Mütter Museum Removes 19th-Century Body Parts Amid Ethics Review

The Mütter Museum in Philadelphia, a medical history museum run by the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, has removed a series of 19th-century human remains from display following an ethics review by a panel of experts convened by new leadership. President Mira Irons, a geneticist appointed two years ago, and director Kate Quinn, formerly of the Michener Art Museum, oversaw the changes. The collection, donated in 1863 by an American surgeon, includes syphilitic skulls, corset-deformed skeletons, and the liver of conjoined twins. Critics, including a grassroots campaign group and local trans and goth communities, have launched a petition against the removals, arguing the museum once showed compassion for society's 'monsters.' Disability-rights activist Victoria M. Rodríguez-Roldán wrote to the Washington Post defending the collection's value. The museum removed a video of a curator cleaning a skull's teeth and replaced the 'Soap Lady' image with an X-ray. The decision reflects broader debates about displaying human remains, as seen at the Pitt Rivers Museum and Wellcome Collection, and questions of consent and restitution.