Ailliewick - July 2009 Museum Highlights
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The wick July 2009 aillie Volume 12, Issue 2 When Medicine Met Science 2.0 – Refurbishing a Favourite BIN THIS ISSUE: By Paul Robertson, Curator hat a little housekeeping will do! While doing some Wroutine spring cleaning of our longstanding exhibition When Medicine Met Science, we decided to replace a number of the artefacts on display with others from the reserves. In an effort to bring some of the pieces Meet our summer staff! page 7 to life we have enhanced the showcases with additional illustrations drawn Museum Highlights 2 from our collection of nineteenth and Executive Director’s Message 4 early twentieth-century instrument catalogues. Home Conservation Tips 5 The exhibition features many Saying Thanks 6 items from the incredibly rich Toronto Welcoming New Faces 7 Academy of Medicine collection acquired by the Museum in 2002. We Website Re-Launch 8 drew most of the replacement pieces from the same collection. One of the enhanced showcases. PHOTO : DIANE RICHA rd S Our thanks to Collections Manager Kathy Karkut for taking the lead on this re-launch of the display and her creative Ann Baillie Building National Historic Site design and artefact mounting skills. 32 George Street, Kingston, ON K7L 2V7 Come and see what’s new! Among Phone: (613) 548-2419 Fax: (613) 548-6042 the gems is the 1870s carbolic acid spray Email: [email protected] invented by Joseph Lister (1827-1912) in the belief that most infection-causing www.museumofhealthcare.ca germs were in the air. The steam spray Charitable No. 87790 3989 RR0001 covered everyone and everything in the operating room or hospital ward with SUMMER HOURS (JUN. 20-AUG. 30/09): a vapour of carbolic acid or phenol, TUES. - SAT., 10AM - 4PM SUN. NOON - 4PM The 1870s carbolic acid spray. creating an antiseptic environment. WINTER HOURS: TUES. - FRI., 10AM - 4PM ADMISSION BY DONATION New! We are pleased to announce the launch of our new and improved website. Visit us online at www.museumofhealthcare.ca and see pg. 8 for more details. All Museum images credited Mary Ilic, Kathy Karkut, Hassan Raiesi, Diane Richards, Paul Robertson & Catherine Toews 1 Museum Highlights Doors Open Kingston By Cathy Neilson, Museum Interpreter une 20th was an exciting day for the groups of people chose this option. Museum of Health Care. More than Several visitors were so interested in the J130 people faced the rain to visit the Museum’s collection of wax anatomical Museum for Doors Open Kingston. moulages that they decided to follow up The day was filled with fun and learning their tour of the gallery with a tour of for the visitors (and staff). the collections storage rooms. Above: Cathy provides a tour to a group of visitors Many of the visitors indicated that A special room was set up for while another visitor enjoys a self-guided visit. this was their first visit, even though families. This room contained a Below: Visitors enjoy a rare sneak peek at the they had wanted to come for years. It guessing game, the “What is it?” bag Museum's collection storage rooms. is fantastic that Doors Open motivates of mystery artefacts, and a special Kingston residents to finally visit the scavenger hunt for children. These historic sites they pass by every day. activities helped keep children engaged A highlight for many visitors was during their time at the Museum. the chance to explore the collections Doors Open was definitely a storage rooms. They really liked the success for the Museum of Health idea of going behind the scenes at the Care. We received countless positive Museum. The collections storage room comments from visitors, many of tours were very popular; almost every whom plan to return this summer with visitor to the Museum took this tour! friends. Hopefully this event will cause Guided tours of our galleries an increase in visitors for the rest of the were also quite popular; at least eight summer. New Acquisitions: Learning About Health Care through Play By Paul Robertson, Curator octor, the patient is here In an effort to represent health care to see you! And he’s got in Canada in its broadest sense, the “Dquite a few complaints, Museum has begun to build a small including a broken heart, water on the collection of medically themed books, knee and butterflies in the stomach! Use toys, and games aimed at children and your skill and coordination to remove the young people. patient’s “ailments”!” In addition to a nearly perfect That modern advertisement says it example of the "Operation" game that all: for nearly 45 years, budding young was given to us in 2008, donations of surgeons have been bringing relief several other healthcare-related toys to “Cavity Sam”, their make-believe came into the collection last year. patient suffering from a wide range of Until recently the doctor’s bag was complaints in the well-known Milton an icon of the medical arts and has long Bradley game "Operation". First been reflected in children’s toys. We designed in 1962 by University of Illinois now have two such bags, one a “Medical industrial design student John Spinello, Kit” by Fisher-Price designed in 1977, the game has been in production since and another well-used version from the their imaginations at play. The Museum 1965. 