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Hi! My name is Katarzyna (she/her) and I am a PhD student at the Faculty of History, University of Warsaw. I hold a degree in medicine from the Medical University of Warsaw and has also studied history and bioethics at the University of Warsaw. My dissertation project on the social history of HIV/AIDS in Poland in the 1980s and 1990s, explores how the HIV/AIDS reveals changes in the post-socialist social order and politics of care.

My research interests include critical medical humanities, social history of medicine, history of sexuality, and history of transformation in East Central Europe. I am also an oral historian, engaged in several oral history projects. These include research on HIV/AIDS, a study on the early history of in vitro fertilization in Poland, and the collective project Oral Histories from the Rybnik Coal Basin, which explores, among other topics, local memories of transformation in the post-industrial region of Upper Silesia.

I am also developing an educational/public engagement project that uses heritage collections related to the Polish HIV/AIDS epidemic to teach about patient autonomy and the emergence of patient advocacy in the region.

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Bio: Alena Lochmannová is a Czech ethnologist and researcher at the Faculty of Medicine, Charles University. She holds two doctoral degrees - one in Ethonology from Charles University and another in Industrial Engineering from the University of West Bohemia. Her research focuses on medical anthropology, body modifications, pregnancy, and childbirth from anthropological and cultural-sociological perspectives. She explores how different cultures and individuals perceive and practice bodily changes and reproductive processes in various historical and social contexts. Additionally, her work examines perinatal loss, women’s perinatal health, and the phenomenology of suicide. Through an interdisciplinary approach, she seeks to provide deeper insights into the interplay between culture, medicine, and human experience.

ORCID: 0000-0001-7822-0204

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Esther Bánki studied art history in Nijmegen and museology in Leiden. She is the director of Museum Kinderdorp Neerbosch in Nijmegen. The museum recently

reopened with a completely new permanent exhibition.

Bánki has experience in leading cultural projects,

particularly historic muse and exhibitions. She was director of Museum Natura Docet in Denekamp and Museum Kaap Skil on Texel. Under her leadership, Museum Kaap Skil has completed a large construction project and new exhibitions of the maritime history

of the Netherlands. She also regularly curates exhibitions on (art-)historicalsubjects.

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Dear Participant,

Welcome to our padlet. This space will function as a Resource to find and share information. Please explore the various columns with more information about the workshop, travel tips and hotel recommendations, as well as space for personal introductions. Please feel free to add resources, photographs, etc.

Any problems? Don't hesitate to email Ruben at r.verwaal@erasmusmc.nl

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INSTRUCTIONS: How to add your contributions

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INSTRUCTIONS: How to add your contributions

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Everyone has their own column - scroll along to find the one you want and select the plus (+) button below it. A simple text post will appear. Give it a title at the top and then add your text or links etc in the space below.

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Please click on the 3 dots in the top right corner of the post to edit it.

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Medical (and care) heritage can contribute to health and wellbeing in a variety of ways. Inspiring exhibitions or thought-provoking public engagement activities invite contemplation and reflection, while learning and healing can be generated by encounters with hidden histories and marginalized perspectives. Creative approaches include museum visits to hone the observational skills of medical students; touching, drawing, and discussing museum objects to process experiences of illness, disability, or caregiving; and community curation projects to enrich museum collections and diversify the stories they tell.

This workshop will present innovative projects engaging with experiences of illness, diagnosis, and treatment which are breaking the silences surrounding intimate aspects of disease and caregiving and will highlight the benefits for healthcare professionals as well as patients.

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The workshop is funded by the European Healthcare Histories COST Action and addresses their focus on public engagement skills, working with the heritage sector, and developing skills in physical and online exhibition curation, communication strategies for the general public, and translating research for therapeutic contexts in health services.

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Here you will find resources of interest. Please add anything you would like to share with the group.

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Creative Health: Museums, History, Heritage and Wellbeing

October 30-31, Amsterdam

Please click link to visit PulseNetwork and download the full summary report.

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Creative Health: Museums, History, Heritage and Wellbeing October 30-31, Amsterdam Museums contribute to health and wellbeing in a variety of ways. Inspiring exhibitions or thought-provoking public engagement activities invite contemplation […]

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Lange St. Agnietenstraat 10,  2312 WC Leiden

Near Leiden Central Station

Directions: Visit.plan_route

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Rijksmuseum Boerhaave · Lange Sint Agnietenstraat 10, 2312 WC Leiden, Netherlands

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Rijksmuseum Boerhaave · Lange Sint Agnietenstraat 10, 2312 WC Leiden, Netherlands

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From Leiden Central Station it is a ten-minute walk to the museum. Those arriving at Schiphol airport can easily take the train to Leiden Central Station.

