Conference: New Horizons for Medical Museums and Collections
Rijksmuseum Boerhaave, Leiden / the Netherlands, 20 – 23 September 2023

Medical museums are in permanent flux. Collections containing objects related to the history of medicine and health play a role in teaching, research and learning in the broadest sense. The past years medical museums in particular have demonstrated the power to contribute to patient communities, health and wellbeing, and society at large. Yet from small scale local collections to national medical heritage entities, ways of dealing with medical collections will continue to change with the urgent challenges and questions that lay ahead. The conference aims to investigate the role and value of medical museums (and/or medical collections) for societies in the past, present and future. What is the potential of medical collections? How can medical museums be of value in the context of current and future challenges?

To explore this topic, an international and interdisciplinary conference will be held at Rijksmuseum Boerhaave in Leiden, the Netherlands between 20 and 23 September 2023. The conference aims to bring curators, scholars, students and medical professionals together to discuss ways of making and keeping medical collections relevant. What could be the place for medical heritage within the new museological landscape? How can we explore new horizons for medical museums?

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