UPCOMING EVENTS
| *Please note: The Old Pathology Building that houses the Indiana Medical History Museum is a historic building and, as such, may present certain risks and/or physical restrictions. Some floor seating is available for visitors with limited physical mobility, but these must be requested in advance by emailing Sarah at shalter@imhm.org. These are available on a first come, first served basis. We are working to make our historic amphitheater more accessible and safer, but all program attendees must read and accept the Ticket Agreement to acknowledge the risks posed by steep stairs, the lack of a railing, etc. Click here to view the Ticket Agreement._____________________________Sunday, March 1, 2020 2pm John E. Pless, MD Memorial Central State Circle Lecture A Pictorial History of Hook's Drugstores presented by Chuck Hazelrigg, DDS Learn the early history of the Hook's Drugstore chain in Indiana. Reminisce with photographs of the early 1900s, both inside views and outside views of the early drugstores. In addition, there is an opportunity to see early drugstore artifacts that our presenter, Dr. Hazelrigg, has collected over the years. There will be time for questions and comments at the conclusion of his presentation. Tickets: $5; FREE for Central State Circle and Edenharter Circle Members Register here. ___________ Wednesday, March 25, 2020 5pm Spring Installment of the Forensic Science Lecture Series Open Wide: A Look into Forensic Dentistry presented by Clay W. Stuckey, DDS Dr. Clay W. Stuckey will use cases from his thirty-five year experience as a forensic dentist to explain and illustrate just what it is that a forensic dentist does. They don't call the forensic dentist if a dead human body can be identified by simply viewing it. Be advised that a few pictures of such bodies may be disturbing to some people. The Forensic Science Lecture Series (FSLS) was established in 2004 to help educate the public in the forensic sciences and related fields as well as to spotlight the fascinating stories that scientists have to tell. The lecture series is sponsored jointly by the Indiana Medical History Museum and the University of Indianapolis Archaeology & Forensics Laboratory. Register here. ___________ Sunday, April 26, 2020 2pm The Annual Lande Family Lecture More Information Coming Soon! ___________ Sunday, May 10, 2020 3pm Picturing Nightingale: How Visual Culture Assisted in the Rise of Nursing Professionals presented by Jane Schultz, PhD Registration Information Coming Soon! |
PAST EVENTS |
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Sunday, December 1, 2019 2pm. Door opens at 1:45 for light refreshments.
Glenn B. Mather, MD Memorial Lecture and Annual Members Meeting
Diphtheria and Self-determination: The Female Body in Willa Cather's Sapphira and the Slave Girl
presented by Diane Prenatt, Ph.D.
Two girls are treated for diphtheria in this novel of antebellum Virginia. One lives; one dies. How does their fate related to the fate of a third girl, the enslaved Nancy? Willa Cather's 1941 novel, the last one she complete in her long writing career, turns back to a memory and a family story from her Virginia childhood to examine ways in which the female body is subjected to male power- medical, political, and cultural.
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Wednesday, November 6, 2019 6 to 7pm
Agitation and Stagnation: Class and Health in America, 1919-2019 (a Spirit and Place Festival event)
Rooted in the drama of Indiana’s homegrown revolutionary, Eugene V. Debs, this panel discussion will explore how class affected health outcomes 100 years ago and how it continues to affect outcomes today. By talking about the life of a rabble-rouser like Eugene V. Debs and coupling that information with current public health issues, we hope to spark a conversation that will put history into action. How did class affect a person’s health in 1919? Are there parallels to 2019? With 100 years in perspective, what worked? What failed? Is the health care system continuing to evolve or does it need a whole-scale revolution?
Kim Jacobs, producer of WFYI’s new documentary “The Revolutionist: Eugene V. Debs,” will lead a discussion with historians Sarah Halter of the Indiana Medical History Museum and Dr. Wesley Bishop of Marion University, as well as community health experts. Join us for this informative and thought-provoking panel discussion and audience dialogue.
RSVPs required due to limited seating. Walk-in guests can only be accommodated after all registered guests have been seated. Register here.
Presented by the Indiana Medical History Museum and Side Effects Public Media & WFYI Productions.
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Sunday, November 3, 2019 1:30-3:30pm
We Need to Have this Conversation. Period. (a Spirit and Place Festival event)
Menstrual cycles are a fact of life, yet taboo to talk about. Now is the time to go public with your period. During this discussion, our panelists will talk about the evolution-- or lack thereof-- of period technology, how Western ideology around menstruation developed, as well as contemporary issues like period shaming, access to education, and health risks.
Presented by the Indiana Historical Society, Indiana Medical History Museum, Indiana State Department of Health- Office of Women's Health, LifeSmart Youth, Dr. Sharra Vostral and Women4Change Indiana. This even takes place at the Indiana Historical Society.
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Sunday, October 27, 2019 2-4:30pm
15th Annual Wizards Academy
Visit with magical creatures during a live animal show and explore the science behind your favorite wizard’s magical world through hands-on experiments! Parents and children are encouraged to dress up in their favorite wizardly attire! Recommended for grades 3-6.
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Wednesday, October 16th, 2019 5pmThe Fall Installment of the Forensic Science Lecture Series: The Science of Broken Bones
presented by Mari Isa, MA, PhD candidate, Department of Anthropology, Michigan State University
Blunt force trauma is common in deaths involving assaults, falls, and motor vehicle accidents. In these cases, analysis of the skeletal fracture patterns can be key to reconstructing events around the time of death. But what can forensic scientists actually read from fracture patterns? Is it possible to know the number of blows? The type of implement used? To differentiate accidental injuries from child abuse? Over the past decade Michigan State University forensic anthropologists and engineers have addressed these questions through experimental research using animal, human, and computer models. This presentation will highlight some exciting findings from this research and what they mean for analyzing forensic cases. Along the way we will also explore the surprisingly contentious and sometimes macabre history of trauma research.
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Sunday, September 29, 2019 2pm
IMHM 50th Anniversary Celebration and IHB Historical Marker Dedication
As we celebrate 50 years of presenting and preserving the Old Pathology Building and all of Indiana’s medical past. We will gather at 2pm and enjoy light refreshments and a short presentation about the Museum’s first 50 years and what’s to come. A new historical marker from the Indiana Historical Bureau to commemorate the Old Pathology Building will be unveiled, and our Board President Jane Schultz, PhD will lead us in a toast to the next 50 years!
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Thursday, September 26, 2019 6-7pm
Launch Event: Sick, a new podcast from Side Effects Public Media
Sick, a new podcast from Side Effects Public Media, examines what goes wrong in places meant to keep us healthy. In season one, that place is an Indianapolis fertility clinic, where a doctor's abuse of power has impacted dozens of local families.
Join Side Effects Public Media and the Indiana Medical History Museum for a preview of the podcast and a discussion of fertility treatments throughout history.
Brought to you by Side Effects Public Media and the Indiana Medical History Museum. Support from WFYI, PRX, and the Center for Public Broadcasting.
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Tuesday, July 9, 2019 5 to 7pm
Rehumanizing the IMHM Specimen Collection
Please join us as we unveil a new permanent exhibit. Refreshments will be served at this open house event. Drop in any time between 5 and 7pm to view the exhibit and read the human stories behind the IMHM specimen collection.
We hope you will join us for this unveiling to learn more about the former patients of Central State Hospital as people. Who were they and what was their life like before institutionalization? What impact did their symptoms have on their daily lives? And how, given advancements in medicine and psychiatry, might their diagnosis, prognosis, or treatment be different today?