Please visit visitLeiden for more information about Public Transport in and around Leiden and places to stay.

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This workshop is hosted by a consortium of researchers and museum professionals active in this area who are investigating the potential and impact of such work in a project: Erfgoed Collecties Erasmus Medisch Centrum, Florence Nightingale Instituut, Museum van de Geest, Rijksmuseum Boerhaave, Universiteit van Amsterdam/Pulse Network Medical and Health Humanities, Museum Kinderdorp Neerbosch, The Netherlands.

This consortium project funded by the FARO initiative of the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science

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https://www.rijksmuseumboerhaave.nl/en

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Erasmus University Medical Centre Heritage Collections

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Erasmus University Medical Centre Heritage Collections

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https://museumkinderdorpneerbosch.nl

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Museum for Nursing Florence Nightingale Instituut

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Museum for Nursing Florence Nightingale Instituut

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Florence Nightingale Instituut - English

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The history of nursing attracted growing interest in the Netherlands in the 1980s. This led in 1993 to the establishment of the National Museum of Nursing, which changed its name to the Florence Nightingale Institute (FNI) in 2007. The museum closed in 2013 and transformed itself in an online knowledge Centre with a virtual museum.

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University of Amsterdam Pulse Network Medical and Health Humanities

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University of Amsterdam Pulse Network Medical and Health Humanities

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The Museum of the Mind is fascinated by the work of art inside your head. Because nothing is as diverse, unique, powerful and yet so fragile as the human mind. Through its art and cultural programs, the museum helps to bring mental health and neurodiversity into the open.

Museum of the Mind has two locations; one in Haarlem and one in Amsterdam. In Haarlem you can discover more about your own mind and those of others in an interactive way. In Amsterdam you can see exhibitions with outsider art, in which artists show their imaginative inner world.

All tickets can be purchased online in advance.

Museum of the Mind | Dolhuys in Haarlem

In this historical building, you will get to peek inside the minds of artists, writers and scientists. The museum invites you on an interactive voyage of discovery into your own mind, and those of others. A museum bursting with personal stories, surprising art and an expansive historical collection, straddling the boundaries between healthcare, art and science. A visit to the museum is an experience focused on the wonder and versatility of the mind. Come visit and allow yourself to wonder about what is normal. Are you normal?

A historical building
Museum of the Mind | Dolhuys is situated in a unique medieval building: the former lepers-, plague and madhouse. For years the building lay outside the city walls of Haarlem, sheltering the 'insane' and people with contagious diseases such as plague and leprosy.

Go back in time and visit one of the very few remaining isolation chambers in Europe, dating from the 16th century. What does it feel like to be locked away in such a dark and confided space?

Museum of the Mind | Dolhuys won the European Museum of the Year Award 2022.

Museum of the Mind | Outsider Art in Amsterdam

Museum of the Mind | Outsider Art in Amsterdam is the only museum in the Netherlands with a large (international) Outsider Art collection. This is art produced by those who are art world - and often social - outsiders. Through their work, they show their inner world without being concerned by the opinions of the outside world. Experience the extraordinary art made by individuals who, for the most part, are not formally trained as artists. Their work is authentic, unconventional and goes against the grain.

The museum presents surprising, unpolished art. Step into a completely new world and into the wild rollercoaster of Outsider Artists, who sometimes go about their work almost manically. The inner world of these artists is often so full that it overflows into a great oeuvre. In this museum you will look at art in a different way.

Museum of the Mind | Outsider Art is located in the Hermitage Amsterdam.

For the Love of Art: collection highlights

For the Love of Art is the permanent exhibition with outsider art in Museum of the Mind. This diverse art collection tells one universal story: the passionate way of the artists for the process of creating art and thereby exposing a part of their inner world. Compare it with your mind in a state of infatuation; a mind where you can act with full commitment, without external influences.

Feel the love of art trough more than 90 works; from monstrous sculptures with dreamy looks made by the Japanese artist Shinichi Sawada to friendly black and white figures drawn by the Iranian Davood Koochaki. The thoughts of the British artist Richard C. Smith come to life with film fragments from the documentary by Gabriel Jagger (son of Mick Jagger) and Finbar Brown. Discover the paintings and collages of Ria Mul and enjoy the digital works of Abraham Diopp. Get amazed by the explosion of color in M. Anesi's creations, the details in the flower and plant textile works of South African Aradne, and so much more.

