The Afterlife of the Leiden Anatomical Collections

This book blends historical analysis, morbid anecdotes, and humour to show how nineteenth-century students and researchers handled preparations and put them out of the reach of lay audiences. In the process, it reveals what a centuries-old collection can teach us about today's biobanks.

Hieke Huistra is an assistant professor in the history of science and medicine at Utrecht University.

Introduction 1. Remove Lid Before Use: How Students Handled Anatomical Preparations 2. Make Do and Mend: How Researchers Used Old Collections in New Medicine 3. Dead Body in the Closet: How Lay Visitors Disappeared from Institutional Anatomical Collections 4. Adieu Albinus: How the University Governors Lost Their Status Symbol. Conclusion: In Perpetual Motion: Anatomical Collections Then and Now