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Surgery and Shenanigans: Frank Allen, Auto Racing's Early Trauma Physician
The Annual Lande Family Lecture
presented by Norma Erickson, MA
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Wednesday, April 3, 2019 5pm
The Truth About Trace Evidence
The Spring Installment of our Biannual Forensic Science Lecture Series
presented by Gina Londino-Smolar, IUPUI Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Forensic and Investigative Sciences Program
Have you ever wondered how hairs or fibers are used in forensic casework or what information can be determined by a single hair? Can it be matched to an individual? How about fibers? Can a fiber be identified just by using a microscope? Can it be matched to a particular sweater? During this presentation, we will examine common trace evidence, learn what trace evidence can tell us, and hear about familiar cases in which trace evidence played an important role in the investigation. We will look at microscopic characteristics of trace materials and discover what we can determine --and what we cannot say about the evidence and how that compares with dramatizations in television and movies.
__________Saturday, April 13, 2019 6pm
at Woodstock Club
Indiana Medical History Museum 50th Anniversary Dinner
Please join us in celebrating 50 years of preserving the Old Pathology Building and Indiana's medical past. Dinner will be served at 6:50pm. An after-dinner program will highlight major events and recognize some of those who were instrumental in the Museum's creation and success. Then we'll go on a short Romp through Medical History led by Drs. Kathleen Hull and Clay W. Stuckey.
__________Sunday, February 24, 2019 2pm
Rehumanizing IMHM's Specimen Collection
Pless Memorial Central State Circle Lecture
presented by Sarah Halter, executive director, Indiana Medical History Museum
This event held to thank our Central State Circle members and honor the memory of our dear friend John E. Pless, MD is FREE to Central State Circle and Edenharter Circle level members.
During this program, Sarah Halter, executive director of IMHM, will talk about why this project is so important and how it evolved. She will update our members and the public on our progress, share examples of the new revamped labels that will be unveiled in June, and talk about the ethical considerations and practical challenges we've had to address.
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What Art Teaches Us About Ourselves
the Glenn B. Mather, MD Memorial Lecture and Annual Members Meeting at the Indiana Medical History Museum is presented by Shirley M. Mueller, MD.
As humans, our interaction with art is complex. Though seemingly passive, it is not. Our brains and bodies respond physically to the art before us. This may seem magical, but recent scientific research supports this point of view.
Learn more about you and your response to art when Shirley M. Mueller, MD discusses the human impact of art colliding with science. You will likely never look at art in the same way again.
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Sunday, November 18, 2018 2pm
The 1918 Indianapolis Experience with Influenza
During the global 1918-1919 influenza epidemic, an estimated one-third of the world’s population became infected, and of those an estimated 10% died. Mortality rates are often higher among the very old and very young, but in this epidemic, there was also a high mortality rate in healthy individuals between the ages of 20 and 40. Indianapolis did not escape the epidemic.
William Beck and William McNiece, MD, both of the Marion County Historical Society, will trace the timeline and impact of influenza in Indianapolis in 1918 as reported in newspapers and other local sources.
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Friday, November 9, 2018
From Auschwitz to Indiana: Medical Ethics through History with Eva Kor
presented in partnership with Candles Holocaust Museum for Spirit & Place Festival
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Sunday, October 21, 2018 2 to 4:30pm
Annual Wizards Academy
Visit with fantastic creatures during a live animal show with Hedgehog Hannah and explore the magic of science through hands-on science experiments in the Old Pathology Building's historic laboratories! Parents and children are encouraged to dress up in their favorite wizardly attire. Recommended for grades 3 through 6.
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Wednesday, October 10th 5pm
The Ku Klux Klan, D. C. Stephenson, and the Murder of Madge OberholtzerFall Installment of the Forensic Science Lecture Series presented by Clay W. Stuckey, DDS
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Sunday, October 7, 2018 2 to 4:30pm
Romantic Anatomy: Drawing from the Collection of the Indiana Medical History Museum
The French Romantic painter Théodore Géricault as working toward his masterpiece The Raft of the Medusa at the same time that Mary Shelley published Frankenstein. Before debuting his larger-than-life painting, Géricault studied human anatomy by checking out (like a library book) body parts from the morgue. He painted studies of these with a naturalistic approach, and in doing so, he shocked his audience with the tension between the life of his subjects and the fact that they were ultimately dead. Join Marian University Art Professor Jenny Ambroise in taking Géricault’s approach to drawing the anatomical collection of the Indiana Medical History Museum and discover what makes Shelley’s and Géricualt’s work enduring and still relevant today. Easels and drawing horses will be provided. Dry media only, please!
The works created during this workshop will be displayed at the Indianapolis Arts Garden in March of 2019, and the public will vote to determine awards given.
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Monday, September 24, 2018 6pm
Lonesome at Home: The Vonnegut Family and Mental Health with Nanette Vonnegut in partnership with the Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library
Saturdays from June through September at 11am
Free Guided Tours of the IMHM Medicinal Plant Garden
Every Saturday morning from June through September, IMHM offers free guided tours of the Medicinal Plant Garden led by one of the Purdue Master Gardeners of Marion County who lovingly maintain it. Tour begins promptly at 11:00 am and does not include a tour of the museum.
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Friday, July 20, 2018 from 5 to 9pm
Central State Summer Fest
Explore the Central State campus, tour the Indiana Medical History Museum, shop at People for Urban Progress, and enjoy local eats. FOOD, MUSIC, TOURS, BREWS
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Friday, July 6, 2018 from 6 to 8pm
First Friday at IMHM: The Art and Institutionalization of John Zwara
Reception and exhibit
In early 1938, transient artist John Zwara was admitted to Central State Hospital with a diagnosis of dementia praecox, now known as schizophrenia. He spent that spring and summer painting the grounds of the hospital s part of his therapy, before he wandered away from the hospital late in the summer. For one day only, these rarely seen paingitns will be on display.
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Monday, June 18, 2018 at 5:30pm or Saturday,June 23, 2018 at 4:30pm
An Uncommon Event for Exceptional Donors (invitation only)
More than Beautiful: a guided walk through the Medicinal Plant Garden
presented by Kathleen Hull, MD, retired pathologist and Purdue Master Gardener
A special donor event by invitation only. Light refreshments will be served. In case of rain, a garden presentation will take place in the amphitheater.
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Saturday, June 16, 2018 from 10am to 4pm
presented by the Indiana Medical History Museum and Preserve Greater Indy
Join us at Indy's first ever Painting for Preservation event! Paint with other plein air artists and celebrate he historic buildings at the former Central State Hospital grounds. The public are also welcome to explore the grounds and learn more about the hospital's 150-year history and recent work to preserve and develop the site through self-guided tours.
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Wednesday, May 23, 2018 at 5pm
Spring Forensics Lecture
The Court of Science vs. The Court of Law
presented by Dr. Stephen Nawrocki of the University of Indianapolis
Forensic scientists have been working within the medicolegal realm for well over a century, but the relationship is still rather awkward. These two dancers come from different backgrounds and are forged on blatantly different philosophies, creating tensions that emerge in some of our most salient cultural discussions. This presentation will examine this strange dance, specifically: (1) how does the ‘court of science’ differ from the ‘court of law’?; (2) how can working within the medicolegal system compromise the fundamental tenets of the scientific method?; (3) can science really be used to illuminate events that occurred in the past, without them having been observed directly?; and (4) how does the current organization of our forensic system assist or hinder scientific goals and the concurrent allocation of justice? Examples will be drawn from the author’s 30+ years of experience working as a forensic anthropologist.
