HMM Newsletter - No. 13, 1997 ISSN 1036-3041

Medical Museums Association (North America) Your HMM Newsletter editor has been corresponding with Dr Patsy Gerstner, the Chief Curator at the Dittrick Medical History Center in Cleveland Ohio. Patsy is also the newsletter editor for the Medical Museums Association in North America. There seem to be many similarities between the Medical Museums Association and HMM in Australia, so in response to a request from me, Patsy has written to tell us something about the Association. Fifty-one medical history museums or collections are represented in the membership of the Medical Museums Association (MeMA). While some MeMA members work with anatomical and pathological collections, the overwhelming majority are responsible for the artifacts of past medical practice, chiefly instruments, furniture, equipment, and associated memorabilia. The Association was founded in 1985 as a forum for people who understand the unique issues and problems involved in the care of such collections. Members are primarily in the United States and Canada, but there is no geographic restriction on membership. MeMA has members in the U.K., in Japan, and in Portugal. Members meet once a year, in conjunction with, and just prior to, the annual meeting of the American Association for the History of Medicine. Meetings, in the form of workshops or the presentation of papers, focus on issues relevant to medical history museums. Past meetings have dealt with topics such as potential health hazards in medical history collections, the interpretation of medical history artifacts in a museum context, and on-line cataloging. The meetings are often summarized in publications like Caduceus: A Humanities Journal for Medicine and the Health Sciences, The Watermark, a publication of the Archivists and Librarians in the History of the Health Sciences, or The Prescription, published by MeMA. The network established through membership provides year-round contacts among members, who can rely on each other for advice, problem solving, and resource sharing. MeMA's newsletter, The Prescription, is published twice a year - in February and August. It includes notes of general interest and a calendar of events and activities at member institutions. A MeMA delegate provides liaison with the European Association of Museums of History of Medical Sciences. Regular membership is $US15 per year and is open to persons who have professional responsibilities for museum collections in the history of the health sciences. Patsy Gerstner