Exhibits

Current exhibits

Banner for exhibit titled "Tools of the trade: uncovering the artifacts of the wangensteen vault"

Tools of the Trade: Uncovering the Artifacts of the Wangensteen Vault

May 1 - September 13, 2024

Where: Wangensteen Historical Library, 2-340 Phillips-Wangensteen Building

Free and open to the public.

In 2022, the Wangensteen Historical Library of Biology and Medicine received a grant from the Minnesota Historical Society to research and catalog a subset of the 8,000 artifacts we hold in our collection. This exhibit highlights some of the materials involved in this project.

Visit the Wangensteen Historical Library to see a full display of some of our most popular and interesting artifacts and how they were used. From amputations to obstetrics to quackery, come discover some of the fascinating medical artifacts from the Wangensteen’s collections!

Past exhibits

Banner for Wangensteen's student success showcase exhibit

Student Success Showcase 2024

February 1 - March 31, 2024

Explore this exhibit to see how students from a variety of academic disciplines use historical materials from the Wangensteen in their coursework, internships, and research projects.

Student showcase exhibit header

Student Showcase

January 17, 2023 - May 1, 2023

See student success in action! This exhibit highlights examples of the variety of student work done in 2022 using the Wangensteen’s collections.

Japanese measles poster

Drawn to Health: Bodies and Medicine in Popular Visual Culture

September 12, 2022 - December 29, 2022

This exhibit seeks to examine the historical underpinnings of graphic medicine through collections held at both the Wangensteen Historical Library and the Children’s Literature Research Collections, and explores the historical and contemporary use of visual narratives to communicate about health and medicine.

Anatomy illustrated

Anatomy Illustrated: Scientific Images and the Body

March 11, 2022 - September 1, 2022

This exhibit showcases some of the most important examples of the Wangensteen’s vast collection of historical anatomical illustrations and features three of the collection’s flap anatomies, reproduced and made larger so that viewers can interact with them.

The Secret Lives of Books

September 14, 2018 - December 23, 2019

In the Wangensteen Historical Library's exhibit, we turn on the lights and open the stacks to reveal the past and present secret lives of books and tell their captivating stories of health, illness, and the human experience.

Underwater

September 11, 2017 - May 18, 2018

Underwater explores humans, health, and science in watery spaces. Discover what voyagers encountered on the sea and how interactions in and around water have been the harbinger of health and illness across the centuries.

Medical Exchanges: Mapping the Human Body in Japan and China

December 12, 2016 - July 14, 2017

On view for the first time, the texts in this fascinating exhibition from the collections of the Wangensteen Historical Library of Biology and Medicine provide a unique and richly illustrated history of early modern medical knowledge and healing in Japan and China.

Bodies and Spirits: Health and the History of Fermentation and Distillation

September 14, 2015 through May 31, 2016

Why have some doctors recommended giving babies wine? Why did hops originally become a popular addition to beer? How did alcoholic beverages, once considered food and medical items, become symbols of dangerous behavior? Learn more at our exhibit on fermentation, distillation and medicine throughout history.

Visualizing the Body: Celebrating 500 Years of Andreas Vesalius, Renaissance Art and Medical Revolution

August 4, 2014 – May 8, 2015

Andreas Vesalius’ pivotal work on human anatomy, “De Humani Corporis Fabrica,” sits at the intersection of art and science. Vesalius, acknowledged as the father of modern anatomy, based his work on observations from his dissections, and this, along with detailed Renaissance images, revolutionized the study of anatomy. This exhibit commemorates the 500th anniversary of Vesalius (1514-1564), and draws upon the Wangensteen Historical Library’s strong holdings in the history of anatomy.

Downton Abbey: Behind the Scenes of Health and Illness

October 21, 2013 - May 16, 2014

Medical themes are threaded throughout Masterpiece Theater’s wildly popular Downton Abbey, from Matthew’s temporary paralysis during the Great War to Sybil’s tragic death from eclampsia. The Wangensteen Historical Library of Biology and Medicine’s holdings come together in "Downton Abbey: Behind the Scenes of Health and Illness" to illuminate the medicine of Edwardian England. The exhibit explores such themes as nursing, surgery and combat injuries in WWI, maternal and child health, and household medicine using books and artifacts from the library’s extensive early 20th century collections.