial-heart-30-years-later
https://healthcare.utah.edu/healthfeed/2012/12/first-artificial-heart-30-years-later
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7382875/
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7382875/
https://www.civilwarvirtualmuseum.org/medicine/field-medicine/pocket-surgical-kit.php.
November 8, 2025: Kylie Barkley, Graduate Student Intern from IU Indianapolis
Object: Thwaites Dental X-ray Unit
Manufactured by: Thwaites X-ray Co., Grand Rapids, Michigan, U.S.A.
Significance: Professor Wilhelm Roentgen accidentally discovered X-rays on November 8, 1895. Roentgen, a physics professor in Wurzburg, Germany, experimented with cathode rays, which are electrons discharged from a vacuum tube when heat is applied to the tube’s cathode. During one of his experiments, he noticed that an unknown green light permeated through the tube. Later, Roentgen realized that the green light could pierce through most materials and it created shadows when it encountered solid objects. He referred to the green light as an “X-ray” since “X” often represented an unknown phenomenon during this period. Roentgen tested the X-ray on human tissue by taking a radiographic image of his wife’s hand. After seeing her bones and ring on the radiographic image, Anna Bertha Ludwig told her husband, “I have seen my death!.” After Roentgen’s discovery, X-rays were widely adopted in Europe and the United States. In 1901, Roentgen won the first Nobel Prize in physics for his discovery of the X-ray. The Thwaites Dental X-ray Unit was patented in 1920 and utilized Roentgen’s invention to perform dental exams.
Sources:
https://www.brownhealth.org/be-well/x-ray-day-and-evolution-diagnostic-imaging
https://columbiasurgery.org/news/2015/09/17/history-medicine-dr-roentgen-s-accidental-x-rays
https://medicalmuseum.health.mil/index.cfm/visit/exhibits/virtual/xraydiscovery/index
https://sindecuse.pastperfectonline.com/webobject/CAFDA0EF-94C1-4186-90B9-260751317600
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cathode%20ray
https://www.brownhealth.org/be-well/x-ray-day-and-evolution-diagnostic-imaging
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cathode%20ray
https://columbiasurgery.org/news/2015/09/17/history-medicine-dr-roentgen-s-accidental-x-rays
https://medicalmuseum.health.mil/index.cfm/visit/exhibits/virtual/xraydiscovery/index
https://columbiasurgery.org/news/2015/09/17/history-medicine-dr-roentgen-s-accidental-x-rays
https://sindecuse.pastperfectonline.com/webobject/CAFDA0EF-94C1-4186-90B9-260751317600
October 29, 2025: Kylie Barkley, Graduate Student Intern from IU Indianapolis
Object: Diseases of the Female Mammary Glands (1837) by Th. Billroth, M.D.
Published by: William Wood & Company (donated to Central Indiana Hospital for the Insane in 1896)
Significance: October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, which has educated the public about breast cancer and raised funds for research since 1985. Notably, knowledge of breast cancer has been around for over two thousand years. In Ancient Greece, Hippocrate
s argued that breast cancer was a systemic disease, or a disease that affected the entire body rather than a specific part of the body. His ideas remained unchallenged until the eighteenth century. During this period, Henri Le Dran was the first physician to recommend surgical removal of tumors after discovering that breast cancer was not a systemic disease as posited by Hippocrates. Based on Le Dran’s work, William Stewart Halsted performed the first mastectomy (i.e., removal of the breast) towards the end of the nineteenth century. This method, known as the “Halsted mastectomy” would become one of the most popular treatments for breast cancer until later advancements in surgical methods, radiation, hormone therapy, and chemotherapy in the twentieth century. During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, physicians often learned about breast cancer and treatment methods through books like Diseases of the Female Mammary Glands.
Sources:
https://www.brownhealth.org/be-well/breast-cancer-awareness-month-when-why
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9222657/
https://www.brownhealth.org/be-well/breast-cancer-awareness-month-when-why
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9222657/
September 28, 2025: Kylie Barkley, Graduate Student Intern from IU Indianapolis, commemorates the 97th anniversary of the discovery of penicillin, by sharing an object from our Pharmaceuticals Collection.
Object: Bicillin (Benzathine Penicillin G in Aqueous Suspension) Multiple-Dose Vial
Produced by: Wyeth Laboratories Inc., Philadelphia, PA
Significance: September 28th marks the 97th anniversary of the discovery of penicillin, which has saved millions of lives. Penicillin is an antibiotic used to treat bacterial infections, including strep throat, meningitis, syphilis, ear infections, and pneumonia. On September 28, 1928, physician and scientist Alexander Fleming observed that a mold from the Penicillium genus had developed on a Petri dish containing staphylococcal bacteria. He noticed that the mold destroyed the bacteria and later discovered that it worked against other diseases like scarlet fever and meningitis. The scientific community initially ignored Fleming’s findings; however, renewed interest in penicillin led to the mass production of the antibiotic in the 1940s. Fleming and his colleagues Howard Florey and Ernst Chain won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1945.
