MUSEUM BLOG
Explore our blog to learn about pieces from Canada’s largest collection of medical artifacts, discover the lesser-known history of health care, or hear about all of the exciting developments at the Canadian Museum of Health Care.
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.
The Story of Dr. Harold Tovell and His Love of Art and Medicine
Dr. Harold M. Tovell was born in 1887, and is considered one of Toronto’s pioneering radiologists. He was an arts and medical student at the University of Toronto, which was where he met his wife Ruth Lillian Massey through her cousin Vincent Massey, the first Canadian to hold the position of Governor General of Canada. Tovell and Massey were married in 1910 and lived first in New York and then in Munich, where Tovell trained under Dr. Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, the discoverer of x-rays.
The Story of Queen Victoria and Canadian Public Health
Today would have been Queen Victoria’s 203rd birthday! Victoria Day was established as a holiday in the Province of Canada in 1845, and now is celebrated on the last Monday before May 25th every year in her honour. Queen Victoria impacted Canadian health care practices and the history of Kingston in a number of surprising and fascinating ways!
The Story of Dr. Frank Mellow and his Electrostatic Generator
The name Dr. Frank Ernest Mellow is attached to forty-three different artefacts here at the Museum of Health Care, not the least of which is the massive electrostatic generator currently on display in our “Electricity and the Invisible Ray” gallery!
2022 Margaret Angus Research Fellowship: Now Accepting Applications!
The Museum of Health Care is accepting proposals for a resident 12-week summer research fellowship (June – September), which will investigate a topic relevant to the history of health and health care. The fellow will communicate the results of their research by posting updates via the Museum’s blog, producing a scholarly manuscript that will become part of the Museum’s collection, and giving a public lecture in the fall.
The Story of William Conrad Roentgen and his Roentgen Rays
Discoverer of the X-ray, William C. Roentgen won the first Nobel Prize in Physics in 1901 and contributed to over 1000 academic articles and publications.
The Story of Dr. Jabez Henry Elliott and his Medical Career
grandfather Henry Elliott. Known as a compassionate, good natured man, Dr. Elliott graduated with honours from the University of Toronto in 1897, earning the gold medal and the George Brown Scholarship.
OTF Supports Virtual Programming at Museum of Health Care
Support from OTF allowed the Museum to continue its services and adapt its outreach to school-aged children despite the obstacles imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. As with so many other businesses and organizations, the Museum of Health Care has had to find new ways to engage with the public having been closed (then open, then closed) over the past two years.
The Story of Bian Que and his X-ray Vision
Bian Que (lived circa 400-200 BCE) is a figure around which many famous tales swirl. Said to be the earliest known physician in Chinese history, the legend goes he raised a prince from a comatose state, foretold the death of a lord who refused treatment for an invisible illness, and even performed a double heart transplant using anaesthesia!
The Story of Orlando S. Strange and the City of Kingston
Orlando Strange was known as a leading physician and surgeon of the City of Kingston. He was even Kingston's mayor in 1859!