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Warren Anatomical Museum
Rating Details »
10 Shattuck St.
Countway Library of Medicine, 5th Floor
(between Blackfan St & Huntington Ave)
Boston, MA 02115
(617) 432-6196
Countway Library of Medicine, 5th Floor
(between Blackfan St & Huntington Ave)
Boston, MA 02115
(617) 432-6196
- Nearest Transit:
-
Brigham Circle (Green)
- Hours:
Mon-Thu. 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
- Good for Kids:
- No
5 reviews for Warren Anatomical Museum
Fabulously, morbidly, but intensely interesting! I absolutely loved this museum. A collection of history's oddities and medical developments displayed in several glass cases. Fetal skeletons, dried body parts, outdated surgical tools, kidney stones, skulls with various injuries and maladies, Lister's first attempts at antisepsis in surgical procedures, the list goes on!
If I walked away with any knowledge from this 5th floor museum, its that I wouldn't want surgery in the past. Barbaric tools and almost-guaranteed death from surgical infection. Oh. . . and I would have never wanted to be a guy with a kidney stone in those days. . . come to the museum and you'll see why! ::shudders::
As a nurse, this museum was fascinating. To see the evolution of the instruments and the discoveries made along the way gave me new appreciation for how far medicine has come. I highly recommend this museum for the "not-faint-at-heart". Wish it were bigger!
This place is weird!
Why on earth would anybody collect bladder stones, or antiquated instruments to remove them?
On my first visit to the Museum I was harassed by the library doorman/guard who was weird, first he told me the museum was closed (which it wasn't) then he spent about ten minutes trying to persuade me to give him $10 for entry... He wasn't doing it in a funny playful way...It was really strange, but it simply added to the experience.
The Museum is not all that large, but the collection of ....things is definitely one of a kind. Some of the things are definitely enough to turn ones stomach, so perhaps don't plan on eating directly before or after unless oil paintings of rotting limbs gets you appetite going!
Anyhow the collection is amazing, and its FREE, so why not eh?
Holy Crap, I loved this place!
I first heard about it on a website pertaining to "strange Boston" and we made the trek. It was a bit confusing following my phone GPS and heading down the alleyway past ambulances and doctors/nurses in their garb.
We kept looking at the addresses and walked the alley until the end and then realized the museum was INSIDE the Harvard Medical Library - ohhh.. you walk in, sign in and I felt a little like the ghoul I am as the security guard looked at us a bit suspiciously ESPECIALLY since we do NOT look like med students.
Once past the guard and up to the 5th floor, we were fascinated by the displays of skeletons with rickets, the kidney stone collections, civil war surgical tools, skulls, fetal skeletons and the like. Awesome old medical photographs from the late 1800's and the first ether mask.
I was so bummed that no photography was allowed as I would've loved to document this place. One of the BEST free museums I've ever been to, hands down.
The tools kinda creeped Marcel out a bit but I have to say it was like looking in a candy store for me! A simply amazing collection of curiosities to see!
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Anyone interested in medicine should stop by here. Back in the days before the internets and glossy 11x14 atlases of human anatomy and skeletons and pathological specimens, doctors had to be old school and well, preserve weird shit they saw in the field. Not only do they have the skull of Phineas Gage, but they have a lot of ridiculously creepy crap. From what I remember, I saw...
unique skeletons!
a really odd assortment of medical tools like bone saws and uhh....yeah i don't wanna ruin it but "crazy ass foreceps" works
weird crap that shouldn't be in your body but occured anyways!
Definitely worth a visit if you're a medical professional or hell, interested in science with a bit of history.
If you're going to the MFA, Phineas Gage's skull is on display just a few minutes away! The Countway Library is a little intimidating - it's open to the public until 5 pm, but you'll need to sign in with the guard. Take the elevator to the 5th floor, and there, in cases around the central walkway, are all kinds of medical oddities, both icky and educational, including really primitive forceps, mummified deformed limbs, and best of all, both Phineas Gage's skull and the tamping rod that pierced it! The latter was completely different than I expected, even though I've read a lot about Gage's case - I won't ruin it for you. Bonus: you'll be the only one there, although one of the curators did come out and give me a cookie. So, if you're in the neighborhood and have 20 minutes or so to be edified and grossed out, definitely stop in.
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