Whatever happened to the UIC Anatomy Museum?
Looks like there was once such a thing in the College of Medicine West tower off of Polk and Wolcott on West campus. It must have existed from at least 1938 to 1995, when a book about art at UIC was published (now available on google books). As we delve into this museological mystery, a refresher for UIC history: the college of medicine traces its origins back to the 1882 College of Physicians & Surgeons at Harrison & Honore, which merged with the University of Illinois (Urbana 1867) in 1913. The two main buildings we see today on Polk were built in the 1920s and 30s in a kinda Hogwarts/gothic style, with much of the hodgepodge west campus built after that. When the UIC-Circle (East) campus was built in the 1960s, it started to make less sense that the College of Medicine was still tied to Urbana, so in 1970 they merged with east campus and COM officially came under the UIC umbrella, and they expanded branches out to Rockford, Peoria, and Urbana (making it the largest medical school in the country). Anywho, the anatomy department today offers no such physical space, but seems to emphasize their online resources instead. The space that once housed the Anatomy Museum is being entirely overhauled for a state-of-the-art Learning Center in the COM west tower, so perhaps the museum was disbanded in preparation for this project?
Either way, there's a significant artistic element of the museum that I hope is still held by the university. There were eleven simulated stained-glass windows illustrating the history of anatomy, by the artist Ralph Graham in 1938. From the same 1995 UIC art book, the "panes do more than decorate. They protect complex dissections, tissue and organ samples, colored cross-sections, and wax and other models from the deleterious effects of strong sun glare, yet allow light to filter through. The panes also create what the museum planners hoped would be a lively, humanizing atmosphere rather than a cold, post-mortem look."
The bulk of the artifacts were human remains, on display to illustrate the makeup of the body to scientific & medical students. From the same book, "As for the friendless people whose remains furnished the museum's specimens, he added, they never imagined 'as they approached the end of their journey, that they would come to rest not in a pauper's grave but with honor in such a colorful sepulchre.'" Quoting from a 1939 university news article with anatomy department head Dr. Kampmeier. I doubt these people would want to be remembered as "friendless paupers," but they very well may be pissed to have lost their "colorful sepulchre."
I also found a fascinating faculty member who ran the museum in somewhat more recent years, Brother Jihad Muhammad. He was interested in cultural anthropology, facial reconstruction, and used forensics and anatomy to shed light on the historic contributions of black Americans. Read more about him here: Brother Jihad Muhammad link.
So, let's get back to our question: what happened to the UIC Anatomy Museum? Perhaps these remains have now been buried, or donated to another institution with more capacity for preserving fragile specimens. Perhaps they remain in the vaults of the university somewhere?? Perhaps it's a mystery for MUSE students to uncover; why don't we have THREE partnering institutions on campus (G400, JAHHM, and the Anatomy museum)?
Addendum: Just discovered the Kottemann Gallery of Dentistry on the fifth floor of the College of Dentistry. A little history here too: UIC's college of dentistry has roots back to the independent Columbian College of Dentistry from 1891, which also merged with U of I in 1913. It was the first dental school in the US to transition to electric drills, and is now the only dental school in Chicago with the recent closing of Northwestern's. The exhibit includes skeletons and teeth of animals and humans! Anyone interested in anthropology or scientific museums should be sure to check it out, I guess we DO have three museums on campus.