31553580 (obsessie/obsession): numbers and schedules

22 September 2022 - 27 August 2023
When the world becomes chaotic and intangible, like during a pandemic, many of us attempt to get a handle on reality by reducing it to a series of elementary lines and numbers. The exhibition 31553580 (obsessie/obsession): numbers and schedules explores a craving for structure and logic in our chaotic world. Artworks by Doerte Weber, Eiko Ishizawa, George Widener and Lionel Plak offer solace for the soul, something that connects us all.
The new exhibition at Museum van de Geest | Outsider Art is the result of the first ever collaboration between artist Jan Hoek and curator Hanne Hagenaars. Visitors are actively involved and in the run-up to the exhibition, they are invited to submit their most remarkable lists and schedules. The submissions will be presented at the museum during the exhibition. 31553580 is designed in collaboration with exhibition designer Tariq Heijboer.

One huge schedule
The exhibition is a structured entity allowing visitors to escape from the chaotic world outside. Step into an enormous schedule, where the works are exhibited in a large, orderly grid pattern. The gallery texts - handwritten by the curators - connect the artworks logically.

Guest curators Hanne Hagenaars and Jan Hoek
A joint fascination for numbers and schedules previously inspired Hanne Hagenaars and Jan Hoek, mother and son, to produce a themed edition for art magazine Mister Motley. Many artists (especially outsider artists) use the strategies of bringing order, devising systems and categorisation in their work. Even without the additional stress of a pandemic, for many people, the world is so overwhelming that it needs to be stripped back to order and abstraction. This has resulted in numerous oeuvres with a flood of unstoppable and ever-growing schedules. Regular artists also produce the most incredible schedules. To some extent, all of us are inclined to capture chaos in schedules. From artists to managers with a fear of failure, to family men undergoing a midlife crisis. With the exhibition 31553580 (obsessie/obsession): numbers and schedules, the guest curators merge the partitioned worlds of 'insider', 'outsider' and everyone else.

Participating artists
31553580 (obsessie/obsession): numbers and schedules features work by artists including: Alex Naber, Angel Lartigue, Annesas Appel, Ardian Ramadanovic, De Gasten, Daphne Agten, Doerte Weber, Eiko Ishizawa, Elisa Pinto, Emma Wiersma, Frédéric Bruly Bouabré, George Korsmit & Saskia Janssen, Frédéric Bruly Bouabré, George Widener, Georgina Starr, Gijs Assmann, Jan Hoek, Job Koelewijn, Kenny Callens, Kiki Smith, Lien Anckaert, Laura Body, Lionel Plak, Lizzie van Itallie, Lubos Plny, Marit Westerhuis, Melvin Way, Michiel de Jaeger, Pieke Werner, Renske de Greef, Rainbow Soulclub (Mimosa Govert Visser en AMP (Parry Person), Ruben Armando (La pureza del Arte), Ruth van Beek, Shane Drinkwater, Simon Evans, Tobias Tebbe, Toon Teeken & Océane Teeken and Zdenek Kosek.

Dolhuys Foundation

As a foundation, we believe in a society in which, when your mind works differently than normal, you are heard and seen and can participate on the basis of equality. The two museums that we operate give a voice to people in society who were previously not represented in the cultural landscape.

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Museum of the Mind - Museum van de Geest

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The Museum of the Mind is fascinated by the work of art inside your head. Because nothing is as diverse, unique, powerful and yet so fragile as the human mind. Through its art and cultural programs, the museum helps to bring mental health and neurodiversity into the open.

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Here you can see the draft programme of the workshop.

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From this section onwards, all workshop participants can introduce themselves ahead of the workshop.

Tips: Please add a photograph, give a few keywords that summarise your work and expertise, and write a bioblurb. You can add any other information and links to publications and projects as you see fit.

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Keywords: bodily fluids, d/Deafness, hardness of hearing, visual and material culture, cultural history

Hi! My name is Ruben (he/him) and I work as historian and curator at the Erasmus University Medical Centre, Rotterdam.

