Memento Mütter

This was a digital exhibit on view from 2015-2023 via the educational website memento.muttermuseum.org. Museum object details and selected images are available via the Museum Collections Portal.

This digital exhibit is a glimpse into the deep holdings of the Mütter Museum of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia. While visitors to the museum have seen some of these objects on display in the museum, they have not had the opportunity to examine them as closely as this digital exhibit allows. Moreover, many Memento Mütter objects are in permanent storage and not accessible to visitors at all. Distant visitors have been able to view our collections only occasionally, through our social media presence. We are pleased to invite the digital visitor into the museum exhibits and storage areas via this project.

The name for the exhibit comes from the Latin memento mori – “remember that you shall die.” From medieval times, artists created memento mori artwork that expressed the sentiment that life is short and that attachment to worldly pleasures is fleeting. Just as mementos mori invited the viewer to reflect on mortality, Memento Mütter stimulates reflection on the diversity of the human bodily experience and our attempts to understand our physical selves.

This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, Grant MA-10-14-0496-14. The views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this online exhibition do not necessarily represent those of the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

Included objects: Chevalier Jackson Foreign Bodies collection, MISC-2054.1, 1988.1.37A, 3084, 1988.1.11, 2014.9.1, MISC-2271, 17647.16, 9201-9301, MISC-1772, 1161.07, 1008.48, 17179.44, MISC-2277.10, 2006.15.42, 1988.11.2, 2003.11.1, 1090.7507, 1111.11, 6002.1, 1100.217, 1100.203, 2013.10.1, 2004.8.1, 3090.09, 6450.00, 2009.61.1, F2005.49, F2004.38, 2202.1, 2012.1.1, 2010.11.3, 6538, UP1195, 1397.086, MISC-1547, MISC-2254, F1993.701, F2005.126.1, 8429, 17833.701, 17832.74, MISC-1072, 17521.60J, 2013.9.1, 8302.00, 2006.14.26, 1008.00, 17831.12, 1404.5. Historical Medical Library call numbers C304, GGa 33, Af 37.