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Sunday, May 6, 2018 at 2pm
The Annual Lande Family Lecture
Crimes Against Humanity? Where does the gavel fall for morality in science in Frankenstein?
presented by Fiona McDonald, PhD, Postdoctoral Researcher at IUPUI
Did Victor Frankenstein commit a crime against humanity when he created his creature? This talk by Dr. McDonald presents a lively retelling of a hypothetical legal trial about morality in science and the ethics of responsibility. Each character in Frankenstein will be presented as witnesses, and audience members can act as jurors, casting their Vote at the end of the presentation. The goal of this talk is to explore how Mary Shelley presented ethics in science to her 19th century readers and how, today, her book can help us think through the same questions.
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Tuesday, April 24, 2018 at 6pm
Taste of Science Festival: Our Body
presented by Sarah Halter at Fountain Square Brewery
For this year's Taste of Science Festival, Sarah Halter, executive director of IMHM, will be at Fountain Square Brewery o talk about the history of the Indiana Medical History Museum's specimen collection, how and why they were collected in the early 20th century at the Pathological Department of Central State Hospital, their contribution to current research on schizophrenia, and our new efforts to "rehumanize" them.
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Thursday, April 19, 2018 at 6pm
Medical History Improv with Off Topic
Join us as we welcome back local improv comedy troupe Off Topic for another fabulous evening of medical history-themed comedy! Sarah Halter will start the evening off with the strange story of the Father of Gastric Physiology. Then Off Topic will take over, performing long-form improv based on what they'll be hearing for the first time that evening and based on suggestions from the audience.
RSVP strongly recommended; Register through Eventbrite here.
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Monday, March 5, 2018 at 5:30pm
Invite Only Donor Event
Gadgets & Gizmos
An UNCOMMON EVENT for EXCEPTIONAL DONORS
Code required; Register here.
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Saturday, March 3, 2018 from 2-6pm
Central State Open House
Come see all the new developments at Central State and enjoy food & drink by local vendors. Browse the Old Pathology Building for free (timed entry; last admission at 5:30pm) and learn about the history of Central State Hospital.
For more information about timed entry to the Museum, please call 317-635-7329; Register through Eventbrite here.
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Sunday, January 21st 2pm
The Pless Memorial Lecture for Central State Circle
Pictures at an Exhibition: The Neurology of Famous Musicians and Composers
presented by Dr. Robert M. Pascuzzi, Professor and Chair of Neurology at Indiana University School of Medicine
Free for Central State and Edenharter Circle members; $5 for all others
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Sunday, December 3rd 2pm
Glenn B. Mather Memorial Lecture and Annual Members Meeting
Thomas Story Kirkbride and the Kirkbride Plan
Presented by Dr. Clay W. Stuckey
Free for Members; $5 for NonMembers
Explore the lfe of Dr. Thomas Story Kirkbride and the famous Kirkbride Plan that contributed so much to the development of a more humane treatment of the mentally ill during the 19th Century.
Register through Eventbrite here or 317.635.7329
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Wednesday, November 1st 5:30pm
Fall Installment of the Forensic Science Lecture Series
To See for One's Self: the History and Future of Autopsy
Presented by Darin L. Wolfe, MD. In his talk, Dr. Wolfe will cover the surprising history of death investigation with the dawn of humanity and finishing with a look into the future of one of history's oldest medical procedures: the autopsy.
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Sunday, October 22nd 2 to 4:30pm
Visit with fantastic creatures during a live animal show and explore the magic of science through hands-on experiments! Parents and children are encouraged to dress up in their favorite wizardly attire! Recommended for grades 3-6. Advanced registration required.
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Saturday, September 30th 12pm to 12am
Join us with Indiana Humanities to kick off their series One State/One Story: Frankenstein with a 12-hour read-a-thon of Frankenstein at the nation's oldest pathology lab--The Indian Medical History Museum.
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June 9, 2017 at 7:00 pm
Off Topic - Improv Comedy at the Indiana Medical History Museum
Indianapolis-based comedy troupe Off Topic will present a special, medical history-themed performance at the Indiana Medical History Museum.
The IMHM's own Executive Director, Sarah Halter, will start off the evening with the brief and somewhat bizarre story of Thaddeus Stevens, first Secretary of the Indiana State Board of Health. Then Off Topic will perform long-form improv based on what they'll be hearing for the first time and suggestions from the audience.
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May 10, 2017 5:30 pm
A Knife to the Eye: Practicing Medicine in Nineteenth-Century Art
Presented by Kate Scott, PhD
How did country doctors see themselves in the early nineteenth century? How did their patients and colleagues see them? Dr. Kate Scott of the Indiana Historical Society takes a look at paintings of rural physicians, in particular Ammi Phillips’ shocking Peter Guernsey, the Eye Doctor. We’ll examine the messages doctors created in their endeavor to challenge existing stereotypes and to earn the respect of both rural patients and elite urban practitioners.
___________________________________________April 16, 2017 2:00 pm
The Lande Family Annual Lecture
Carnival of Crime: An Interesting Exploration of Crime during the Civil War EraJoin R. Gregory Lande, D.O., author of Psychological Consequences of the American Civil War (2016), for an interesting exploration of crime and mental illness in the United States during the Civil War Era.
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March 22, 2017 5:30 pm
Forensic Science Lecture Series | Spring 2017
A former licensed practical nurse, Orville Lynn Majors, was nicknamed as the "Angel of Death" during a lengthy investigation and trial which drew world-wide media attention to the Clinton, Indiana community. His victims, aged 56 to 89, were said to have been in stable condition before they died suddenly while under Majors’s care. One particular patient's demise is the focus of this presentation.
Presented by Diane K. Tolliver, Forensic Document Examiner
Tolliver Forensic Services, LLC
Indiana State Police, Laboratory Division, Forensic Document Unit, retired
___________________________________________December 4, 2016 2:00 pm
Annual Meeting of the Membership and Glenn B. Mather, MD Memorial Lecture
Health and Happiness in America's Gilded Age and Progressive Era
David G. Schuster, PhD, Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne
The Gilded Age and Progressive Era (roughly 1870-1920) witnessed a marked development in the history of American health care. The period itself was characterized by an active health care market that placed drug manufacturers, religious healers, lifestyle enthusiasts, and professional physicians in competition with one another. The amount of disposable income Americans spent on health care was growing, governmental regulation was in its infancy, and promoters and advertisers promised nothing short of medical salvation to attract customers. Faced with heightened expectations from patients, America’s turn-of-the-century medical profession began promising something they could not necessarily guarantee: happiness.
___________________________________________November 10, 2016, 6:00 pm
Exhibit opening and panel discussion on the closure of Indiana's Central State Hospital in 1994 and the current state of mental health care in Central Indiana. This event is part of the 2016 Spirit & Place Festival and the Voices from Central State series.
The exhibit, based on patient-produced newsletters, will be on display at the Indiana Medical History Museum from November 10, 2016-March 2017.___________________________________________
October 23, 2016, 2:00-4:00 pm
Wizards Academy: Mystery Edition
Visit with fantastic creatures from Animalia, Inc, explore the magic of science, and solve a mystery by performing hands-on experiments! For children grades 3-6.
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Wednesday, October 12, 2016, 5:30
In this installment of the Forensic Science Lecture Series, explore the emerging science of appearance prediction with Dr. Susan Walsh (IUPUI).