From 2020 to 2022, I conducted a post-doc project on Deafness and Hardness of Hearing, co-curating the exhibition Yo, Doc, Listen Up! on the (medical) history and personal experiences of DHH. It has since travelled to other hospitals and has become part of the medical curriculum in Rotterdam, contributing to more inclusive healthcare.

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Yo, Doc, Listen Up! (Dutch: Hoor eens even!) is an co-curated exhibition on Deafness, Hardness of Hearing and Inclusive Healthcare, launched in 2022. It uses heritage objects and artworks, personal stories and illustrations to tell the story of hearing difference, barriers in healthcare, and the inclusion of DHH healthcare professionals.

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WELCOME IN THE WORLD OF THE DEAF AND THE HARD OF HEARING

Sit back and take a good look around you. Close your eyes. Open your ears. What all do you hear? What is other people's hearing?

Deaf

Deaf people do not have an auditory disability, because they don't use oral communication. They are a cultural minority group in the Netherlands and have their own visual language: Dutch Sign Language.

Hard of hearing

Hard-of-hearing people experience a loss or distortion of sound. As a result, their hearing environment can be very diverse and lead to obstacles in communication. Hearing aids help, but are not a cure. Despite hearing aids or cochlear implants, people with late or sudden deafness remain hard-of-hearing in varying degrees.

Hard of hearing vs Deaf

Deafness and Hard of Hearing do not form a unified whole. The world of Deaf and hard of hearing people is diversely composed.

What actually is Deaf culture?

What barriers do deaf and hard-of-hearing patients encounter in healthcare?

Can a doctor also be deaf or hard of hearing?

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An exhibition about Deafness, hardness of hearing, and inclusive healthcare

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I am an Associate Professor of Mental Health Histories and an Oral Historian at Nottingham Trent University, UK. I a member of the management committee of the COST Action National, International and Transnational Histories of Healthcare and I chair Working Group 5. I am a trustee of the Oral History Society, UK. My research sits at the intersection of the social history and heritage of mental healthcare. I specialise in the co-production of mental health histories.

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Dr. Jelena Kupsjak is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology specializing in medical anthropology, mental health, and public health collaboration. Her research explores care and wellbeing in transition (economic, health, climate), with a focus on the intersections of local knowledge and institutional response. She has a particular interest in the history of social medicine and One Health approaches. Jelena teaches courses in medical anthropology, economic anthropology and posthumanist perspectives.

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On the Accessibility of Museum Boerhaave, please visit this website.

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Rijksmuseum Boerhaave aims to offer everyone an enjoyable museum visit. That’s why we are continually working to improve accessibility.Would you like to learn more about how we can assist and the accessibility of various museum areas? Read on to find out more.

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ALMOST FINAL 01-09-25_COST Leiden Workshop Programme

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Mieneke te Hennepe | Curator Rijksmuseum Boerhaave & Professor Medical History, Leiden

University Medical Center

Mieneke te Hennepe is curator of medical collections at Rijksmuseum Boerhaave, the Dutch National Museum for the History of Science and Medicine. She is the lead curator of the exhibition Unseen, which explores gender bias in medicine through historical and contemporary perspectives. In addition to her curatorial role, Mieneke is a Professor by special appointment in Medical History at Leiden University Medical Center. Rijksmuseum Boerhaave is the lead partner of the consortium project Valuable and Healing (Waardevol en helend) under the Faro programme of the Dutch Cultural Heritage Agency (RCE).

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Mojca Ramšak, PhD in ethology, full professor of cultural and social anthropology and the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, and full professor of anthropology at AMEU - ISH Ljubljana.

She works at the Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology at the Faculty of Arts and at the Heritage Science Laboratory at the Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Technology at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. She has written 10 academic monographs and 190 scientific and professional articles on medical anthropology, medical humanities, narrative medicine, the history of ethnomedicine, public health, marketing in medicine, legal medical themes, the cultural history of the human body, cultural heritage and intellectual history.

Currently, she leads a project "Smell and intangible cultural heritage" which employs 24 researchers from the humanities, social sciences, medicine, natural sciences and computer science. Her latest book on the cultural-anthropological aspects of smell, "The Anthropology of Smell," has been published by Springer in 2024.

