“Whatever Was Once Associated with him, Continues to Bear his Stamp”: Articulating and Dissecting George S. Huntington and His Anatomical Collection

Lans, Aja M.

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-71114-0_2

Cited by 11 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…Robert J. Terry started the R. J. Terry Anatomical Collection in 1910, influenced by his mentors George S. Huntington and Sir William Turner [23,33]. Between 1893 and 1921, at Columbia University, Huntington collected between 7000 and 8000 human skeletons from unclaimed individuals [15]. As Huntington's health declined, bone elements from the collection were traded or gifted to other institutions [15].…”

Section: Anatomical Collectionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Between 1893 and 1921, at Columbia University, Huntington collected between 7000 and 8000 human skeletons from unclaimed individuals [15]. As Huntington's health declined, bone elements from the collection were traded or gifted to other institutions [15]. Approximately 3070 partial skeletons that remained from the Huntington Collection are now housed at the National Museum of Natural History [14,15].…”

Section: Anatomical Collectionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As Huntington's health declined, bone elements from the collection were traded or gifted to other institutions [15]. Approximately 3070 partial skeletons that remained from the Huntington Collection are now housed at the National Museum of Natural History [14,15]. Huntington believed in a separate analysis per bone for racial and morphological studies [14].…”

Section: Anatomical Collectionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Anatomy Acts, implemented before UAGA, assured that the source of cadavers for research and teaching came exclusively from the most vulnerable sector of the population. Anatomical laws targeted the impoverished, with the reasoning that poor individuals would pay their debt to society with their body, in service of science and education [15]. Dissection was a stigmatized practice at the time and perceived as capital punishment [32].…”

Section: Ethical Concerns On the Inclusion Of Skeletons Of Unclaimed ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Documented Skeletal Collections and Their Importance in Forensic Anthropology in the United States

2021

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Documented skeletal collections are the backbone of forensic anthropology due to their associated biohistories. This paper describes the identified skeletal collections and their relevance in forensic anthropological research, education and training in the US. The establishment of documented skeletal collections in the US can be distinguished into two modus operandi, depending on the stance towards the dead, legislation, and medical and forensic practices. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, anatomists amassed skeletons from cadaver dissections, shaped by European influences. Those skeletons compose the anatomical collections—such as the Robert J. Terry Anatomical Collection—predominantly representing impoverished and unclaimed individuals. Ethical concerns for the curation and research of African American skeletons without family consent are growing in the US. In contrast, since the 1980s, modern documented skeletal collections originated from body donations to human taphonomy facilities, such as the William M. Bass Donated Skeletal Collection. The establishment and testing of osteological methods essential to establish one’s identity—such as age at death and sex—have been developed with skeletons from documented collections. Therefore, the analysis of identified skeletons has been crucial for the development of forensic anthropology in the US.

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Section: Anatomical Collectionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Anatomical Collectionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Anatomical Collectionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Ethical Concerns On the Inclusion Of Skeletons Of Unclaimed ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Documented Skeletal Collections and Their Importance in Forensic Anthropology in the United States

2021

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“…While my work with the women in the Huntington Collection requires that I take seriously the physical body, “the workings of blood, flesh, bones, and muscles,” I also need space for other ways of knowing the Black female experience, many of which do not fit the traditional scope of biological anthropology (McKittrick 2010, 123). I also do not feel comfortable claiming to “speak for the dead,” and instead acknowledge the postmortem careers of the women I study and collaborate with (Lans 2018; Verdery 1999). McKittrick (2010) turns to the work of artist Willie Bester, whose Sarah Baartman sculpture is made from recycled steel.…”

Section: Rereading Bodiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Decolonize this collection: Integrating black feminism and art to re‐examine human skeletal remains in museums

Lans

2020

Feminist Anthropology

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This article combines traditional avenues of bioarchaeological research with Black feminist theory to decolonize identified skeletal collections housed in museums. Inspired by the activism of Decolonize This Place (DTP), I put the remains of Black women who were dissected in Progressive Era New York City into conversation with Black feminist theorists and artists. I argue that to "flesh in" the lives of these long anonymized and disarticulated women, it is essential to perform interdisciplinary and decolonizing work that is inspired by Black women. The field of biological anthropology will benefit from moving past privileging "scientific" knowledge and considering what the arts might contribute to our representations of the bodies we study, as suggested by Katherine McKittrick (2010). Furthermore, for our field to truly become inclusive, we must encourage scholars with multiple consciousnesses, as proposed by Faye Harrison (2010).

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Ethical futures in biological anthropology: Research, teaching, community engagement, and curation involving deceased individuals

de la Cova,

Hofman,

Marklein

et al. 2024

American Journal of Biological Anthropology

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Although ethical reforms in biological anthropology have gained ground in recent years, there is still a scarcity of ethical standards for work involving historical documented collections (HDCs) at US museums and universities. These collections of deceased individuals were created in the late 19th to mid‐20th centuries under anatomy laws that targeted socially marginalized communities and allowed for the dissection of these individuals without their consent. Due to the extensive information associated with the individuals and made available to researchers, these collections have served as foundational resources for theory and methods development in biological anthropology into the 21st century. Recognizing the need for ethical guidelines for research, teaching and training, community engagement, and curation involving HDCs, we held a workshop called “Ethical Futures for Curation, Research, and Teaching in Biological Anthropology” on November 15–17, 2021. Here we summarize the conversations and major points of consensus among the workshop participants on these topics in order to advance these ethical considerations more broadly across the field.

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“Whatever Was Once Associated with him, Continues to Bear his Stamp”: Articulating and Dissecting George S. Huntington and His Anatomical Collection

Cited by 11 publications

References 24 publications

Documented Skeletal Collections and Their Importance in Forensic Anthropology in the United States

Documented Skeletal Collections and Their Importance in Forensic Anthropology in the United States

Decolonize this collection: Integrating black feminism and art to re‐examine human skeletal remains in museums

Ethical futures in biological anthropology: Research, teaching, community engagement, and curation involving deceased individuals

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