Research & Collections

Margaret Angus Research Fellowship
Current Research Topics of Interest

Fellowship candidates may propose topics of their own choice. Topics of current interest to the museum are outlined below. Click here for a printer-friendly PDF list of topics.

Clinical diagnosis in 19th and 20th-century Canada
• Diagnostic imaging     

• Endoscopy     

• Evolution of diagnostic equipment (e.g., stethoscopes)

Laboratory diagnosis in 19th and 20th-century Canada
• Microbiology   

• Cytology

Treatment of infectious disease in Canada before antibiotics
• Cholera epidemics (19th century)  

• Typhus epidemic (19th century)  

• Polio in the 20th century

Infection control in Canadian Hospitals
• Evolution of sterilisation

Development of vaccination

Maternal mortality in 19th and 20th-century Canada
• Delivery of the baby

History of nursing education

Diagnosis of heart disease
• Development of imaging procedures

Psychiatry in Canada

• Kingston Asylum        

• Brockville Psychiatric Hospital

 Manufacturing and retailing of patent medicines in Kingston in the 19th and 20th centuries
• Local manufacturer – e.g. Polson, Skinner

Diagnosis and treatment of ear, nose and throat in 19th-century Canada
• Tools of the trade

Diagnosis and treatment of eye diseases
• Glaucoma

History of prosthetic devices

Role of medical art 

History of medically related toys for children

Health care in rural Ontario

Medical technology in Victorian Canada
• Medical technologies developed in Canada

Canadian health care overseas
• Canadian health care professionals and technologies at work in developing nations
• Treatment of malaria in African nations, and the development of Canada’s role
• Foreign policies, politics and the impact on international medical aid in the 21st century

The doctor’s bag: symbol of profession?
• Development and use

Changing public attitudes/perceptions/stereotypes of medical professionals (doctors, nurses)

The iron lung in the 20th century
• Development and use in Canada

The changing role of electrotherapies in the 19th and 20th centuries

Evolution of emergency medicine in Canada
• Changing role of the ambulance

Dentistry in Canada