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53-561: The museum has a collection of over 37,000 specimens, of which about 10% were on display as of 2023. This does not include the large literary collection contained within the Historical Medical Library, which is also housed within the College of Physicians of Philadelphia . Collection items, artifacts, and specimens were acquired globally, and as Ella Wade (curator from 1939 to 1957) says, "The Mütter Museum Committee, as

106-586: A bachelor's degree in English and a Master of Education degree in communications from the University at Buffalo . While in college, she married her high-school boyfriend who attended the same university; they subsequently divorced. She took a year off from school to hitchhike across the country. In 1972, Gross started teaching 8th grade at an inner-city public junior high school in Buffalo . She said she

159-576: A city health law and a Board of Health with the authority to enforce quarantine. In 1841 the College encouraged the city to buy land along the Schuylkill River , to guarantee the purity of the city's drinking water, leading to the establishment of Fairmount Park , the nation's largest urban park. The College of Physicians’ humanitarian activism was reflected in its efforts to prevent the mentally ill from being executed. The earliest meetings of

212-576: A curatorial assistant in 1975 and became the museum's curator in 1982 and its director in 1988. Worden was a frequent guest on the Late Show with David Letterman , "displaying a mischievous glee as she frightened him with human hairballs and wicked-looking Victorian surgical tools, only to disarm him with her antic laugh" and appeared in numerous PBS , BBC and cable television documentaries (including an episode of Errol Morris ' show First Person ) as well as NPR 's " Fresh Air with Terry Gross " on

265-430: A distended ovary larger than a soccer ball; spines and leg bones so twisted by rickets they're painful just to see; the skeleton of a dwarf who stood 3 feet 6 inches (1.07 m) small, next to that of a giant who towered seven and a half feet. And "Jim and Joe," the green-tinted corpse of a two-headed baby, sleeping in a bath of formaldehyde. Worden was known for using humor and shock factor to garner interest in

318-663: A more natural, deeper tone. Much has been written about Gross's voice, and the precision of her use of language has been the subject of much analysis. There have been some occasions when interviews have not gone smoothly. Gross asked Nancy Reagan about the lack of funding and mishandling of HIV/AIDS by her husband, President Ronald Reagan , which was not well received. Several guests, including Lou Reed , Jann Wenner , Faye Dunaway , Peter Boyle , Monica Lewinsky , Bill O'Reilly , and Adam Driver , have stopped their interviews prematurely. Three notable examples are: On October 30, 1988, Gross played radio host "Rose Butler" in

371-649: A pair of residencies through the Francis C. Wood Institute for the History of Medicine program in 2010 and 2015. A chapter in the book examines the history of collecting at the Mütter Museum. College of Physicians of Philadelphia The College of Physicians of Philadelphia is the oldest private medical society in the United States. Founded in 1787 by 24 Philadelphia physicians "to advance

424-491: A part of the Philadelphia Film Festival prize package. In 2010, Aptowicz was named the 2010–2011 University of Pennsylvania ArtsEdge Writer-in-Residence and she noted that she will be using the residency to work on a biography of Thomas Dent Mütter. The museum has granted Aptowicz full access to their museum, library and archives for the duration of the residency so that she may conduct her research for

477-633: A remake of the famous The War of the Worlds broadcast of fifty years earlier. The 1988 version was produced by WGBH in Boston and picked up by 150 National Public Radio stations. Gross appeared as a guest voice on The Simpsons as herself in the episodes " The Debarted " and " The Girl on the Bus ". During the spring 1998 semester, Gross was a guest lecturer at University of California-Berkeley 's Graduate School of Journalism. In 2012, Gross appeared in

530-399: A short comedic film by Mike Birbiglia titled "The Secret Criminal Life of Terry Gross." In 2015 she appeared on Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me and played the game "Not My Job", answering questions about Hulk Hogan . In June 2017, Gross appeared as a guest-voice on Clarence as Aberdale Public Radio host, Debra Copper, in the episode "Public Radio". In January 2020, Gross appeared on

583-541: A wooden stethoscope and Marie Curie 's quartz-piezo electrometer Their library was established in 1788 and served as Philadelphia's main medical library for over 150 years. It is now a research library specializing in the history of medicine. De sedibus et causis morborum (On the Seats and Causes of Disease) by Giambattista Morgagni was one of the first acquisitions of the library. This book, published in Venice in 1761,

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636-498: Is almost certainly the best cultural interviewer in America, and one of the best all-around interviewers, period. Her smart, thoughtful questioning pushes her guests in unlikely directions. Her interviews are revelatory in a way other people's seldom are." Gross said that when she first started working in radio, her voice was much higher with anxiety. For years she took singing lessons, and has worked to relax her voice and to achieve

689-468: Is classically composed, flanked by Roman Doric columns with richly carved capitals. Outside this pair of columns are two pilasters, carved with the seal of the College of Physicians, that support a Doric entablature. The interior is an opulent example of the Beaux-Arts architecture . A 30-foot-wide (9.1 m) octagonal rotunda, the main hall, and a rich formal marble stair form the central axis, with

742-676: Is not face-to-face with her subjects. Gross creates a daily show that is an hour long, usually includes two interviews, and is distributed to over 190 NPR stations. The show reaches an audience of millions of daily listeners. Many of the producers and staff on Gross's show have been with her since the late 1970s to 1980s. The San Francisco Chronicle wrote that Gross's interviews are "a remarkable blend of empathy, warmth, genuine curiosity, and sharp intelligence." Gross prides herself on preparation; prior to interviewing guests, she reads their books, watches their movies, or listens to their CDs. The Boston Phoenix opined that "Terry Gross ...