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Overview

Is of interest to various heritage-related disciplines and students of humanities and social sciences

Comprehensively covers all aspects of the anthropology of smell

Brings important insights into the research on smell, also relevant to post-COVID olfactory problems

About this book

This book discusses the meaning of smell from a socio-cultural perspective and brings important considerations of smell and olfaction beyond anatomy and physiology in an erudite, reader-friendly style. It addresses ideas about smell and odor in culturally diverse contexts; pays attention to the subtle ways in which smell is expressed; treats smell as part of memory, prejudice, rumor, and sexuality; offers insights into the role of smell in religion, literature, film art, intangible cultural heritage, and museum practices, with particular attention to the challenges posed by historical smells; describes the legal regulation of smell and the background to scent marketing that seeks to influence consumer buying habits, adding a unique and practical dimension to the content. In addition to philosophical and medical historical aspects, the book offers insights into the evolution, diagnosis and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the human sense of smell and illustrates how our environment and societal influences shape our sensory perceptions and thus our attitudes and interpretation of the olfactory world around us. From an anthropological perspective, the book looks at olfactory heritage, cultural traditions, and the symbolism of the nose in different societies. Overall, it offers a comprehensive and thought-provoking cultural examination of the sense of smell - a sense that is often underestimated - while broadening our understanding of the world of smell and its role in our lives.

"Ramšak's research provides valuable insights into the relationship between smell and culture, including its influence on identity, memory, social interactions, cultural practices, and beliefs. The book is a valuable resource for sensory anthropology, olfactory and intangible heritage."

Prof. Dr. Katja Hrobat Virloget, University of Primorska, The Faculty of Humanities, Department of Anthropology and Cultural Studies, Koper, Slovenia

"The remarkable depth and breadth of the subtle connection between smell and culture is testament to Ramšak's deep engagement with the subject and her exceptional understanding of the global patterns of cultural connotations associated with smell."

Prof. Dr. Sophie Elpers, The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, Meertens Institut, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

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Table of contents (10 chapters)

Reviews

The Anthropology of Smell is a comprehensive exploration of the sense of smell through meticulous research and a compelling narrative that delves into the world of smell and uncovers its influence on our experiences and interactions as humans. This book explores the cultural, social and biological dimensions of the sense of smell from the perspectives of ethnology, anthropology, philosophy, linguistics, and the history of medicine. It shows how smells shape our identity, our memories, and our perception of the world. From olfactory rituals, scent marketing strategies, and love at first sniff to olfactory heritage, the book provides an understanding of how smells influence our behavior, emotions, language, and decision-making processes. What makes The Anthropology of Smell special is its blend of scientific knowledge and cultural understanding. The author's expertise allows for a seamless integration of different perspectives, making this book indispensablefor anyone interested in the field of sensory anthropology.

Authors and Affiliations

About the author

Mojca Ramšak holds a PhD in ethnology from the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, where she is a full professor of cultural and social anthropology. She is also a full professor of anthropology at the Alma Mater Europaea - Faculty of Humanities, Institutum Studiorum Humanitatis, Ljubljana (AMEU - ISH). She has authored ten independent academic monographs in various fields such as minority studies, ethnology, cultural anthropology, oral history, medical humanities, history of medicine, philosophy and cultural heritage. Her research is mostly interdisciplinary and focuses on the use of innovative research methods, experimental and traditional forms of qualitative research in the interest of social justice, human dignity and human rights

Accessibility Information

Accessibility information for this book is coming soon. We're working to make it available as quickly as possible. Thank you for your patience.

Bibliographic Information

Publish with us

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This book contains a selection of fundamental discoveries about olfactory heritage and the anthropology of smell.

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I am a postdoctoral researcher based in Portugal, currently working on a project concerning the heritage of madness, with a focus on ethical, conservation, political, and memory-related issues. I am also a research at the Centre for Communication and Culture (CECC-UCP) and collaborating researcher at the Museum Studies group (IHA-NOVA) and a member of the COST Action National, International, Transnational Histories of Health Care.

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Hoi iedereen! I'm a Research Fellow in Health Humanities at the University of Amsterdam. My work centres on the history of medicine, mental health, psychiatry, and first responders. I'm a member of Working Group 5 and lead for the Mental Health Histories Special Interest Group in this COST Action. With Manon Parry, I co-ordinate the PULSE Medical and Health Humanities Network. I'm Policy Officer for the Society for the Social History of Medicine. I've worked with several museums in the UK and the Netherlands, curating exhibitions and holding public events, and am currently writing an article about psychiatric museums.

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Woman with long blond hair and blue eyes wearing a black jumper against a sunny spring background of water, grass and budding trees.

