The Afterlife of the Leiden Anatomical Collections
The Afterlife of the Leiden Anatomical Collections starts where most stories end: after death. It tells the story of thousands of body parts kept in bottles and boxes in nineteenth-century Leiden a story featuring a struggling medical student, more than one disappointed anatomist, a monstrous child, and a glorious past. Hieke Huistra blends historical analysis, morbid anecdotes, and humour to show how anatomical preparations moved into the hands of students and researchers, and out of the reach of lay audiences. In the process, she reveals what a centuries-old collection can teach us about the future fate of the biobanks we build today.
Hieke Huistra is an assistant professor in the history of science and medicine at Utrecht University.
The History of Medicine in Context
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The Afterlife of the Leiden Anatomical Collections
Hands On, Hands Off
Hieke Huistra
First published 2019
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2019 Hieke Huistra
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Names: Huistra, Hieke, 1982- author.
Title: The afterlife of the Leiden anatomical collections : hands on, hands off / by Hieke Huistra.
Description: New York : Routledge, 2019. |
Series: The history of medicine in context | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
Identifiers: LCCN 2018030660 (print) | LCCN 2018043011 (ebook) | ISBN 9781315586144 | ISBN 9781472461070 | ISBN 9781472461070 (hbk) | ISBN 9781315586144 (ebk)
Subjects: LCSH: Anatomical museums-Netherlands-Leiden-History-19th century. | Human anatomy-Netherlands-Leiden-History-19th century. | Human anatomy-Netherlands-Leiden-Methodology-History-19th century.
Classification: LCC QM51.N42 (ebook) | LCC QM51.N42 L38 2019 (print) | DDC 612.0074/49238-dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018030660
ISBN: 978-1-4724-6107-0 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-58614-4 (ebk)
Foar heit
This book started its life at Leiden University, as a PhD dissertation for the research project Cultures of Collecting: The Leiden Anatomical Collections in Context, funded by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) under grant 360-55-070. I thank my dissertation supervisors, Rina Knoeff and Rob Zwijnenberg, for their sharp criticism and sound advice, and for asking, time and again, what it was, exactly, that I wanted to say (Rina) and why this should be said at all (Rob). Marieke Hendriksen, my fellow PhD candidate, started her dissertation three months before I did. Without her, it would have taken me much longer to find my way around the project, the department, and the Leiden anatomical collections.
During my research, I made as many behind-the-scenes visits to anatomical institutions as I could. Without exception, these were great fun. They also proved invaluable in writing this book. I would like to thank the following people for showing me around their museums, collections, and labs: the LUMC museum committee, Gemma Angel, Tiemen Cocquyt, Martyn Cooke, Andrew Cornell, Bill Edwards, John Le Grand, Peter Heller, Fred van Immerseel, Maggie Reilly, Laurens de Rooy, and Marco de Ruiter. Special thanks to Dries van Dam and Bas Wielaard, who guided me through the archives, store rooms, and display cases of the Leiden anatomical museum, always with great enthusiasm. In addition to anatomical institutions, I visited libraries and archives; I encountered helpful staff in all of them.
Many others have helped me shape my ideas by asking questions, by commenting on parts of the manuscript, by responding to my queries, by correcting my mistakes, or simply by nodding encouragingly. I cannot name all of them, but I would like to acknowledge at least some: Sam Alberti, Minie Baron, Klaas van Berkel, Harm Beukers, Timo Bolt, Jenny Boulboull, Jonna Brenninkmeijer, Tatjana Buklijas, Andrew Cunningham, Mechthild Fend, Martha Fleming, Eullia Gass I Miracle, Elizabeth Hallam, Nick Hopwood, Eric Jorink, Frans van Lunteren, Larissa Mendoza Straffon, Willem Otterspeer, Reina de Raat, Ruth Richardson, Ida Stamhuis, Fenneke Sysling, Ruben Verwaal, Andreas Weber, Daan Wegener, Martin Weiss, Robert-Jan Wille, Dick Willems, and Huib Zuidervaart. In 2009 and 2012, our group in Leiden organized a workshop and a conference, respectively, on anatomical collections; I am grateful to all the participants for the many fruitful discussions we had.
I carried out part of my research in London, as one of the last visiting researchers at the now-closed Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine at UCL. I thank the following people for their hospitality: Simon Chaplin, Louise King and her staff, and Agri and Roger Ford. The Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society, Stichting Historia Medicinae, and the Leids Universiteits Fonds financed research trips and conference visits.
I finished this book at Utrecht University, surrounded by kind, intelligent, and stimulating colleagues. I am especially grateful to Bert Theunissen, who helped me find the time and space needed to complete the writing process.