1980s. All of the standard instruments is now home to a couple of examples As children, we begin learning what have been rendered in bright washable of toy hospital wards from the English- makes good health, the importance of plastic. made Britains Hospital series (“Doctor diagnosis and treatment of disease, and Plastic models of healthcare and Patient” and “Nurse with Mother the relief of suffering. Games and toys professionals at work provide children and Baby”, designed in 1980) and a such as "Operation" have long served with a three-dimensional view of a German-made Playmobil toy operating teaching roles as well as amusements. hospital activity and a physical setting for room, designed in 1992. 2 Museum of Health Care - The Bailliewick - July 2009 Museum Highlights "Badges of Honour or Devices of Control?": KGH Nursing Uniforms Discussed at Medical History Conference By Paul Robertson, Curator itual and symbolism associated with the distinctive white Cathy (L) and Victoria (R) interact with children at the Museum's booth. Runiforms worn by student nurses at Kingston General Hospital was the First Capital Day By Victoria Harrison, Tour Guide/Marketer subject of a paper presented in Ottawa at the May 2009 joint meeting of the had never been in Kingston for booth was aimed at the school children Canadian Society for the History of First Capital Day before so I had visiting the Square that day, the teachers Medicine and the Canadian Association I no idea what to expect when and even passersby thoroughly enjoyed for the History of Nursing. Catherine Toews, Cathy Neilson and trying to guess the answers to our Andrea Melvin’s lecture grew out I gathered in the Market Square on questions. of her research with the Museum’s the morning of June 15th. All I had My favourite part of the day was extensive collection of nursing uniforms been told was that we would have an hearing the children’s guesses when while she was the 2008 Margaret Angus interactive booth and there would be they were trying to identify the artefacts Research Fellow. She focused her work kids… lots of kids. we had brought along. The artefact on the historical symbolism of nursing The week before, Cathy and I had that received the best guesses (in my garments and the relationships nurses created a new addition to our booth. We opinion) was the ether mask. Some of had with them. Andrea first presented came up with questions and put them the guesses included: a tea strainer, a on this topic at a Museum event on a sandwich board in a lift-the-flap “basket to hold your tumor”, a hat, and associated with the opening of the new style. The four questions, we thought, – my personal favourite – that it was nursing gallery in the autumn of 2008. would help spark interest in what the used to scoop out your heart. During the conference, James A. Museum is all about, and they certainly Our booth was enjoyed by many Low and Paul Robertson made brief did. Our day was full of answering and people of all ages, just as the Museum presentations to delegates describing explaining all about the Museum. The is. So I considered the day to not only the Museum of Health Care and its funny thing was that even though our be fun, but also a great success. exhibitions, collections, and programmes. Museum of Health Care Display Supports Buy-a-Net's Work By Paul Robertson, Curator n support of World Malaria Day, about current malaria prevention the Museum of Health Care at strategies and tools such as bed nets used IKingston’s special historical display by healthcare workers in Uganda. described the dangers Canadians Canada has not been immune once faced from malaria and the to the ravages of malaria. From the misconceptions around its cause. In the early 1800s there are many reports of early 1800s, malaria was blamed on bad Eastern Ontario settlers suffering from Visitors from Shanghai smelling air as found in swamps and the disease. During construction of marshes, not on mosquitoes. the Rideau Canal (1826-1831) when hree students from Shanghai, China Tvisited the Museum in May as part of Mounted at Buy-A-Net’s 2009 hundreds of canal builders and their the four-week long Shanghai Education World Malaria Day event on 24 April, families moved to the area, many became Centre for Administrators (SECA) program the Museum’s exhibit “The NET Result: infected with ‘swamp fever’ during run by Queen's University School of Malaria Prevention in Uganda” explained the ‘sickly season’ in the late summer.