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Thursday, October 6, 2016 | At Central State Mansion
Central State Hospital - Historical Marker Dedication
Gather at 202 Steeples Blvd and see the unveiling of a new Indiana State Historical Marker commemorating Central State Hospital, Indiana’s flagship mental institution (1848-1994). A short reception will follow the dedication ceremony.
___________________________________________September 26 and 27, 2016, 6:00 both evenings
I Remember Jones: A Conversation with Nanny Vonnegut
The artist Nanny Vonnegut, daughter of the acclaimed author Kurt Vonnegut, will read her maternal grandmother Riah Cox’s brief memoir, “I Remember Jones,” written about Cox's hospitalization at Central State in the 1940s.
Along with IUPUI professor of English Jane Schultz, Vonnegut will discuss her family, the history of mental health care, and the healing power of the arts. Vonnegut will be sharing some her own artwork, as well as family photographs.
This event is part of the Voices from Central State series.
___________________________________________August 26 and 27, 2016, 7:00 pm both evenings
Then There Is No Need to Speak
A one-woman theatrical performance. Based on the 1886 memoir From Under the Cloud by Anna Agnew, a former patient at the Indiana Hospital for the Insane. Read the memoir here
Written by Thomas Hummel | Directed by Terri Bourus | Starring Denise Jaeckel |Historical commentary provided by Kathleen Brian
This event is part of the Voices from Central State series.
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Saturday, August 20, 2016, 7:00 pm
Nerve and Knowledge: Two Lectures on Doctors, Medicine, and Sherlock Holmes
Presented by: The Illustrious Clients of Indianapolis, The Baker Street Irregulars, and The Indiana Medical History Museum
Arthur Conan Doyle, who began his career as a physician and only later turned exclusively to writing, modeled the Great Detective after Dr. Joseph Bell, a famous diagnostician and teacher of Conan Doyle. And of course, the stories are narrated by Dr. John Watson, an invalided army surgeon and general practitioner. With this in mind, earlier this year, The Baker Street Irregulars published the new book Nerve and Knowledge: Doctors, Medicine, and the Sherlockian Canon.
Join us as Andre L. Solberg, MHS, ASH, BSI and Marilynne McKay, MD, ASH discuss the medical issues and motifs that heavily influence the adventures of Sherlock Holmes in the historic amphitheater of the Old Pathology Building (1896) of Central State Hospital that now houses the Indiana Medical History Museum.
___________________________________________Sunday, July 24, 2016 2:00 pm
The Pless Memorial Central State Lecture
On the Set of “Mercy Street”: Retrieving the 19th Century in the 21st
By Jane Schultz, PhD, Department of English, IUPUI
Jane Schultz, PhD, consultant and script advisor for the PBS Civil War drama “Mercy Street,” will speak about the writers’ and directors’ attempts to represent the lives of 19th-century health care workers and their soldier-patients to 21st-century viewers.
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Tuesday, July 12, 2016 6:00-7:30 pm
Book Discussion
"IN Writing: Uncovering the Unexpected Hoosier State" By Douglas A. Wissing
Partnering up with the Indianapolis Public Library, the Indiana Medical History Museum will host an author-led book discussion of IN Writing: Uncovering the Unexpected Hoosier State.
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Saturday, July 9, 2016 4:00-8:00 pm
As part of the Flow Fest occurring on the grounds of the former Central State Hospital, the Indiana Medical History Museum is hosting an open house! Explore medical history and local lore at the “Old Pathology Building,” once the center of research at Indiana’s Central State psychiatric hospital.
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Wednesday, May 18, 2016 5:30 pm
Forensic Entomology: From Sung Tzu’s Observations to Today’s Genomic Revolution
By Christine J. Picard, PhD, Department of Biology, IUPUI
Forensic entomology uses living organisms to tell us about the process of decomposition. From the early days of observing the close association of decomposition and insects, to today, where we look into the genomes of these insects to learn about their behaviors and variabilities, this presentation will examine how far we’ve come – and where we are heading – in time of death estimations.
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Sunday, December 6, 2015 2:00 pm
Annual Meeting of the Membership and Glenn B. Mather, MD Memorial Lecture
Lecture by Dr. Stephen Nawrocki, University of Indianapolis
Tuberculosis, or "consumption", was humanity's number one killer through history. During the first half of the 20th century, a massive public health campaign was conducted by the National Tuberculosis Association, whose cornerstone fundraising mechanism was the annual Christmas Seal campaign. This presentation examines how the NTA used seals and associated propaganda to combat TB both nationally and in Indiana.
_______________________________________________Thursday, November 12, 2015 6:30 pm - 9:00 pm and
Friday , November 13, 2015 6:30 pm - 9:00 pm
A Matter of Life and Death: Neuroscience on the Silver Screen
A Spirit & Place Festival Event
Presented by the IMHM and the American Association of Neuroscience Nurses, Central Indiana Chapter
Roger Ebert called A Matter of Life and Death (1946) “one of the most audacious films ever made.” Like the 1990 film Awakenings, it approaches what could be a bleak subject—neurological illness—and explores the vast expanses contained within the human heart and mind. The film depicts British Air Force pilot Peter Carter (David Niven) after a near death experience in which on-going hallucinations (waking dreams) convince him he was not meant to survive.
After the screening (104 min), two members of the American Association of Neuroscience Nurses, Diane Friedman and Kathy Hubner, will lead a short discussion. Friedman, author of A Matter of Life and Death: The Brain Revealed by the Mind of Michael Powell (2008), will highlight how the filmmakers made use of neuroscience medicine and Hubner, winner of the 2015 National Award for Excellence in Advanced Practice Neuroscience Nursing, will share stories of patients who have transcended seemingly insurmountable barriers.
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Sunday, October 25, 2015 2:00-4:00 pm
Visit with fantastic creatures from Animalia, Inc. and explore the magic of science through hands-on experiments! This year, children and adults can attend the academy side-by-side.Participants are encouraged to dress up in their favorite wizardly attire!
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Wednesday, October 14, 2015 4:00-5:15 pm
CSI Indianapolis: The True Investigation
Fall Forensics Lecture 2015
Erica Christensen, MS
"As a Crime Scene Specialist for Marion County, I aid law enforcement in the collection and processing of evidence for serious crimes in the Indianapolis area. My presentation will cover the education, experience, and skills necessary to perform crime scene investigations, as compared to how the job is presented in the popular media."
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Wednesday, September 30, 2015, 4:30-6:30 pm More than the Happy Little Hamsters: Seventy Years of Sex Education Films in Indiana
Angela Potter, Doctoral Candidate in History, Purdue University
A second presentation.
Did you ever wonder what the boys were watching in the gym while the girls watched The Story of Menstruation? Angela Potter will present the history of sex education in Indiana since World War II through a series of film clips including the 1960 Happy Little Hamsters, accused of being "pornographic" in a 1969 lawsuit, to more recent films used by the Social Health Association of Indiana in its sex education classes. This event marks the opening of a special exhibit "Seventy Years of Leading the Way for Kids: The History of The Social Health Association of Indiana."
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Saturday September 26, 2015, 9:00-10:00 am Seeking Asylum: Preservation at Central State
On September 26, Indiana Landmarks stages Seeking Asylum: Preservation at Central State, a behind-the-scenes tour of the historic campus.
Visitors on the two-hour walking tour will see three of the landmarks that remain. At the 1896 Old Pathology Building, home of the Indiana Medical History Museum—an entry on Indiana Landmarks’ Ten Most Endangered list this year—participants will see the one-of-a-kind collections and learn about the preservation challenges it faces.
