"The Paris Morgue Closed to Sightseers," 1907

Doing research for the 2015 Morbid Anatomy Museum Wall Calendar, I came across the wonderful tidbit above from the a 1907 issue of Australia's Kalgoorlie Miner. For more on the Paris morgue--which attracted throngs of tourists throughout the 19th century eager to view the bodies of the unclaimed dead--see these recent Morbid Anatomy posts (1, 2, 3). To find out more about the calendar--and pre-order a copy!--click here.

"Viva la Muerte: The Mushrooming Cult of Saint Death"--A New Event Just in Time for The End of the World

It seems only appropriate to announce Morbid Anatomy's newest event "Viva la Muerte: The Mushrooming Cult of Saint Death" on this day, December 21, 2012, which many believe to be the end of the world as predicted by the long-cycle Mayan calendar.

This epic event--which will take place on Sunday February 3rd--will investigate via lecture, moderated Q and A, mini exhibit of newly acquired Santa Muerte materials and general merrymaking the fascinating and growing phenomenon of "Santa Muerte," a new Mexican-based religion born of the fertile mix of indigenous Mayan and Aztec beliefs with that of Spanish Catholicism.

Full information follows; very much hope to see you there!

Oh, and happy end of the world, everybody!!

"Viva la Muerte: The Mushrooming Cult of Saint Death" : Lecture, Book Signing and Party
Illustrated lecture by Professor R. Andrew Chesnut, author of Devoted to Death: Santa Muerte, the Skeleton Saint; Q and A moderated by The Revealer's David Metcalfe; Music and cocktails by Friese Undine; Santa Muerte and Jesus Malverde wedding cake and Funeral floral arrangements compliments of Tonya Hurley and Tracy Hurley Martin; Mini-exhibit of newly-donated Santa Muerte materials from the Morbid Anatomy Library
Date: Sunday, February 3
Time: 7:00 (Doors at 6:00)
Admission: $12
Produced by Morbid Anatomy and Borderline Projects
*** Copies of Devoted to Death: Santa Muerte, the Skeleton Saint will be available for sale and signing

On Sunday, February 3rd, please join us to celebrate the Morbid Anatomy Library's new acquisition of a large and spectacular lot of materials relating to Santa Muerte, a Mexican-based “cult” or possibly even a “new religion” which takes as its central figure a sanctified Lady Death. Literally translating to “Holy Death” or “Saint Death,” the worship of Santa Muerte--like Day of the Dead--is a popular form of religious expression rooted in a rich syncretism of the beliefs of the native Latin Americans and the colonizing Spanish Catholics.

Tonight's celebration will begin with a highly-illustrated lecture on the roots, history and worship of Santa Muerte by Dr. R. Andrew Chesnut, Chair in Catholic Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University and author of Devoted to Death: Santa Muerte, the Skeleton Saint. Following, attendees will have an opportunity to ask questions during a Q and A which with the lecturer and death in Mexico scholar Salvador Olguín moderated by David Metcalfe of The Revealer.

Come early (doors open at 6) and stay late to enjoy thematic music and special artisanal cocktails utilizing the favorite spirits of "The Boney Lady" herself, compliments of Friese Undine. You can also admire--and indulge in!--a special Santa Muerte and Jesus Malverde Wedding Cake compliments of our generous Santa Muerte artifact donors Tonya Hurley and Tracy Hurley Martin, and take in a temporary mini-exhibit of the amazing donations themselves. There will also be gorgeous funeral floral arrangements by Emily Thompson Flowers, and Dr. R. Andrew Chesnut will be happy to sign copies of his new book Devoted to Death: Santa Muerte, the Skeleton Saint which will be available for sale.

More here. For more on Santa Muerte and the Morbid Anatomy Library's new lot of artifacts, click here.

Mütter 150 Celebration: Gretchen Worden Unveiled

This following is a guest report by Laura Lindgren of Blast Books. She is the publisher, editor, art director, and designer of the Mütter Museum books and calendars and graced us with a presentation at the Morbid Anatomy Library the second of January.

Mütter 150 Celebration: Gretchen Worden Unveiled

A hundred and fifty years ago the College of Physicians of Philadelphia completed the agreement with Dr. Thomas Dent Mütter to acquire his personal teaching "museum," which joined the College's existing cabinet of pathological specimens from Dr. Isaac Parrish to become The Mütter Museum, which opened in 1863. That's right--the sesquicentennial of the founding of the Mütter Museum! A lively celebration was held at the College last Friday night, January 9.

One highlight of the evening was the unveiling of the classic oil portrait commissioned by the College of the Mütter Museum's beloved late director, Gretchen Worden [see top image]. As many Morbid Anatomy readers know, Gretchen devoted her entire professional career of twenty-nine years to the Mütter Museum and the College until her untimely death at age fifty-six in 2004.

Following a cocktail reception in the College's elegant Marble Rotunda, Dr. George Wohlreich, Director and CEO of the College, spoke warmly about Gretchen and the impact of her many achievements with the Museum. Artist Alexandra Tyng [center image, with portrait] spoke about coming to know Gretchen by way of abundant reference materials and fond recollections from friends. Missing from the unveiling, naturally, was Gretchen--or was she? As the burgundy drape descended from the portrait and the audience gasped in astonishment, a wine glass toppled over from a table in the center of the rotunda and smashed on the floor. "Mazeltov!" shouted Paul Stridick, a friend of Gretchen since 1975. And J Bazzel confirmed: yes, it was a glass of "the cheap house red"--always her preference.