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Hugo Schalkwijk is a curator at the Dutch Museum for Nursing and senior advisor the Hugo Schalkwijk is curator at the Dutch Museum for Nursing and senior advisor to the Dutch Nurses’ Association's Knowledge Institute. He is also a researcher at Fontys University of Applied Sciences and a PhD candidate at the University of Amsterdam, studying nursing work and role development.

The Dutch Museum for Nursing is a partner in the Valuable and Healing consortium within the Faro programme of the Dutch Cultural Heritage Agency.

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I am a neuroscientist turned science communicator, curator, and lived experience advocate. For the past few years, I have been working as Senior Science Communicator at the VIB-KU Leuven Center for Brain & Disease Research. I recently went back to school and graduated from Curatorial Studies at the Royal Academy of Arts in Ghent. I’m currently co-curating exhibitions at, among others, GUM Museum (Forum for Science, Doubt & Art). I also serve as a lived experience expert for the World Health Organization (WHO) and more. I’ve been contributing to the Valuable & Healing project under the guidance of Ruben Verwaal at Erasmus MC in Rotterdam, developing a toolkit to foster more accessible, participatory and caring cultural and curatorial practices.

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Associate Professor in Visual Culture Studies at University of Pretoria (UP), South Africa.

Undergraduate Coordinator: Visual Studies

Co-Editor: Image & Text

Rory du Plessis (BA Visual Studies, BA(Hons) Visual Studies, MPhil Philosophy and Ethics of Mental Health) has been a full-time lecturer in the Department of Visual Arts at the University of Pretoria since 2011. He is pursuing a PhD with the Division of Philosophy and Ethics of Mental Health (UP). In 2014 he was awarded a doctoral fellowship at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin, Germany. Rory’s research focuses on the photographs taken at the Grahamstown Lunatic Asylum, South Africa, during the superintendence of Dr Thomas Duncan Greenlees, 1890 to 1907. The photographs provide the most comprehensive record of asylum visual culture from South Africa during the nineteenth century. Over several publications Rory has argued that the asylum’s photographic practices were varied, complex and constituted by a multiplicity of styles and genres. In view of this claim, he demonstrates how a reading of the asylum’s photographs can be open to an array of interpretative frameworks.

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I am a PhD candidate at the University of Warsaw, Faculty of History, and CA22159 COST member, currently conducting research on the social history of HIV/AIDS in Poland. I am also developing an educational/public engagement project that uses heritage collections related to the Polish HIV/AIDS epidemic to teach about patient autonomy and the emergence of patient advocacy in the region. Medical education is particularly important to me, as I hold a medical degree alongside my academic background in history and bioethics.

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Yannis Stoyannidis is Postdoc researcher at the University of West Attica in Athens, Greece.

Yannis Stoyannidis graduated from the University of Thessaly in 2004. His postgraduate studies in Modern history/Industrial archaeology were accomplished in the same institution (2007). His doctoral research in the field of Social History of Medicine focused on the history of TB and Athens sanatoria (defended in 2016). Extended research was conducted on the history of Athens gasworks (2011-2013). Its outcome was a museum exhibition and a book entitled “Athens Gasworks”. Moreover, Yannis has participated in various research programmes, concerning the industrial history & heritage of the city of Volos (2005-2009). Since 2017 he is teaching Archival Science at the University of West Attica. Since late 2018 he is a member of the research team for the foundation and the digitization of the Historical Archive at the University of Thessaly.

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Manon Parry is an historian of medicine and exhibition curator, specializing in the uses of the humanities for health and wellbeing. She is Professor of Medical and Nursing History at Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, and Associate Professor of American Studies and Public History at the University of Amsterdam.

Formerly, as a Curator in the History of Medicine Division of the National Library of Medicine, USA, she curated gallery and online exhibitions on a wide range of topics, including global health and human rights, disability in the American Civil War, and medicinal and recreational drug use, with budgets ranging from $14,500 to $3 million. Traveling versions of her exhibitions have visited more than 300 venues in Argentina, Canada, Germany, Guam, the Netherlands, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States. She has served in formal and informal advisory roles for exhibition projects on health and medicine at the Mütter Museum, Philadelphia; the National Archives and Records Administration and the Library of Congress, Washington, DC; MUCEM, the Museum of European Civilisations, Marseille, and Rijksmuseum Boerhaave, the national museum for the history of science, technology and medicine in the Netherlands.