Tours also guide you through two repurposed buildings: the 1938 Administration Building, renamed Central State Mansion that currently houses IUPUI students, and the turn-of-the-century dining hall that has reopened as 1899, an events venue. The walking tour will pass by two derelict structures with potential—the 1886 power house and the laundry—that need imaginative new uses.
Tours leave every fifteen minutes from 9 to 10 a.m., departing from Indiana Medical History Museum, 3045 West Vermont Street in Indianapolis.
__________________________________________________Thursday, September 17, 7:30 pm One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
Presented by Indy Film Fest's Roving Cinema
When Randle Patrick McMurphy (Jack Nicholson) gets transferred for evaluation from a prison farm to a mental institution, he assumes it will be a less restrictive environment. But the martinet Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher) runs the psychiatric ward with an iron fist, keeping her patients cowed through abuse, medication and sessions of electroconvulsive therapy. The battle of wills between the rebellious McMurphy and the inflexible Ratched soon affects all the ward's patients.
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Thursday, August 6, 2015, 4:30-6:30 pm More than the Happy Little Hamsters: Seventy Years of Sex Education Films in Indiana
Angela Potter, Doctoral Candidate in History, Purdue University
Did you ever wonder what the boys were watching in the gym while the girls watched The Story of Menstruation? Angela Potter will present the history of sex education in Indiana since World War II through a series of film clips including the 1960 Happy Little Hamsters, accused of being "pornographic" in a 1969 lawsuit, to more recent films used by the Social Health Association of Indiana in its sex education classes. This event marks the opening of a special exhibit "Seventy Years of Leading the Way for Kids: The History of Thee Social Health Association of Indiana."
Saturday, May 30, 2015, 2:15-2:45 pm “Pull, Probe, Shock, Buzz! Rarely Seen Artifacts at the Indiana Medical History Museum”
A special Obscura Day presentation that will include a “Magneto-Electric-Spring-Machine” (for pulling teeth), an “Uterector,” an early—and particularly torturous—sort of IUD; an electrostatic voltmeter with a cryptic nickname, “The Influencing Machine”; as well as a variety vibrating devices.
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Wednesday May 20, 6:00-7:15 pm
Wednesday, October 8, 2014, 4:00 pm
Abraham Lincoln: Forensics of an Assassination
Forensic Lecture Series | Fall 2014
What if modern forensic investigation techniques were applied to the Abraham Lincoln assassination? What can we learn from the firearm that was recovered from Ford’s Theater? From what distance did the shooting occur? And why did so many at the theater report not hearing the fatal shot?
Based on research conducted with a Derringer pistol and a “Spatter Head” that simulates the structure of the human cranium, Douglas H. Boxler, Firearms Investigator for the Indianapolis Marion County Forensic Services Agency, will provide some possible answers.
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Saturday, September 20, 2014 9:45 am- 10:45 am
Kids will learn all about plants through hands-on activities! They will:
· Identify garden plants
· See how plants grow
· Explore how plants can be used as medicine
Recommended for ages 6-9. Accompanying parents will be treated to a talk in the museum amphitheater by Kathy Hull, Master Gardener and MD, "Growing Miracles: Modern Wonder Drugs from the Medicinal Garden."
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Wednesday, April 2, 2014 4:00 to 5:15 pm
"A Cemetery without Crosses: Migrant Death and Forensic Investigations along the South Texas Border"
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Thursday, November 7, 2013 6-8 pm
Scientific Heroism: Risk in Biological Research for the Benefit of Public Health
This is a Spirit and Place Festival event. The program is free and open to the public.
Embracing the 2013 Spirit and Place Festival theme RISK, our panelists, Nordschow Professor Emeritus Dr. James Smith and Senior Research Professor Dr. George Sandusky, both from the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at IU School of Medicine, and Norma B. Erickson, Assistant Technical Director at AIT Laboratories in Indianapolis and graduate student in History at IUPUI, will discuss the general history of risk in medical research and the overall risks of laboratory work. They'll describe specific cases of accidental exposure and laboratory-acquired infections over the last 150 years, including recent cases. They will also talk about specific risks, and steps taken to diminish those risks, in research on the malarial treatment of syphilis that was conducted in the laboratories of the Old Pathology Department of Central State Hospital, which now houses the Indiana Medical History Museum.
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Sunday, October, 27, 2013 2-4:30 pm
Visit with wondrous creatures from Animalia, Inc. and explore the science behind your favorite boy wizard's magical world through hands-on experiments! A special guest speaker will educate and entertain parents while their young wizards attend classes.
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Wednesday, October 9, 2013 4-5:15pm
Tiny but not trivial...Microscopy in Forensic Science
Fall 2013 Installment of the Forensic Science Lecture Series
This lecture is free and open to the public.
Gina Londino, MS from the IUPUI Department of Chemistry and Clinical Biology, and Dirk Shaw, trace chemist at the Indianapolis-Marion County Forensic Services Agency, will discuss some history of microscopy in the forensic sciences, how it has been used recently in particular cases, and how the work of each differs from the other's based on many factors, including scope, resources, and purpose. The lecture will be accompanied by our newest exhibit, opening September 12th, Looking Through the Lens: Microscopy at the Indiana Medical History Museum.
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Saturdays at 11am from June through September
FREE Guided Tours of the IMHM Medicinal Plant Garden
Every Saturday morning between June and September, IMHM offers free guided tours of the Medicinal Plant Garden led by one of the Purdue Master Gardeners of Marion County who lovingly maintain it. Please note that tours begin promptly at 11am and do not include a tour of the museum.
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presented by Stephen P. Nawrocki
Investigators need to know when an individual died, and this information is best estimated from insect evidence on the body. However, when insects are not available, the anthropologist can make an imprecise estimate using the state of decomposition of the soft tissues. Recent research by the University of Indianapolis Archaeology and Forensics Laboratory has tried to improve our methods by carefully examining the relationship between decay and accumulated temperature, and results suggest that we've been doing it wrong for decades. WARNING! This topic may not be suitable for very young or sensitive learners.
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Wednesday, February 27, 2013 at 11am Lincoln Hospital 1909-1915: A Study of Leadership in African American Healthcare in Progressive-Era Indianapolis
presented by Norma B. Erickson, graduate student in the M.A. United State History Program at IUPUI
This program is free and open to the public.
In the early years of the twentieth century, the African American community in Indianapolis faced segregation in most aspects of their lives. For black physicians, discrimination by the medical profession hampered their ability to deliver healthcare to their patients. This presentation outlines the desire of these doctors to treat their patients with quality care and the strategies they used in their attempt to create a modern hospital.
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Friday, November 16, 2012 6:30 pm Informed Consent and Mental Illness
Join us as Timothy T. Dick, PhD, Professor of Biology and Medical Ethics at Owensboro (KY) Community College, examines informed consent, limitations on decision-making capacity, and the role of paternalism and autonomy in mental illness.
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Tuesday, November 6, 2012 6:30-8:30 pm
Art & Play in Child Psychiatry
A Spirit & Place Festival Event
The field of child psychiatry has come a long way since the early 20th century when many professionals still believed that childhood mental disorders resulted from poor education and training, and many adults, including those in the medical profession, viewed children as smaller versions of adults with the same means to process emotions and receptive to the same therapeutic methods as adults. Join us as our panelists discuss art and play therapies as they are used in child psychiatry today.