A Victorian dinner for those who had purchased tickets followed the portrait unveiling, in Thomson Hall, concluding with Dr. Robert Hicks, the new Director of the Mütter Museum, speaking about upcoming exhibitions he has planned beginning in 2011 for the sesquicentennial of the American Civil War, and he presented a few Civil War items from the Museum for viewing, including a kit of gleaming surgical instruments.

Meanwhile opulent Mitchell Hall upstairs--famous for its walls lined with majestic portraits of leading august physicians and its grand podium--had been transformed into a far-out freak-out disco replete with lighted dance floors [see bottom image], and people partied like there was no tomorrow!

Fortunately tomorrow came after all--here's to all the tomorrows in the Mütter Museum's next 150 years!

The College will hold another celebration when the portrait is officially installed in the Worden Gallery in the Museum. Meantime, I will send a Mütter Museum 2009 calendar to the first Morbid Anatomy reader who correctly identifies the instrument Gretchen holds in her hands in the portrait. Let's hear from you! Email responses to morbidanatomy@gmail.com.

Laura Lindgren
Publisher, Blast Books

To see more photos from the event, visit the Morbid Anatomy 150th Anniversary Flickr set. For more about the Mütter museum, see these recent Morbid Anatomy posts (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) or visit the museum website.

Reminder! Mütter Museum 2009 Calendar Release Party, Brooklyn, NY; TOMORROW! January 2, 7:00 PM

Just a reminder! Tomorrow, January 2nd, The Morbid Anatomy Library will be ringing in the new year with a release party for the 2009 Mütter Museum Calendar!

The event will take place at Proteus Gowanus Interdisciplinary Gallery and Reading Room in Brooklyn, New York at 7:00 PM. Admission is free, calendars will be available for sale, the Morbid Anatomy Library will be open for visitation, and Blast Books publisher/Mütter Museum Calendar designer and art director Laura Lindgren will be presenting a slide-illustrated lecture.

Hope you can make it!

For more about the calendar, click here. Click here to download PDF invitation. And here is where you can find information that will help you find your way to Proteus Gowanus.

Image from the 2009 Calender: What Lies Beneath © 2004 Max Aguilera-Hellweg
Oil portrait (1937) of Willis Fastnacht Manges, M.D. (1876–1936), by Benedict Anton Osnis (1872–1941), with a section of skull from the Matthew Henry Cryer, D.D.S., M.D. (1840–1921), collection for study of the internal anatomy of the face. With Dr. Charles Lester Leonard (1861–1913), a martyr to radiology, Manges was a founder of the Philadelphia Roentgen Ray Society.

Mütter Museum 2009 Calendar Release Party, Proteus Gowanus Gallery and Reading Room, January 2, 7:00 PM

From the invitation:

Friday, January 2, 2009, 7:00 p.m.

Morbid Anatomy Library celebrates the publication of
Mütter Museum
2009 Calendar

Blast Books publisher Laura Lindgren gives an illustrated talk about her twenty-two-year association with the renowned Mütter Museum of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia, joining the art of photography and medical history.

Laura Lindgren art directed and produced eight wall calendars featuring contemporary photographs by artists Max Aguilera-Hellweg, Rosamond Purcell, Arne Svenson, William Wegman, Joel-Peter Witkin, and others, of the famed museum’s collections. She edited, designed, and published two books, Mütter Museum by Gretchen Worden, in 2002, and Mütter Museum Historic Medical Photographs, in 2007, and has curated numerous exhibitions of Mütter Museum photographs that have traveled nationwide, as well as two Mütter exhibitions with Mütter objects and photographs—one at The Museum of Jurassic Technology in L.A., in 1994, and one at the now-defunct Thread Waxing Space in downtown Manhattan in 1995–1996.

The foundation of the Mütter Museum, one of the last nineteenth-century medical museums, dates to 1856, when Dr. Thomas Dent Mütter, a professor of surgery at Jefferson Medical College, wrote to The College of Physicians of Philadelphia that ill health was forcing him to resign his post and that he wished to offer the College guardianship of the anatomic and pathological materials he had collected for his own personal teaching “museum.” The deed of gift was completed a hundred and fifty years ago, January 9, 1859.

For more about the calendar, click here. Click here to download PDF invitation. And here is where you can find information that will help you find your way to Proteus Gowanus.

Hope to see you there!

The Mütter Museum Calendar is Back!

At long last, after a 6 year hiatus, the beloved Mütter Museum calendar has returned, just in time to celebrate the Mütter Museum's sesquicentennial.

The 2009 calendar is the continuation of those of years past, featuring an assortment of gorgeous photographs by an array of artists, all of them featuring objects found in the holdings of Philadelphia's wonderful Mütter Museum. Many of the artists included in this installment will be familiar to fans of previous calendars and the The Mutter Museum book, such as Rosamond Purcell, Max Aguilera-Hellweg, and William Wegman.

The Mütter Museum calendar was my introduction--as a sheltered, history-hungry California youth--to the wonderful, uncanny world of medical museums; Laura Lindgren of Blast Books tells me that she's already at work on the 2010 calendar, so it looks as if this 2009 edition is, happily, the first of many new calendars to come. Hooray for that!

The Mütter Museum calendar and two Mütter Museum books are published by Blast Books. You can purchase a copy of the calendar here.