Displaying Disability: Ethical Controversies at the Mütter Museum

By Tabitha Pracale Ocampo

Museums play a significant role in shaping public understandings of history, medicine, and the human body. Institutions that choose to display human remains must navigate complex ethical questions surrounding consent, representation, and the treatment of marginalized communities. The Mütter Museum serves as a prominent example of these tensions, as its extensive collection of anatomical specimens has long been celebrated for its educational value while simultaneously criticized for the ways it acquires, exhibits, and interprets the bodies of disabled individuals.

Following his death in 1859, American surgeon Thomas Dent Mütter, M.D., donated his extensive collection to the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, laying the foundation for the Mütter Museum. Dr. Mütter stipulated that by accepting his donation of 1,700 anatomical objects and $30,000, the college must hire a curator, fund annual lectures, expand the collection, and establish a fireproof building to house the collection. By 1863, the first building to house the collection was built on Locust and 13th Street in Philadelphia. In 1909, the museum moved to its present location at 19 South 22nd Street. Since then, its collection has expanded to include more than 25,000 objects acquired through gifts, donations, and purchases. The Mütter Museum began as a teaching space for medical students, but was eventually opened to the public under the direction of Gretchen Worden, who became the museum director in 1975. She wanted the public to also be able to understand the mysteries and beauty of the human body, and hopefully learn to appreciate the history of diagnosis and treatment of disease [1]. The museum features an extensive collection of anatomical specimens, models, and medical instruments displayed in the style of a nineteenth-century cabinet museum, attracting more than 100,000 visitors each year. While the Mütter Museum has attracted widespread public interest, it has also generated considerable controversy over its display of human remains, its representation of disability, and the ethical issues surrounding its collections.

The Mütter Museum has a long history of displaying disabled bodies, attracting both supporters and critics of its treatment and display of human remains. In early 2023, the museum temporarily removed its online exhibits and resources while they conducted a review of their collections following the appointment of new executive director, Katie Quinn. This caused an uproar for museum fans and critics, sparking various debates on the ethics and purpose of the Mütter Museum. For some disabled people, the museum had created a space for them to make sense of their own bodies and “to see reflections of their experiences and selves in the exhibits” [2]. Because disability is underrepresented in museum exhibitions and educational curricula, the Mütter Museum's display of a variety of medical conditions provided a rare opportunity for some visitors to see their experiences represented. The museum has also collaborated with disabled people such as Harry Eastlack and Carol Orzel, two Philadelphians who lived with Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva (FOP), a rare genetic disorder where muscle and connective tissue progressively turn into bone. Under Eastlack and Orzel’s consent, their skeletons were put on display at the Mütter, but this is not the case for every artifact. 

In contrast to the displays of Eastlack and Orzel, the Hyrtl Skull Collection exemplifies the ethical controversies surrounding the Mütter Museum's collections. This collection is based on the acquisitions of Joseph Hyrtl, a Viennese anatomist. Most of the skulls from his collection belonged to people who were poor, sick, or disabled, and were most often taken from hospitals, poorhouses, asylums, and even catacombs and graves. These people most definitely did not consent to being stolen and put on display. These unethical methods of acquisition have become a central source of criticism of the Mütter Museum. Critics also argue that the museum “has historically often been neither reflective nor sensitive in the ways it represented disability” [2]. Writer, painter, and disability activist Riva Lehrer criticized the Mütter Museum for this very reason, arguing that it provides insufficient information about the individuals whose bodies are displayed and instead presents them as curiosities or "freaks" [3]. Born with spina bifida, Lehrer has emphasized that "disabled people are not looking to be depicted as mere medical problems," criticizing the museum for reducing individuals to their medical conditions rather than acknowledging their humanity [3].

It doesn’t help that The Mütter Museum has built a reputation for being  “disturbingly informative” and for the macabre and weird. With this reputation, how are visitors supposed to interpret the disabled bodies on display as anything but odd or disturbing? In addition to this, the Mütter has also become a staple in Philadelphia’s Halloween celebrations, “anchoring disability and difference to ‘horror’” [2]. Although museums can be a transformative and influential space for cultural attitudes about topics such as disability, the Mütter Museum is seen as contributing to the “enfreakment” and commercialization of disability in public spaces [2]. Ultimately, while the museum provides valuable opportunities to learn about the history of medicine and human anatomy, its educational mission is undermined when disabled individuals are presented primarily as medical curiosities rather than as people with lived experiences. The ongoing debate surrounding the Mütter Museum demonstrates that the ethical display of human remains requires not only scientific context but also respect, informed consent, and representation that recognizes the humanity of those whose bodies are exhibited.

Bibliography:

[1] Rosenheck, Mabel. “Mütter Museum.” The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia. Accessed July 9, 2026. https://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/essays/mutter-museum/. 

[2] Nair, Aparna. “The Mütter and More: Why We Need to be Critical of Medical Museums as Spaces for Disability Histories.” Disability Visibility Project. Last modified July 28, 2023. https://disabilityvisibilityproject.com/2023/07/28/medical-museums-disability-power-and-empire/.

[3] Lehrer, Riva. “Philadelphia’s Mütter Museum Is Reviewing Its Collection of Human Remains. Here’s Why That Matters for Disability Representation.” Art in America. Last modified June 16, 2023. https://www.artnews.com/art-in-america/columns/mutter-museum-op-ed-riva-lehrer-disability-1234671870/

Additional Sources:

“Controversy Roils ‘Disturbingly Informative’ Mütter Museum.” Last modified June 18, 2023. https://culturalpropertynews.org/disturbingly-informative/.