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Sunday, October 28, 2012 2-4 pm
8th Annual Wizards Academy
Visit with wondrous creatures from Animalia, Inc. and explore the science behind your favorite boy wizard's magical world through hands-on experiments! A special guest speaker will educate and entertain parents while their young wizards attend classes.
Cost: $8 children; $6 adults; Family Packages available.
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Thursday, October 25, 2012 6:30pm
You may have seen drawings or heard about the bells sometimes attached to coffins, just in case someone was coffined before they were really dead. Join us as Nancy L. Eckerman, History of Medicine Librarian at the Ruth Lilly Medical Library at Indiana University School of Medicine and author of Indiana in the Civil War: Doctors, Hospitals, and Medical Care, explores the origins of the once common fear of premature burial and some of the possible sociological and medical reasons for the 19th century's obsession with that possibility.
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Wednesday, October 10, 2012 4 to 5:15pm
Designing Disaster: The Rise of the Designer Drug Movement
Kevin Shanks, FTS-ABFT is a toxicologist at AIT Laboratories in Indianapolis. During this program he will discuss the history of the designer drug movement from the 1960s to present, focusing on recent years regarding the synthetic cannabinoids (K2/Spice), synthetic stimulants (bath salts and plant food) and psychedelics (2C family and its derivatives.) This is the fall installment of our 2012 Forensic Science Lecture Series.
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Thursday, June 21, 2012 6pm
A Bridge Between Centuries: Central State Hospital and Medical Education in Indiana to 1910
Presented by Lois Allis
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Saturdays at 11am from June through September
FREE Guided Tours of the IMHM Medicinal Plant Garden
Every Saturday morning between June and September, IMHM offers free guided tours of the Medicinal Plant Garden led by one of the Purdue Master Gardeners of Marion County who lovingly maintain it. Please note that tours begin promptly at 11am and do not include a tour of the museum.
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Sunday, May 20, 2012 4pm*
Growing Miracles: 5 Modern Wonder Drugs from the Medicinal Plant Garden
Kathleen Hull, MD, IMHM Board member, Indiana University Professor Emerita of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, and Purdue Master Gardener, Kathleen Hull, MD, will discuss the history, botany, and basic pharmacology of five modern wonder drugs derived from plant materials including: Aspirin, from European meadowsweet; Colchicine, from Autumn crocus; Digitalis, from foxglove; Taxol and other chemotherapeutic agents, from yew and periwinkle; and Artemisinin, from Sweet Annie. Come early! The IMHM Medicinal Plant Garden will be open for viewing starting at 1pm.
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Thursday, April 26, 2012 6:30-8pm
Indiana- The Birthplace of Translational Research in Mental Health
Lecture & Book Signing
Drs. Lucy Jane King and Alan Schmetzer will discuss their new book Dr. Edenharter's Dream: How Science Improved the Humane Care of the Mentally Ill in Indiana, 1896-2012 and be on hand to sign copies (available for purchase on the day of the event for $20 each.)
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Wednesday, April 18, 2012 4 to 5:15pm
Twisted: A Closer Look at Forensic DNA Analysis
Join us as Dr. Krista Latham, Assistant Professor of Biology and Anthropology and Director of the University of Indianapolis Molecular Anthropology Laboratory, discusses the use of DNA in medicolegal casework. Dr. Latham will introduce the audience to basic concepts in forensic DNA analysis, as well as discuss the complexities and misconceptions of interpreting the DNA information derived from crime scene samples through case examples. She will also highlight some of the research on primary DNA transfer that is currently being conducted in the University of Indianapolis Molecular Anthropology Laboratory.
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Thursday, April 5, 2012 4:30pm
Presented by Jeffrey Rothenberg, MD
Jeffrey Rothenberg, MD is an Associate Professor of Clinical Obstetrics and Gynecology and Vice-Chair for Faculty Development and Alumni Affairs at IU School of Medicine in Indianapolis. He will discuss the history of contraception focusing on historical milestones and culminating in what we are seeing in current events today.
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Saturday, December 17, 2011 10 am to 3pm
Annual Christmas Open House
Browse the Old Pathology Building, the nation's oldest free-standing pathology laboratory, and talk with our staff and volunteers...AT NO CHARGE!
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Tuesday, November 8, 2011 6:00 to 8:30pm
Imaging and Imagining the Body
A Spirit & Place Festival Event
The Indiana Medical History Museum is partnering with the IUPUI Medical Humanities Program for this year's Spirit & Place Festival to present Imaging and Imagining the Body.
This interactive program explores two closely related themes: the ways that medicine's view of the body has changed over time and how we need to view the body today if we are to achieve optimal health. Radiologist and humanist Richard Gunderman, MD and PhD will introduce participants to the fascinating story of medical imaging. Thanks to imaging technologies such as x-ray, ultrasound, and MRI, physicians can peer into the living human body without cutting it open, diagnosing disease and delivering therapy. He will discuss how such innovations have changed the way we see the body and how they have transformed the practice of medicine.
Anthropologist Heather Wood Ion will discuss how the rest of us tend to think of the body and its diseases today and how these views sometimes undercut the level of health we achieve. She will outline a new way of thinking about the body, one with the potential to produce an epidemic of health in our community.
Also visit the Indiana Medical History Museum's exhibit on historical perceptions of the body and death from medical, economic, and social perspectives.
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Wednesday, November 2 through Saturday, November 26, 2011
Fall Food Drive
The Indiana Medical History Museum will be collecting donations of nonperishable food items to benefit Gleaners Food Bank. Donations can be dropped off anytime during regular business hours.
"Gleaners Food Bank's mission is to end hunger by engaging individuals and communities to provide food for people in need. Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana, Inc. serves 21 central and southeastern Indiana counties through over 350 Hunger Relief Agencies serving the ill, needy, and hungry. Gleaners receives donated food and critical grocery products, and in 2010, nearly 25 million pounds were distributed in our communities." You can help by donating nonperishable food items (avoid glass containers if possible) including: canned meats like tuna and chicken, heat and serve meals such as soups and ravioli, 100% fruit juices, peanut butter and jelly, and other kid-friendly foods like macaroni, cereals, applesauce cups and healthy snacks. Items that cannot be accepted include; home-canned goods, items without the ingredients listed on the packaging, tobacco or alcohol, and baby food that is not in the original unopened case.
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Wednesday, October 26, 2011 4-5:15pm
Reflections on Life and Death in 19th Century Indiana
The fall installment of the Forensic Science Lecture Series (FSLS) is presented by Dr. John Langdon, Professor of Biology and Associate Dean in the College of Arts & Sciences at the University of Indianapolis.
Cemeteries and documents permit us to reconstruct the facts of life (and death) for pioneer families and their descendants. Franklin County, Indiana, for example, was settled by a very fertile, mobile population from the eastern states combined with a wave of German immigrants. The result was a rural society with low population growth that enables us to observe how social modernization interacted with birth, disease, and death.
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Sunday, October 23, 2011 2-4pm
Visit with wondrous creatures from Animalia, Inc. and explore the science behind your favorite boy wizard's magical world through hands-on experiments! Michael Cohen, PhD, Professor Emeritus of Science and Environmental Education at IUPUI, will educate and entertain parents while their young wizards attend classes.
Cost: $6 per child, $4 per parent
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Joyce Miller, owner of the Huckleberry Hutch, Purdue Master Gardener, and Chairperson of the Herb Society of Central Indiana, will talk about herbal medicines used during the Civil War before many manufactured drugs were available.
