A Study in Red (Cross): The Medical World of Sherlock Holmes
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A Study in Red (Cross): The Medical World of Sherlock Holmes

A survey showed that, among other medical references, the Sherlock Holmes stories mention 68 different diseases – not bad, considering there are only 60 Holmes stories in total. Holmes, then, seemed the perfect guide for a quick and slightly madcap tour of the Museum of Health Care’s collections.

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What Do You Mean Museums Aren’t Forever? The Whats and Whys of Deaccessioning
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What Do You Mean Museums Aren’t Forever? The Whats and Whys of Deaccessioning

Deaccessioning is the formal removal of an item from a museum’s permanent collection. The important thing to know about deaccessioning is that it’s mostly about paperwork and about status. An item can be deaccessioned without moving from its spot on a shelf. Physical removal of the item is a different and related process, called disposal (disposal in this case doesn’t translate to “garbage,” it just means putting the object somewhere else). We can deaccession items and not dispose of them, but a museum should never dispose of an item without deaccessioning it.

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So You’ve Got a Curator. Now What?
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So You’ve Got a Curator. Now What?

The Museum of Health Care at Kingston has hired a curator! Huzzah!But some of you may be wondering: what does that actually mean? What on earth is a curator and what do they do? It’s both simple and surprisingly hard to answer. You’re probably at least vaguely aware that a curator is someone who works in a museum. You might have seen a curator in a movie, usually in the form of a pretentious, stodgy academic peevishly insisting that the hero stop touching the exhibits and with pretty even odds on getting murdered by a supernatural force trapped in some ancient artifact (as far as movie professions go, curators tend to have lifespans approximately equal to cops the day before retirement). You may have heard of someone curating a social media feed or a Pinterest board or read a thinkpiece on why calling everyone who collects content a curator will be the downfall of society. All of which can make it hard to figure out what exactly a museum curator does.

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