Medicine, Myth and Memory: Trusted Voices in the Pandemic
Call for papers
Online event – Wed 8/Thu 9 December 2021
Since March 2020, medical museums across the UK have shown an impressive ability to adapt to new ways of working, keeping audiences and collections at the forefront when their doors have been forced to close. Medical Museums occupy a unique space in the culture and heritage sector. Their historical collections, education and learning programmes, and public engagement offers are more important than ever, as UK citizens seek answers and information during this challenging time for public health.
Just when we need a long view of medicine and health, our museums are facing operational challenges and uncertain futures. However, there’s a greater crisis in which medical museums could be playing a greater role – as trusted spaces to capture and share the stories of COVID-19, contextualised within the historic human struggle against disease.
This online event will be free to attend. It is being organised by the UK Medical Collections Group; a group of museums and collections reconvened in response to the coronavirus pandemic, to support collaboration between medical museums for the public good.
Aims
This event aims to:
- Showcase the impressive range of projects and innovations that medical museums have delivered throughout COVID-19.
- Demonstrate the important role that medical museums play in education and information sharing, particularly during public health crises when it is most needed.
- Continue with the creative and engaging online activities that museums have offered to their public audiences this past year.