Dittrick Medical History Center

I selected the Dittrick Medical History Center for my museum project because of it's unique subject matter and location in University Circle. Located in the Allen Memorial Library, the Dittrick collection was established in 1898. It contains a number of comprehensive collections, including surgical instruments and medical equipment, microscopes, nursing uniforms, historical contraceptive devices, turn of the century x-ray equipment, midwifery manikins and much more. Upon completion of the Allen Memorial Medical Library, in 1926, the Dittrick collection moved from a display cabinet in a home on Prospect Avenue to the third floor of the medical library.

As you navigate the Allen Memorial Medical Library, you find access to the Dittrick Medical History Center is down a corridor and accessible by elevator.

As you exit the elevator, you are greeted by June, the transparent woman. She sets the tone for the amazing artifacts you will be viewing. Although June was designed in 1926, she did not make the Dittrick her home until May 2011. For the time, this piece was an impressive accomplishment, designed to view the skeleton, blood vessels, organs, nerves and lymphatic system.

Almost all the collections are found in one large room, in addition to five or six display cases along the hallway.The size of the collections on display are considerably smaller than those found in large, modern museums in University Circle but they are artfully chosen to convey the story of our changing conceptions of health and medicine. There are a number of artifacts from the Dittrick collections in storage.

The Display case are full of interesting categories of medical equipment and stories of how sickness was addressed during different eras, ie: 1810, 1860 and 1910.

After being drawn along the dark hallway, the traditional display cases end and you are standing at the entrance door to a large room where the remaining Dittrick collections live. You are propelled into a vastly modern experience digital and interactive walls, giving you tidbits of information for a variety of medical topics, including mapping the brain, microscopes & x-ray development, germ theory and contraception to name a few...

Once you experience the Dittrick Medical History Center, you quickly realize why it is so special and multiple trips are necessary, as you immerse yourself in the past and look forward, with appreciation for medical advancements and the future of medicine.