Museum of Medical Science
From The Long Sepsis, an encyclopedia of a world that didn't happen
The Museum of Medical Science occupies a Victorian building in South Kensington, London, and preserves the material record of bacteriology and medicine in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. It was established in 1982 by a consortium of the Pasteur Institute, the University of London Medical College, and the Geneva Sanitary Bureau to document the divergent history of infection control in a world without reliable systemic antibacterial chemotherapy. The museum is distinct from the Institute for the History of Bacteriology in Berlin, which holds archives and primary sources; the Museum of Medical Science collects surviving instruments, apparatus, clothing, and furnishings that shaped clinical practice.
The museum's founding followed years of negotiation among medical historians, particularly Richard Reinhardt at the Berlin institute and a committee of London bacteriologists who recognized that the material instruments of asepsis maximalism would soon disappear from working hospitals. By 1980, clean ward technology was so routine that few institutions preserved the early versions, and many surgical instruments and isolation apparatus were being discarded as hospitals upgraded. The museum received its first major gift in 1983: the contents of a surgical theatre from a London teaching hospital built in 1954, including the original airlocks, ventilation apparatus, and stainless steel instrument trays designed under Bacillary Congress protocol.
The collection grew rapidly through the 1980s and 1990s, aided by support from Bayer AG, which donated early packaging and advertising materials for azo drugs, and from serum farms in Denmark and the Netherlands, which contributed documentation of animal husbandry and blood collection methods. The International Serum Registry provided records of serum preservation techniques and donor management protocols. By 2005, the museum held over eight thousand objects organized by function: infection prevention in domestic settings, surgical asepsis, serum therapy apparatus, laboratory bacteriology, and the material history of disposable textiles.
The core permanent exhibition occupies three floors and traces the path from nineteenth-century bacteriology through mid-twentieth-century standardization. The first section displays microscopes, culture plates, and bacteriological apparatus from the 1870s to 1930s, emphasizing that the tools for observing bacteria existed long before any chemical means to kill them in the living body. A series of exhibits documents the discovery and manufacture of azo drugs, with original Bayer sulfonamide containers and pharmaceutical journals describing their limited efficacy in systemic infection.
The largest section is devoted to the material practice of asepsis maximalism. It displays complete surgical gowns, masks, and hand protection from different decades, allowing visitors to see how protocols evolved; an isolation chamber from a 1960s clean ward; and a series of wall panels showing infection rates in hospitals built to Bacillary Congress standards versus older facilities. One cabinet contains dozens of variations in disposable equipment—drapes, swabs, instrument wrappers—showing how a single function generated enormous material diversity as asepsis maximalism was refined. Another exhibit showcases the textiles industry that grew around single-use cloths: photographs of looms, preserved fabric samples, and economic data on production volumes.
A dedicated floor displays the history of serum therapy. The exhibition includes refrigeration equipment from serum farms, glass vials and syringes for serum administration, and a detailed reconstruction of the blood collection and testing protocols at a hyperimmunized animal facility. One case displays the research notebooks of Dorothy Umezaki, on loan from the Institute for the History of Bacteriology, showing her experimental approach to measuring serum efficacy using survival analysis.
References
- 1.The Rise of Serum Therapy: A Medical History]], Cambridge University Press, 2008, pp. 312–318
- 2.Archives of the Institute for the History of Bacteriology: Institutional Records]], Berlin Academy Archives, 1982–2005 finding guide
- 3.The Architecture of Prevention: Hospital Design and Infection Outcomes]], Dr. Thomas Köster, 1998, Springer-Verlag, pp. 241–267
- 4.Museum of Medical Science: Collections Catalogue and Research Guide]], London, 2012 edition, compiled by the museum's curatorial staff