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Today we think of nursing and medicine as two distinct professions, but during the Civil War, when we had little understanding of microbes and pathogens and when elite physicians were developing an exclusive professional culture, the distance between the work of nurses and the work of physicians was smaller. Jane E. Schultz, PhD, professor of English at IUPUI, will bring listeners into the world of Civil War medicine by focusing on the work of military relief as it was performed in general and field hospitals by people with varying degrees of preparation and diverse motivations.
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Friday, May 13, 2011 6pm
Sherlock Holmes and the Beginning of Modern Forensic Science
Encore Presentation of the Spring Forensics Lecture
Arthur Conan Doyle's character, Sherlock Holmes, was the first fictional detective to explicitly base his solutions of cases on observation, science, and deductive reasoning. Many of the stories include accounts of Holmes' detailed examinations of crime scenes and pieces of evidence. David Zauner, a member of the Indianapolis Sherlock Holmes society, The Illustrious Clients, and a practicing forensic scientist, will explore how the Holmes stories reflect applications of scientific principles to criminal investigations in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and how forensic science has developed since that time to its present state.
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Talk and Book Signing with author Matthew Algeo
Copies of Mr. Algeo's book (to be released in May) will be available for purchase.
Sunday, May 1, 2011 3pm at the Pike Performing Arts Center
Women and Music in Science
Orcenith Smith, Conducting
The Indiana Medical History Museum is a community partner with the Philharmonic Orchestra of Indianapolis for their 70th classical concert season The Arts of Science and Music.
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Wednesday, April 13, 2011 4 to 5:15pm
Sherlock Holmes and the Beginning of Modern Forensic Science
Spring Forensics Lecture
Arthur Conan Doyle's character, Sherlock Holmes, was the first fictional detective to explicitly base his solutions of cases on observation, science, and deductive reasoning. Many of the stories include accounts of Holmes' detailed examinations of crime scenes and pieces of evidence. David Zauner, a member of the Indianapolis Sherlock Holmes society, The Illustrious Clients, and a practicing forensic scientist, will explore how the Holmes stories reflect applications of scientific principles to criminal investigations in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and how forensic science has developed since that time to its present state.
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Saturday, December 18, 2010 10am to 3pm
12 Days of Indy Christmas
This open house event is free and open to the public.
Come visit the nation's oldest surviving pathology laboratory. Browse the museum and talk with staff and volunteers.
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Friday, November 12, 2010
A Progressive Affair: The Threat of Unsafe Food in the Early 20th Century
This event is part of the Spirit & Place Festival.
A quiz show about food additives, an exhibit of Indiana public health posters (some drawn by Indiana native Gaar Williams), and a discussion by Jeff Bennett of IUPUI’s School of Liberal Arts of two men who were instrumental in establishing the pure food and drugs laws, Dr. John Hurty, Indiana State Health Commissioner (1896-1922), and Dr. Harvey Wiley, Head of the US Bureau of Chemistry (1883-1912.) Also, Stephen Jay, M.D., professor of Medicine and Public Health at Indiana University School of Medicine, Department of Public Health will discuss our nation’s history of food adulteration, his own work to spread awareness on Capitol Hill.
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Sunday, October 24, 2010, 2-4pm
6th Annual Wizards Academy
Visit with magical creatures from the Indianapolis Zoo and explore the science behind your favorite wizard’s magical world through hands-on experiments! Parents are invited to attend a special presentation about encouraging early science education, while their young wizards are in class.
Recommended for grades 3-8. Participants are encouraged to dress up in their favorite wizardly attire.
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Wednesday, October 13, 2010, 4-5:15pm
Pathology & Forensic Science: Then & Now
Fall Forensics Lecture
At this year's Fall installment of the Forensic Science Lecture Series, John E. Pless, M.D., retired Head of Forensic Pathology at Indiana University School of Medicine and current Indiana Medical History Museum Board President, will review the history and development of forensic pathology and discuss the ways advancements in science and technology have changed the field.
The Forensic Science Lecture Series (FSLS) was established in 2004 to help educate the public in the forensic sciences and related fields as well as to spotlight the fascinating stories that scientists have to tell. The lecture series is sponsored jointly by the Indiana Medical History Museum and the University of Indianapolis Archaeology & Forensics Laboratory.
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Tuesday, August 17, 2010 7pm
A Lady Alone
A one-woman play by N. Lynn Eckhert MD, Harvard Medical School with Linda Gray Kellet as Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell, the first American woman to receive a medical degree.
Presented by the IUSM Office of Faculty Affairs and Professional Development, the IUPUI Office for Women, and the Indiana University School of Medicine Library.
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Friday, August 6, 2010, 7pm
The Art and Life of John Zwara
Rachel Berenson Perry, Fine Arts Curator at the Indiana State Museum will talk about the life and artwork of the Austrian-born water color painter John Zwara. Zwara came to Indianapolis around 1933. He was a wanderer and spent several years living on the streets of Indianapolis, selling his artwork in order to buy more painting supplies. A friend of Zwara’s, Alexander Vonnegut, recognized that he needed psychiatric help and arranged for his commitment to Central State Hospital in 1938. There he was diagnosed with dementia praecox (schizophrenia). Zwara spent six months at the hospital before his "escape." He died a pauper in 1951.
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Saturdays from June 5 – September 25, 2010, 11am
Walking Tours of the Medicinal Garden
The Indiana Medical History Museum is excited to offer new programming this spring and summer. Beginning in June, the museum will offer guided tours of our Medicinal Plant Garden. Each Saturday in June through September, a tour guided by one of our Master Gardeners will be offered at 11am. Tours will include information on plants in the garden, their past and current uses as remedies and their contributions to the growth of pharmaceutical science.
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Wednesday, April 7, 2010, 4-5:15pm
Recovery and Analysis of Rwanda's Mountain Gorillas: Non-Human Forensic Anthropology
This lecture will be given by Amandine Eriksen & Dr. Stephen Nawrocki.
In the summers of 2008 and 2009, University of Indianapolis graduate student Amandine Eriksen and Dr. Stephen Nawrocki traveled to Rwanda, Africa as part of an international team assisting on the Mountain Gorilla Recovery and Preservation Project. Gorillas that have died during the past 20 years represent a valuable scientific resource for conservationists trying to bring this endangered species back from the brink of extinction. This presentation details the process of locating and excavating gorilla skeletons using archaeological methods and shows how forensic anthropology techniques developed for use on humans can be applied in very different contexts.
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Saturday, December 19, 2009 10am-3pm
12 Free Days of Indy Christmas Open House
Presented by the Indianapolis Convention & Visitors Association
This open house event is free to the public.
Come visit the nation’s oldest surviving pathology laboratory. Browse the museum and talk with our staff and volunteers from 10am to 3pm.
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Sunday, November 22, 2009 4-6pm
Old World Diseases in the Americas: The Plight of Native Americans and European Conquest presented by Dr. Mark Braun
First Annual Glenn B. Mather, MD Lectureship*
When Christopher Columbus made landfall on that fateful day in 1492, he didn't discover a 'New World.' Rather, he found an old and established world; one with people, societies and culture. What Columbus unknowingly did was create a new world by establishing a link between Europe and the Americas, a connection that proved to have apocalyptic significance for Native Americans. The purpose of this presentation is to provide an overview of the important infectious diseases that were so devastating to Native Americans following European and African contact.
