WELCOME!

Our tours run every Thursday and one Saturday each month by appointment. Use our online form to reserve your spot. Sign up now!
PEMBERTON MILL

If you missed our program with the Lawrence History Center about the fall of the Pemberton Mill and it's impact on public health and safety regulations, view it here.
OVER 2,000 VACCINES ADMINISTERED AND COUNTING!

Former PHM board member and tireless advocate for recognition of the Cadet Nurse Corps, Barbara Poremba, RN, was profiled last spring for her efforts against the virus.


Preserving the Past
We'll soon start the process of digitizing our records thanks to a Digital Capacity grant received from Mass Humanities. The museum continues to conserve public health articles and records. We will be hosting an intern to help with the work of digitizing the intake records of Tewksbury Hospital, which when completed, will be accompanied by a genealogy program, a virtual exhibit, and a website redesign showcasing newly digitized content.

We are also seeking new board members. Do you have experience in archives, library sciences, and overall museum expertise? It has been an exciting time of expansion for the museum as we have broadened our reach and diversified our audiences through the use of technology. We've developed new programs and partnerships with schools, historic associations, and community groups. And we hope that with engagement from new board members, we can continue to expand. We are open to remote board members. If you are interested in serving as a board member at the Public Health Museum, please email info@publichealthmuseum.org to receive a copy of our info sheet and the application.

DONATE TODAY

The museum is a non-profit institution run by volunteers. Your donations help us fund the mission of the museum to educate the public about the history of public health.



Donate: Donations are tax deductible.

Membership: Several levels to choose from.

Amazon Smiles: Designate the museum as your charity of choice every time you make a purchase.
NURSING CAPES

The museum has recently acquired nursing capes from Lowell General and Lynn Hospital. As nursing evolved from Dicken’s inebriated Sairey Gamp to the trained nursing credited to Florence Nightingale, it became necessary to standardize their dress and render a trained nurse easily identifiable. Nurses wore specific types of uniforms that often indicated their status in the nursing hierarchy from student probie to nursing superintendent. By the early 1900s, most nursing uniforms included woolen capes. These were worn no doubt for warmth, identification as a nurse, and and to keep arms free of constriction. Nursing schools issued capes to their students with initials that indicated their respective school. These artifacts will become part of our nursing exhibit, destined for a redesign in 2022. 

The Bodies of Indigents
By Ashlynn Rickord Werner
 
From the time Tewksbury Almshouse opened in 1854, it was legal in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for state institutions to sell the bodies of paupers to medical schools for research. In the early 1880s, there was a public outcry regarding the conditions of the Almshouse and the disposition of bodies. This led to Governor Butler’s famous investigation in 1883. 
 
Illustration: Harvard Medical Library in the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine

OUTBREAK!2021

In August, participants in Outbreak!2021, our public health experience for students, benefitted from an all-star cast of public health presenters. They were introduced to numerous professional tracks within the field of public health, opening their eyes and expanding their options as they move forward in their educational journeys.

We'd like to acknowledge and thank the following presenters from Outbreak!2021:

Dr. Alfred DeMaria, MD, Massachusetts Department of Public Health
Harold Cox, MSSW, Associate Dean, Boston University School of Public Health
Prof. David Hamer, MD, Boston University School of Public Health
Erin Kirchner, Essex Board of Health Administrator
Louis Fazen, MD, Sturbridge Board of Health
Leon Bethune, Boston Public Health Commission
Michael Curry, Esq., Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers
Prof. Angela Latter, Worcester State University
Donna White, RN, PhD, CNS, LADC I, PRN Associates
Jim O'Connell, President, Boston Health Care for the Homeless
Stacey Kokaram, BPHC Office of Public Health Preparedness
Nancy Clover, RN, COHN-S Occupational Health Connections
Amy Ewing, RN, Assistant Director of Public Health, Andover
Angela Kramer, RN, MS, Ludlow Board of Health
Prof. Michael Ulrich, JD, MPH, BUSPH Policy & Law
Kayleigh Sandhu/Juliana Jacoboski/Jordan Schultz/Sarah Scotland/Trisha Barungi/Debismitha Barua
Alana Gerald/Julie Coco/Christine Nguyen- Epidemiologists Massachusetts Department of Public Health
Katherine Domoto, MD, MBA, President, Board of Directors, Public Health Museum
"America's first public health museum"