What is it like to go behind the scenes at the Mütter Museum of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia? It is an opportunity to venture from basement to attic, encountering treasures in storerooms and library stacks.  It is the chance to open books rare and beautiful, to hold instruments wielded long-ago in laboratory and clinic, to encounter specimens floating in fluid-filled glass jars, to marvel at articulated skeletons, to keep company with history.  It is to become aware of the vanished lives of countless caregivers and patients when surrounded by visible and palpable evidence of the past.

With a physician's training and a photographer's sensibility, Andrea Baldeck, MD, FCPP, Fellow and Trustee of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia, explored the wealth of materia medica, selecting and combining objects in still life compositions that speak of the art, science and history of medicine. By capturing the eye, stimulating the imagination and provoking questions, these arrangements are intended to engage the viewer in a visual dialogue about the nature of illness, suffering and the healing arts.  

Come celebrate the new book and exhibit with an illustrated talk by Dr. Baldeck, introduced by Robert Hicks, PhD, Measey Chair for the History of Medicine, Director of the Mütter Museum & Historical Medical Library, followed by question and answer session. After the program, Dr. Baldeck will sign copies of the book, and the Mütter Museum will be open, free of admission, for lecture attendees.

To learn more about Dr. Baldeck, click HERE.