MUSEUM BLOG
March Break at the Museum of Health Care
Have you ever thought about why we look the way we do? Want to know the secret? It’s all in your DNA! March over to the Museum of Health Care to build your DNA model and challenge yourself to an ex-cell-ent scavenger hunt!
2023 Summer Positions Available
The Museum of Health Care is hiring for the summer! If you are enthusiastic, creative and have an interest in working in heritage, we want to hear from you!
Special Event to Celebrate New Addition
Information about mNRA vaccines, such as that for COVID-19, has been added to mark this important time in medical history. To celebrate the gallery update, the Museum is holding a special event!
Globe and Mail: How lessons from the past can help shape future health outcomes
That’s where the Museum of Health Care aims to make a contribution. “Our objects can tell a million stories, not just about vaccines but also about vaccine hesitancy,” says Ms. McGowan. “A lot of the discussion that was the backlash against the smallpox vaccine, for example, is not that different from what you hear today. It is really interesting to see this continuity.” The question then becomes what lessons we are willing to learn, and Ms. McGowan believes that seeing an iron lung, a smallpox vaccination certificate or a poster about wearing a mask during the 1918-19 influenza epidemic can provide an extra incentive for seeking out valid evidence.
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.
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.
Museum of Health Care Opens for March of the Museums 2022
We will also be opening the Museum for drop-in visits throughout the March Break. Stop by for a walk through the galleries to complete our Lego mini-figure scavenger hunt!