The Museum’s four floors are filled with extraordinary artifacts, as well as paintings, illustrations and sculptures that interpret the pre-modern and modern healing practices of human civilization. From early practices to today’s revolutionary techniques, the Museum’s collections and exhibits portray the mysteries, breakthroughs, failures, and milestones that have shaped modern surgical science. Museum exhibits are installed according to theme or surgical discipline.
Currently on View
Special Exhibits
Provident Hospital: A Living Legacy
Diagnostic Detectives: Pathology in Modern Medical Practice
Trephining in Ancient Peru
Nursing: Care for a Changing World
Rx For Success: Careers in Healthcare
Themed Exhibits
Anatomical Illustration
Cardiology
Obstetrics and Gynecology
Spinal Surgery
X-Rays & Medical Imaging
Contemporary Art Galleries
The International Museum of Surgical Science supports a commitment to contemporary art and artists through exhibitions and programs that use the frame of contemporary artistic practice to examine new perspectives in surgical science and our relationship to the body. The Museum’s Contemporary Arts Initiative includes rotating exhibitions of contemporary art, as well as an ongoing Artist in Residence program.
The Contemporary Art Galleries are Undergoing Seasonal Renovations and will Reopen Fall 2016. Learn more about upcoming Contemporary Art Exhibitions here.
Permanent Exhibits
19th Century Apothecary and Dentist’s Office
The Hall of Immortals
The Hall of Murals
National Rooms
Originally founded as the International College of Surgeon’s “Hall of Fame,” The International Museum of Surgical Science organized its exhibitions around nationality from 1954 through the early 1990s. Over the last two decades, a significant shift towards thematic exhibitions has occurred. While the bulk of our exhibitions and programs are geared towards an in-depth examination of surgery’s many disciplines, the Museum still maintains several National Rooms that highlight the surgeons and healthcare systems of a given sponsoring nation. These exhibits rotate periodically:
Past Exhibitions
2016
Haunted House (March/July 2016)
The Oval Portrait: 16 Case Studies of the Grattan Osteoclast (January/February 2016)
Ryan M Pfeiffer + Rebecca Walz: New Work (January/February 2016)
2015
Then and Now: 35 Years of HIV/AIDS (December 2015)
Stevie Hanley: Synaesthetica (August/November 2015)
The Museum is in the process of digitizing its archive. To inquire about exhibitions presented before 2015, please contact Museum staff.
