TDNet Discover

Alabama

Mobile Medical Museum - "The museum preserves and exhibits medical artifacts and archives to commemorate Mobile's prominent place in the history of medical education and public health in the state of Alabama and the Gulf Coast."

Arkansas

Arkansas Country Doctor Museum - "The Arkansas Country Doctor Museum preserves and celebrates the history of health care in rural America and of the people who served their fellow man by providing that health care. Housed in a building which served as the home of three doctors and as primary clinic for the small town of Lincoln, Arkansas, from 1936 to 1973, the museum presents the life of a small town doctor and the history of medicine as it was practiced in the early 20th century."

District of Columbia

National Museum of Health and Medicine - "The collections focus particularly on the history and practice of American medicine, military medicine, and current medical research issues."

Florida

Spanish Military Hospital Museum - Located on the oldest street in the continental United States, this museum is dedicated to the Spanish colonial period of Florida's history. Guided tours walk visitors through an 18th century apothecary and surgery. Night tours are conducted to educate on the subjects of experimental or failed medical endeavours - not for the faint of heart!

Georgia

Crawford W. Long Museum - "The Crawford W. Long Museum in Jefferson, Georgia, provides educational exhibits about the life and career of  Dr. Crawford W. Long, the physician who, on March 30, 1842 first used ether for surgical anesthesia. The Gallery takes you on a journey through Dr. Long’s life.  From his exceptional education, to his early days as a physician and his discovery of the first anesthetic, through the days of the Civil War and Reconstruction. Come visit the site of America’s greatest contribution to medicine and learn how this “country doctor” came to be the father of painless surgery."

Illinois

International Museum of Surgical Science - "The Museum’s four floors are filled with extraordinary artifacts, as well as paintings, illustrations, and sculptures that interpret the pre-modern and modern healing practices of human civilization. From early practices to today’s revolutionary techniques, the Museum’s collections and exhibits portray the mysteries, breakthroughs, failures, and milestones that have shaped modern surgical science."

Indiana

The Indiana Medical History Museum - "The heart of the museum is the Old Pathology Building, the oldest surviving pathology facility in the nation. The Building is on the National Register of Historic Places...Today, visitors can explore the teaching amphitheater; laboratories for bacteriology, clinical chemistry, histology, and photography; the library, reception room, and records room; as well as the autopsy room and anatomical museum which houses preserved specimens--mostly brains, organized by pathology." 

Kansas

Kansas Learning Center for Health - "Founded in 1965, we have been providing health education to more than half a million children and adults.  As the nation’s second oldest health care museum, our 7,000 square-foot Learning Center has interactive exhibits, classrooms, a 68-person auditorium and Valeda, a transparent anatomical mannequin. We are open to the public and to school/group health education programming."

Kentucky

McDowell House Museum, Apothecary and Gardens - Site of the first successful Ovariotomy in the United States. "Our mission is to promote the importance of the historic surgery performed by Dr. Ephraim McDowell and the bravery of his patient, Mrs. Jane Todd Crawford."

Louisiana

New Orleans Pharmacy Museum - "Listed on the National Register of Historic Places as an historic building within the Vieux Carre Historic District, the New Orleans Pharmacy Museum showcases its extensive collection and provides interpretive educational programs to present and preserve the rich history of pharmacy and healthcare in Louisiana; past and present."

Maryland

Dr. Samuel D. Harris National Museum of Dentistry - Dedicated to the progress of the dental profession, the museum houses over 40,000 objects & features virtual exhibitions as well.

Michigan 

Dearborn Historical Museum - "The Dearborn Historical Museum preserves uniquely Dearborn stories and interprets the evolution of the Dearborn area from human settlement to the present as a means of improving our diverse community. The Dearborn Historical Museum was founded in 1950. It started off with the Detroit Arsenal Commandant’s Quarters, Dearborn’s oldest building on its original location, which was used as a military head quarters from 1833-1875. Today, visitors can tour the building  furnished as it was in the 19th century to learn about life during the period, as well as exhibits about Dearborn’s military history."

Mississippi

Mississippi State Sanatorium Museum - "Tuberculosis was an urgent public health problem when Dr. Henry Boswell appeared before the Mississippi Legislature in 1916, proposing a modern sanatorium. Lawmakers responded generously, and so did the city of Magee, donating 200 acres of land...Though the Sanatorium closed in 1976, and the facility became a care center for patients with developmental disabilities, now called the Boswell Regional Center...Housed in one of those landmark buildings, the Mississippi Sanatorium Museum offers a fascinating and multifaceted look at life and times of this vital institution, through immersive narrative and biographical exhibits and artifacts. There’s even a patient room equipped with a vintage electro-surgical unit."

Missouri

Museum of Osteopathic Medicine - "The collections of the Museum of Osteopathic Medicine include more than 80,000 objects, photographs, documents, and books dating from the early 1800s to the present (focused mainly on 1870–1940)...Since the founding of the Museum in 1934, other family members, DOs, and Museum supporters have donated many additional artifacts that reflect the ongoing history of the osteopathic profession."

New York

Dr. Best House & Medical Museum - "As if awaiting the return of Dr. Best from a house call on his horse-drawn carriage, this Victorian home and medical office captures the elegance of the turn of the century. Serving a small-town American community from 1884 to 1991, the Dr. Best collection echoes reminders of a quickly changing era. Civil War, railroad and telephone artifacts all reflect the character of this family of pioneers and visionaries. The expansive and unique collection includes thousands of bottles, automotive memorabilia, clothing and quilts, to name a few as well as the fully stocked period kitchen and state-of-the-art medical equipment."

Oklahoma

Oklahoma Frontier Drugstore Museum & Apothecary Garden - "The Oklahoma Frontier Drugstore Museum collections reflect
the history of pharmacy and medicine in the 19th and 20th centuries in the Oklahoma and Indian Territories and the State of Oklahoma. The artifacts and ephemera exhibited in the Museum were coincident with the westward migration of pioneers, shopkeepers, families and pharmacists as well as a host of other health care providers who populated the frontier regions of the United States."

Texas

The Health Museum - "The Health Museum is dedicated to becoming an even greater vehicle for families to understand their bodies, take proactive measures to be healthy, live longer and begin to counteract the rapidly rising costs of managing health. We are dedicated to addressing the Social Determinants of Health through our exhibitions, programming, events, and membership."

Tennessee

The Museum at Mountain Home - "Although the Museum displays are still under construction, when completed they will illustrate the history of the Veterans Administration Medical Center at Mountain Home and the story of the development of health care in South Central Appalachia. The displays encompass the people, events and activities that have shaped medical care in the region. The rich medical and military history includes such diverse topics as Native American herbal medicine, the Veterans Association Medical Center (Mountain Home), advances in medical treatment during wartime, the development of health care institutions, and the development of educational institutions."

Wisconsin

Fort Crawford Museum - "The Military Hospital is the only remaining structure from the second Fort Crawford. It offered care for sick and wounded soldiers beginning in 1831. Dr. William Beaumont, the post surgeon, helped found the modern study of medicine when he researched digestion at the fort during the 1830s. Although the fort buildings fell into disrepair in the late nineteenth century, a portion of the hospital building was reconstructed with original materials on its original foundations during the 1930s. It is a registered National Historic Landmark."