Hidden Stories: What do Medical Objects Tell and How Can We Make them Speak? 16th Biennial EAMHMS Conference Berlin, September 13-15 2012

I am very excited to announce the final lineup for this year's EAMHMS--aka European Association of Museums of the History of Medical Sciences-- conference taking place September 13-15 in Berlin, Germany at the fantastic Museum of Medical History at the Charité, pictured above!

Full details below. Hope to see you there.

Hidden Stories: What do medical objects tell and how can we make them speak? 16th Biennial EAMHMS Conference
Berlin Museum of Medical History at the Charité, Charitéplatz 1, D-10117 Berlin,
13 – 15 September 2012
The XVI EAMHMS Conference
European Association of Museums of the History of Medical Sciences
Berlin, September 13 - 15, 2012

PROGRAMME

Thursday, 13 September 2012: Beginning in the ‘Hörsaalruine’ of the Berlin Museum of Medical History

10.00 - 13.30 Arrival of Participants, Registration and Refreshments
11.00 + 12.30 Guided tours through the museum (a look behind the scenes)
14.00 - 14.30 Opening speeches

14.30 - 15.30 Session 1: Introduction, getting started …

• Robert Jütte, Stuttgart (Germany): Exhibiting Intentions. Some Reflections on the Visual Display of a Culturally Purposeful Object
• Thomas Söderqvist, Copenhagen (Denmark): Is the ‘things talk’ metaphor really useful? Or does it conceal a deeper understanding of our material interaction with things?

15.30 - 16.00 Coffee and Tea

16.00 - 16.15 Walk to the Institute of Anatomy (Oskar Hertwig-Lecture Hall)

16.15 - 18.15 Session 2: Object biographies (I)

• Sophie Seemann, Berlin (Germany) A friend’s skull – gazing in a patient’s room in 1757
• Christa Habrich, Ingolstadt (Germany): A Mystery of a Platinum-made Cystoscope
• Lisa Mouwitz, Gothenburg (Sweden): Looking through the nail
• Jim Edmonson, Cleveland (USA): The art of extrapolation: following the trail from patent number to a revolution in surgical instrument design and manufacture

18.15- 19.15 Guided tours through the Anatomical Teaching Collection or the nearby
Zootomical Theatre

19.30 - 23.00 Conference Dinner in the ‘Hörsaalruine’

9.00 - 10.30 Session 3: Object biographies (II ) – waxes

• Marion Maria Ruisinger, Ingolstadt (Germany) Christus anatomicus
• Sara Doll, Heidelberg (Germany) Models of Human Embryogenesis. The search for the meaning of wax reconstructions
• Michael Geiges, Zürich (Switzerland) Wax Moulage Nr. 189. From teaching aid to the patients‘ story by an unusual research document

10.30 - 11.00 Coffee and Tea

11.00 - 12.30 Session 4: Teaching

• Shelley McKellar, London (Canada) Challenging Students with Toothkeys and Scarificators: Experiences with Object-Based Teaching in History
• Alfons Zarzoso, Barcelona (Spain) Teaching medical history through the material culture of medicine
• Stefan Schulz, Bochum; Karin Bastian, Leipzig (Germany) Object-based, Research-oriented Teaching in Seminars and Exhibition Projects

12.30 - 14.00 Lunch, Coffee and Tea

14.00 Walk to the nearby ‘Museum für Naturkunde’

14.30 - 15.30 Guided tours in smaller groups through the ‘Museum für Naturkunde’

15.30 - 17.40 Session 5: Research

• Thomas Schnalke, Berlin (Germany) Divas on the Catwalk. Some thoughts on research with objects in medical history
• Claire Jones, Worcester (Great Britain) Identifying Medical Portraiture: The case of Andrew Know Blackall
• Julia Bellmann, Heiner Fangerau, Ulm (Germany) Evolution of Therapeutic Technology: Industrial archives and collections as sources for historians of medicine
• Benôit Majerus, Luxembourg (Luxembourg) The Material Culture of Asylums Supported by Verein der Freunde und Förderer der Berliner Charité e.V.
• Nurin Veis, Melbourne (Australia) Stories from Asylums – Discovering the Hidden Worlds of the Psychiatric Services Collection

17.40 - 18.30 Transfer to the boat pier ‘Märkisches Ufer’

19.00 - 22.15 Spree Cruise (Berlin from the waterside) and dinner on board

Saturday, 15 September 2012: Final meeting in the ‘Hörsaalruine’

9.00 - 11.00 Session 6: Presenting

• Hsiang Ching Chuang, Eindhoven (Netherlands) Contextualizing Museum Experiences Through Metaphors
• Mienekete Hennepe, Leiden (Netherlands) Scary Things: Horrifying objects between disgust and desire
• Bart Grob, Leiden (Netherlands) Medicine at the Movies
• Tim Huisman, Leiden (Netherlands) Anatomical Illustration and Beyond: Looking at Bidloo and De Lairesse’s Anatomia humani corporis

11.00 - 11.30 Coffee and Tea

11.30 - 12.30 Final session

You can find a registration form here; Image sourced here. Hope to see you there!