Dr. Mark Braun received his undergraduate degree in biology from Purdue University in 1970. He attended Indiana University Medical School, graduating in 1975, and following medical school pursued a residency in pathology. After completing his residency, he joined the medical staff of Bloomington Hospital in Bloomington, Indiana, and began teaching part-time at the Indiana University School of Medicine. In 1994, he returned to school to get a masters degree in anthropology and in 1995 joined the faculty of Indiana University in a full-time capacity. His research interests include the study of Native American health issues, particularly the period of early European contact and the introduction of European infectious diseases into New World populations. He has published articles in the area of medical education as well as the field of diagnosis of human disease, including the identification of fragments of ancient tuberculosis DNA in Native American skeletal remains dating from 1000 AD. He has been recognized repeatedly for his teaching abilities.
*Respected pathologist and Indiana Medical History Museum Board member, Glenn B. Mather, MD, passed away in June of 2009. The Glenn B. Mather, MD Lectureship has been established in his honor.
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Friday, November 13, 2009 7-9:30pm
Temples of the Future: Laboratories of the 19th Century
Movie and Discussion
This Spirit & Place Festival event is free.
The film Dr. Ehrlich’s Magic Bullet will be shown in the amphitheater followed by a discussion about the contributions of laboratories, past and present, as well as their role as a supporter, or opponent, of social, political, and religious beliefs. The discussion will be lead by William Schneider PhD, Director of the Medical Humanities-Health Studies program at IUPUI and Richard Gregory, PhD Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine in the IUPUI School of Medicine.
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Wednesday, October, 14, 2009 4-5:15pm
Fall Forensic Lecture
This lecture is free and open to the public.
Eleanor D. Kinney, JD MPH will reflect on the Muncie smallpox epidemic in 1893 and talk about current public health laws and the governments role in responding to bioterrorism, epidemics, and other health crises.
The Forensic Science Lecture Series (FSLS) was established in 2004 to help educate the public in the forensic sciences and related fields as well as to spotlight the fascinating stories that scientists have to tell. The lecture series is sponsored jointly by the Indiana Medical History Museum and the University of Indianapolis Archaeology & Forensics Laboratory.
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Sunday, October 25, 2009 2-4pm
5th Annual Wizard’s Academy
Children $6; Adults $4; max $20 per family.
Visit with magical creatures from the Indianapolis Zoo and explore the science behind your favorite wizard’s magical world through hands-on experiments! Parents are invited to attend a special presentation about encouraging early science education, while their young wizards are in class.
Recommended for grades 3-8. Participants are encouraged to dress up in their favorite wizardly attire.
Allergy Alert: Those allergic to latex products should be aware that latex balloons will be used in one experiment.
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Saturday, July 18, 2009, 4-5:30pm
The Pandemic Plus 90: 1919-2009
This lecture is free and open to the public.
The Indiana Medical History Museum is hosting this Marion County Historical Society program. The topic will be the influenza pandemic in Marion County, 1918-1919, and the possible return of a pandemic in 2009.
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Wednesday, May 13, 2009, 6:30-8:30pm
IMHM celebrates the second printing of From Under the Cloud at Seven Steeples by Lucy Jane King, M.D.
This event is free and open to the public.
The IMHM will host a book signing by Dr. Lucy Jane King. At 7pm, Dr. Charles Hazelrigg will present Waiting for Anna: 1848-1900 at the Central Indiana Hospital for the Insane, a pictorial early history of the hospital that awaited Anna Agnew’s admission in 1878. At 7:30pm, Dr. King will present Finding Anna: Researching Anna Agnew and her Personal Reminiscences of Insanity.
Dr. King will be available beginning at 6:30pm and after the presentations to sign copies of her book. Copies of the softcover book will be available for $18.00 at the museum.
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Wednesday, March 25, 2009, 4-5:15pm
2009 Spring Forensic Lecture Series
This lecture is free and open to the public.
Raising the Dead: When Our Ancestors are Evicted will be presented by forensic anthropologist Stephen Nawrocki, Ph.D. of the University of Indianapolis. In 2007, the University of Indianapolis assisted in the excavation of 33 burials from the 19th century Wright Cemetery, located at the intersection of I-69 and I-465 on the northeast side of Indianapolis. Impending roadwork necessitated a wholesale removal of the cemetery. The University of Indianapolis Archaeology & Forensics Laboratory conducted a detailed analysis of the skeletons prior to their reburial. This lecture will detail the process and issues involved with a project of this nature.
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Saturday, December 20, 2008, 10am-3pm
IMHM Open House
Admission is free.
The Indiana Medical History Museum will have an “Open House” from 10am until 3pm. Full tours will not be given, but staff and volunteers will be stationed throughout the museum to answer questions. This event is part of the “12 Days of Christmas” sponsored by the Indiana Convention and Visitors Association.
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Sunday, November 9, 2008, 2pm
Center for Bioethics and Center for Inquiry Panel Discussion
The museum will be partnering with the Center for Bioethics and the Center for Inquiry to host an extraordinary panel discussion or the Spirit & Place Festival. Panelists include Eric M. Meslin, Ph.D., Director, Indiana Center for Bioethics; Kimberly Quaid, Ph.D., Professor of Medical and Molecular Genetics; and David Flockhart, M.D., Ph.D., Chief, Division of Clinical Pharmacology, IU School of Medicine. The topic of discussion will be The Ethics of Predictive Genetic Testing and the Search for Personalized Drugs.
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Sunday, October 26, 2008
Fourth Annual Wizards Academy
$6 for children; $4 for adults
Inspired by books about your favorite boy wizard, Wizards Academy is where students will learn science by exploring principles of physics, chemistry, and electricity. Costumed volunteers will conduct demonstrations in the Great Amphitheater. These demonstrations and a special visit from animals mentioned in the books will make this a fun and educational afternoon.
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Wednesday, October 15, 2008, 4pm
Fall Forensic Lecture Series
This lecture is free and open to the public.
Presented by Jay Siegel, Ph.D., the Director of the Forensics & Investigative Sciences Program and the Professor and Chair of the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at IUPUI, will discuss The Role of Observer Bias in the Analysis of Pattern Evidence.
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Saturday, June 14, 2008
Extra Innings! Festival
Celebrate the Extra Innings! Festival on the grounds of the Indiana Medical History Museum, where some of the movie Eight Men Out was filmed. The day begins with a tour of Indianapolis sites used in the filming, including Bush Stadium. Afterwards you can watch vintage baseball games, hear baseball historians speak about the 1919 Black Sox scandal, then watch the film outdoors at dusk.
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Saturday, May 3, 2008
The Illustrious Clients of Indianapolis Meeting
Sherlock Holmes fans- The Illustrious Clients of Indianapolis, the city’s oldest Sherlock Holmes' society, will meet at the Indiana Medical History Museum, and you are welcome to join them.
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Wednesday, April 2, 2008, 3pm
Unearthing Belle: Exposing the World’s Most Prolific Female Serial Killer
This lecture is free and open to the public.
In 1908, LaPorte county resident Belle Gunness was found dead in her burned out house, along with the remains of her three children. In the investigation that followed, police discovered the bodies and dismembered remains of multiple victims buried on Belle’s farm. Questions have surrounded the identification of Belle’s body, which lacked a head. Did she fake her death, substituting a female victim for herself? Did she have an accomplice? Fearing the discovery of her crimes, did she skip town and live out her remaining days in California? For the first time, this famous case has been reopened by actual forensic scientists. Andrea Simmons, attorney and forensic anthropology student at the University of Indianapolis, will report some of her findings. She will describe her scrutiny of the historical documents and her 2007 examination and re-analysis of the body presumed to be Belle’s.