{"id":268025,"date":"2026-08-19T07:02:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T07:02:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/268025\/"},"modified":"2026-08-19T07:02:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T07:02:11","slug":"a-guide-to-the-pennsylvania-hospital-museum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/268025\/","title":{"rendered":"A Guide to the Pennsylvania Hospital Museum"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t3 Must-See Moments at the Pennsylvania Hospital Museum<\/p>\n

When I first walked into the museum, standing on a marbled floor and staring up at the Good Samaritan logo \u2014 the hospital\u2019s official seal, designed by Benjamin Franklin and Dr. Thomas Bond \u2014 I was awe-struck. It reads: \u201cTake Care of Him and I Will Repay Thee.\u201d<\/p>\n

And this building has repaid many in its 275 years, from opening the first maternity ward in 1803 to performing the first laparoscopic-assisted vaginal hysterectomy in 1991.<\/p>\n

I nerded out on Elizabeth Gardner\u2019s Matron Book. She was the first administrator and kept records of everything, including linen orders, distributed wages and food deliveries \u2014 mutton and oysters were popular! And I was fascinated by the modern breakthroughs chronicled on the second floor, including deep brain stimulation for Parkinson\u2019s patients and CART-T cell therapy<\/a> for cancer patients.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here are my favorite experiences at the Pennsylvania Hospital Museum.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tElizabeth Gardner\u2019s Matron Book
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u00a0\u00a0\u2014 Photo courtesy Penn Medicine\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tHistory & Heroes<\/p>\n

The Apothecary Room stands in tribute to herbal remedies. There are 75 drawers that you can open, revealing tincture jars, pill boxes and even advertising campaigns.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tApothecary Room
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u00a0\u00a0\u2014 Photo courtesy Penn Medicine\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Look for the Board of Managers\u2019 Book on the first floor. Penned by Benjamin Franklin himself on April 6, 1751, it contains actual meeting minutes and outlines the criteria for the \u201cpractice of physick and surgery.\u201d<\/p>\n

You can view blueprints for the Physic Garden, a botanical garden first proposed prior to the Revolutionary War in 1774 (but not built until 1976).<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhysic Garden
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u00a0\u00a0\u2014 Photo courtesy Penn Medicine\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Other artifacts I saw included iron restraints once used on mentally ill patients, a journal from the Spanish-American War that documents soldiers suffering from typhoid and a receipt paid to abolitionist Richard Allen \u2014 the eventual founding pastor of Mother Bethel AME<\/a> \u2014 for his work as a chimney sweep.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tTrailblazers & Tomes\u00a0<\/p>\n

The nation\u2019s first medical library was established in 1762 after Dr. John Fothergill, a London physician, sent over three anatomical plaster casts that show the female body at different stages of childbirth.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Eventually, the collection grew to 13,000 volumes and contains works published between 1750 and 1850, including An Experimental History of Materia Medica by William Lewis.<\/p>\n

\"Visitors<\/p>\n

\"Visitors<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMedical Library
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u00a0\u00a0\u2014 Photo courtesy Penn Medicine\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Outside the library hangs a painting of Dr. Benjamin Rush, the \u201cFather of American Psychiatry\u201d who was the first person to introduce occupational therapy \u2014 using meaningful activity, like gardening, to treat mentally ill patients.<\/p>\n

Across the hall, interactive touch screens introduce modern advances in women\u2019s health. For example, you can click on Dr. Kate O\u2019Neill and watch a video about the first uterus transplant.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tSurgeries & Syringes\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Surgical Amphitheatre shows what an operating room looked like in the 18th century. Sunbeams shine in from a dome \u2014 which allowed doctors to see in an era before electricity \u2014 as surgical tools sit in display cases.<\/p>\n

Those tools, now outdated, helped me visualise the patient experience. I\u2019m talking about cold steel on flesh and bone, things like a tonsil guillotine for tonsillectomies, a sacrificator for bloodletting and cupping sets for drawing toxins out, plus amputation pincers and a silver tracheotomy tube.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Anatomague Table is the star. You can work digitally on a virtual patient by making incisions and analyzing the human body. Or sit in an observational bench and imagine what it must have been like to go under the knife, without anesthesia. (Yikes!)\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAnatomague Table
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u00a0\u00a0\u2014 Photo courtesy Penn Medicine\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tTickets & More<\/p>\n

The Pennsylvania Hospital Museum is open Wednesday through Sunday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Book your single-day timed ticket on the museum\u2019s website<\/a>. Self-guided tours are available every hour on the hour.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Pro tip: The museum\u2019s entrance can be tricky to find. You must first proceed to the gift shop at Ben\u2019s Den<\/a> on 800 Spruce Street and present your digital ticket. You\u2019ll be given a bracelet to wear on your wrist as proof of admission. From there, just proceed through the security checkpoint.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u00a0\u00a0\u2014 Photo courtesy Penn Medicine\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

For more on the Pennsylvania Hospital Museum, click the button below.<\/p>\n

visit website<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"3 Must-See Moments at the Pennsylvania Hospital Museum When I first walked into the museum, standing on a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":268026,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[69,71,70],"class_list":["post-268025","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268025","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268025"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268025\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}