Medical collections are found in government archives, hospital archives, universities, and even dedicated museums such as the Canadian Museum of Healthcare. An under-explored element of such collections is the role they play in the writing and subsequent teaching of disability-history from those with lived experience.

In this talk, archives/museum accessibility consultant Dr. Michael Marlatt and archivist Anna Krentz discuss the importance of disabled, neurodivergent, and chronically ill lived experience within medical collections.

Michael will address what is meant by gaps regarding lived experience within Canada’s medical collections. He will also provide strategies medical collections can take in the collaboration of disability-led research, employment, and curation within Canada’s medical collections.

Archivist Anna Krentz will also speak about the role materials held by medical collections have played in her research on cystic fibrosis history, building on work conducted for the Canadian Museum of Healthcare’s 2022 Margaret Angus Research Fellowship.