She directs the PULSE Network for Medical and Health Humanities and is currently completing a book, Human Curiosities: Expanding the Social Relevance of Medical Museums, on trends and challenges in European medical museums.

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I am a historian of asylums, psychiatry and mental health. My PhD explored the role of recreation and religion in nineteenth-century British asylums, and I am currently a postdoctoral research fellow at Manchester Metropolitan University, working on the AHRC-funded project 'Asylums: Refugees and Mental Health'. Here the focus is on Belgian refugees in British asylums during World War I, but we are also looking into the effects of displacement on mental health outside these institutions. We are collaborating with external project partners such as Alexandra Palace, the Mental Health Museum in Wakefield, The London Archives and In Flanders Fields Museum, Ypres, who will curate our research findings for exhibitions, workshops and plays.

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Anne Heimo is Professor of Folkloristics at the School of History, Culture and Arts Studies, University of Turku. She is specialised in oral history, memory studies, life writing research, and digital memory. She is founding member and former chair of the Finnish Oral History Network (FOHN) and current co-chair of the European Social Science History Conference (ESSHC) Oral history and life stories network. She is P.I. of the project “Paimio Sanatorium: Social, historical and cultural perspectives” which focuses on the experiences and memories of patients and members of staff of the former tuberculosis sanatorium designed by Alvar and Aino Aalto.

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Staff of the Foundation Museum of the Scuola Grande di San Marco and Healthcare in Venice (from the left: Giacomo Pistolato, Giovanni Capitanio, Mario Po' (Director), Cristina Fusetti and Maurizio Micconi. 

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Foundation Museum of the Scuola Grande di San Marco and Healthcare - Venice 

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Foundation Museum of the Scuola Grande di San Marco and Healthcare - Venice 

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Lorenzo Lorusso (MD) is a Consultant for the Foundation Museum of the Scuola Grande di San Marco and Healthcare in Venice. He is Director of the Neurology and Stroke Unit in Merate and chair for the Group of History of Neurology for the Italian Society of Neurology. He has interest in History for Neuroscience and promoting events for the dissemination of knowledge on Medical institutions and Mental Health History.

ORCID: 0000-0002-5894-8545

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My background is in architecture, with a primary expertise in interior studies. My academic work sits at the intersection of interior architecture, museum and exhibition design, and museum and heritage studies, with a particular interest in how different disciplinary approaches, theories, and practices can be interwoven. My research investigates the role of the built environment and museums in contemporary societies, with a focus on neglected heritages and difficult memories—ranging from urban histories and migration to the adaptive reuse of sites of difficult history such as prisons and asylums. Most recently, I have recently concluded major interdisciplinary study on the reuse of former mental asylums and their transformation into mind museums, published as a monograph with Routledge in 2024.

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I am a PhD student in Artificial Intelligence at the University of Pisa, currently living in Florence. My background is economics, data science and music. I have been working on Machine Learning applications to economic history and behavioural finance, in charitable religious Institutions. I have recently also worked on Dissonant Heritage for the ri-semantisation of Fascists buildings into Museums.

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Emotional Labour in Oral History Research

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Emotional Labour in Oral History Research critically appraises the many complex ways in which emotion management features in oral history research and its specific implications for the researcher.Uniquely, this volume draws on oral historians’ personal accounts of conducting sensitive research and assesses the applicability of the term emotional labour to this work. It examines how oral historians may perform emotional labour, highlighting the often-hidden emotional toll it takes on them. This volume considers how the emotionally taxing implications of conducting sensitive research may be exacerbated or mitigated by the institutional relations and contexts in which the researcher works. The authors evaluate recommendations from related disciplinary fields for ways of supporting researchers and consider how an ethics of care can be fostered in local research environments. Emotional Labour in Oral History Research engages critically with theories of emotion, conceptualisations of emotional labour, questions of power and positionality, an ethics of care and debate on the impact of neoliberal ideas and policies on the higher education sector.This book will be of interest to all those using oral history to conduct sensitive research in all locations and at all career stages, including doctoral students, academics new to oral history, established oral historians, community-based oral historians and qualitative researchers in adjacent disciplines.

