Murky Provenance: The Retreat of an Anatomical Collection

• In Event: How Collections End: Objects, Meaning and Loss in Laboratories and Museums - I

Abstract

Illuminated from behind, a sequence of translucent specimens on display at the German Hygiene Museum permitted the study of human embryonic development in the greatest of detail. A visitor could detect the vertebrae of the spinal cord and the dense channel of blood vessels in the fetus, witnessing the gradual phases of embryonic growth from one specimen to the next. Though originally designed to improve the scientific observation of the body’s internal organs, in 1909 organizers of the German Hygiene Museum contracted Dr. Werner Spalteholz to produce a body of his translucent specimens for their permanent collection. Spalteholz’ pioneering method, involving the bleaching, corrosion, and injection of biological matter, endowed organic material—a piece of the intestinal tract or a splice of the human foot—with combined scientific accuracy and aesthetic appeal, awarding the museum approval from lay and expert publics alike.
My paper examines the politics of the Spalteholz collection’s display at the German Hygiene Museum today. Given the objects’ murky provenance, this group of anatomical artifacts—once a Hygiene Museum trademark—is now on limited display, always accompanied by a caption forbidding their photographic reproduction. I investigate the retreat of this collection in light of recent discussions of museums’ colonial legacies and the repatriation of stolen and sensitive objects, including human remains. Borrowing from both Museum Studies and STS, I treat the Spalteholz collection as a case study in the instrumentalization of authority as the museum grapples with questions of ethical public presentation of contentious objects.

Author

• Kathryn Holihan, University of Michigan