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Manon S. Parry and Arjan Nuijten, summer school syllabus, "Sensing the History of Medicine," University of Amsterdam 2025

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Thomas Kador

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Object-Based Learning provides a concise overview of some of the most important approaches to material culture and object analysis in plain and easily understandable language, that is equally accessible to undergraduate and postgraduate students as well as lecturers. The textbook is organised in a clear and easy-to-follow way, each chapter is filled with practical case […]

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Mind Museums: Former Asylums and the Heritage of Mental Health

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Mind Museums: Former Asylums and the Heritage of Mental Health

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Francesca Lanz

Mind Museums offers a perspective on the heritage of mental health, bringing museums into sharp focus. Drawing on interdisciplinary approaches from architecture, museum and exhibition design, and heritage and museum studies, it examines former psychiatric asylums that have been converted into museums.

The book presents a comprehensive investigation of mind museums, and explores their potential in raising awareness and dismantling the stigma surrounding mental health. Through an indepth examination of selected European examples, Lanz describes what mind museums are and how they came to be. The innovative visitor studies carried out at the Museo di Storia della Psichiatria in Reggio Emilia, which are presented here, explore people's encounters with mind museums and reveal the profound impact of such experiences. By uncovering the power of these heritage sites in facilitating discussions on mental health, civility, and care, Lanz provides new insights into the emotive capacity of the museum and visitors' reflexivity at place-based memory sites.

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Mind Museums: Former Asylums and the Heritage of Mental Health

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Mind Museums offers a fresh perspective on the heritage of mental health, bringing museums into sharp focus. Drawing on interdisciplinary approaches from architecture, museum and exhibition design, and heritage and museum studies, it examines former psychiatric asylums that have been converted into museums.
The book presents a comprehensive investigation of mind museums, the first of its kind in Europe, and explores their potential in raising awareness and dismantling the stigma surrounding ment

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Medical Heritage, Wellbeing and Participation: The Challenges

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Medical Heritage, Wellbeing and Participation: The Challenges

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How do we pass old stories for contagious diseases to current patients?

Sensitive histories

Involvind other historians / finding expertise in medical history

Reliance on interested individuals for interdisciplinary collaboration - fragile

Crossing disciplinary boundaries

Gatekeeping / Pushback against humanities

Institutional isolation vs interdisciplinary approach

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By Bethan Burnside – work in progress!

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Training for patients and support

How to create support networks

a listening ear, patience, affection

Communication tips for when colleagues do not 'hear' your requests ...

Info on interpreters, eg Sign Language

policy ideas for inclusive organisation

Methods to best communicate in person vs online

Different methods/approaches for care practices

Help for lonely people

Trigger warnings options for curators

Include a crisis plan for people with lived mental health experience

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connecting painful stories to justice-oriented design

focus on acces intimacy! exercises to practice and intuitive care practices

Self-care reminders to better help others

Encouraging people to challenge prejudice on the condition

Strategies to support researchers doing sensitive research

Techniques for managing negative reactions (eg anger) clash of views etc.

Description of loss, sensory perception, synesthesia phenomena

Use of ballpoint pen & doodling (to train the brain)

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Creative activities

Space for relationships between visitors and the exhibition

Quotes that are helpful

1. Starting with having our intentions and well meaningness

2. Structure

3. Clear instructions, written and verbally

4. Communicate needs and wants openly (no mind reading)

5. Understanding problems and conflicts might arise, having willingness to engage and solve them

INCLUDE KIDS

list of organisations for possible help/collaboration

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€ASH!

Paucity of material

Bureaucracy

Neoliberal underinvestment in care and role of heritage in plugging the gab

Funding challenges - whose responsibility? Health or culture?

How do I communicate a medical heritage collection and make it popular?

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Evaluating impact – & who determins best way to measure?

Patient art treated as clinician records - prohibited access

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Ethics, GDPR, consent

Paternalistic bureaucratic overprotective

Ethics, privacy

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Limited room in curriculum (Med Edu especially)

Narrow/conservative uses of medical history

Marginalised groups & politically sensitive topics: AIDS, abortion, psychiatry...

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Participation (individual needs) stakeholders - tensions

long-term reflection vs short-term use

Managing expectations

Expectations of success stories or narratives of victimhood

power relations, audience

Visceral action/reaction

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Spaces

Dissonant history

Emotional, painful stories

Boundaries: professional – private

professional boundaries with emotional (his)tories

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Heritage - who for?

Technologies (AI) spectatorship

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Living memories

Empowerment

Power of collaboration

Circulation of people, thanks to COST

Sustainability

Multidisciplinarity

Resourcefulness & inventiveness

Hospitality and welcome

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Difficulty of gaining access to archives

AI, need for more anticipation of developments (rather than reacting to)