795-409: Is now home to the Mütter Museum. Dr. Rush pushed for the maintenance of a medicinal garden to allow College Fellows to replenish items in their medicinal chests. The Garden was eventually founded in 1937. It displays between 50 and 60 medicinal herbs and plants, which include strawberries, wormwort, and bugleweed. The museum is also host to a variety of changing special exhibits. Dr. Joseph McFarland

848-488: Is the host and co-executive producer of Fresh Air , an interview-based radio show produced by WHYY-FM in Philadelphia and distributed nationally by NPR . Since joining NPR in 1975, Gross has interviewed thousands of guests. Gross has won praise over the years for her low-key and friendly yet often probing interview style and for the diversity of her guests. She has a reputation for researching her guests' work

901-532: Is the voice of Pam in the HBO Max animated series The Fungies! . While she was in college in the late 1960s, Gross was married for about a year to a man she knew from high school, with whom she had been living previously. Gross said she dropped out of college in her sophomore year to hitchhike with him across the country before they were married. She obtained a divorce by the time she started her radio career in 1973. Gross has been married to Francis Davis ,

954-505: The C. Everett Koop Community Health Information Center has provided current information about medical and health topics to the general public. The Francis Clark Wood Institute for the History of Medicine, founded in 1976, supports seminars and conferences in the history of medicine and the Mütter Museum and the College Library specialize in the history of medicine rather than general medical topics. The Library and Museum are open to

1007-628: The 1790s. By 1783 Benjamin Rush , a signer of the Declaration of Independence , proposed a society similar to Royal College of Physicians in London. The first meeting was held on January 2, 1787. Within weeks the fellows were organizing a library and starting to produce a pharmacopoeia ; within a year a series of scientific papers were being presented, which were collected in the Transactions of

1060-405: The College his pathology collection, and an endowment of $ 30,000 to support it, on the condition that the College build a fireproof building to house it within next five years. Architect James H. Windrim designed a utilitarian two-story building that opened on March 4, 1863, at Locust and Thirteenth Streets and cost $ 40,858.28. In 1885 a third story was added and the interior was transformed into

1113-538: The College of Physicians starting in 1793. The College's public health activism began in 1787 with statement on temperance sent to the Pennsylvania Legislature. In 1793, a yellow fever epidemic broke out in Philadelphia and the College proposed eleven public health measures to the mayor. When the epidemic returned in 1794 and 1797, the College organized the municipal response, proposing

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1166-517: The College were held at Fourth and Arch Streets but the growth of the library soon made that space inadequate. In 1791, the College moved to a room on the second floor of the American Philosophical Society ’s new hall at Fifth and Chestnut Streets, in the group of public buildings surrounding Independence Hall . In the 1840s and 1850s the College moved twice, and in 1859 considered new quarters again when Thomas D. Mütter gave

1219-780: The Dawn of Modern Medicine was released to critical acclaim, including starred reviews in Publishers Weekly , Library Journal , School Library Journal and Kirkus Reviews , as well as lengthy positive reviews in The Wall Street Journal , The Onion 's AV Club and NPR . The book would debut at #7 on The New York Times Bestseller List for Books about Health. In 2016, Harvard University Press published Bone Rooms: From Scientific Racism to Human Prehistory in Museums . The author, Samuel J. Redman, completed

1272-515: The Fabric of the Human Body) (1543) by Andreas Vesalius are in the collection. In addition to its rare books and nineteenth- and twentieth-century collections, the College Library is notable for its manuscripts and archives. Within this collection are the College's own archives, the archives of other Philadelphia medical institutions, and letters, case books, and student notebooks that document

1325-657: The Historical Medical Library, which is one of the country's oldest medical libraries. The College of Physicians of Philadelphia Building, designed by the firm of Cope & Stewardson and built in 1909, was designated a U.S. National Historic Landmark in October, 2008. It was also then listed on the National Register of Historic Places . The College remains a private membership organization of physicians, whose members or "fellows" attend regular meetings on professional education and development. Starting in 1995

1378-506: The Library: https://www.cppdigitallibrary.org/ . Because of the Quaker tradition of philanthropy, Philadelphia became a leader in the development of medicine in the 18th century. America's first public hospital, founded 1752, and first medical school , founded 1765, were in Philadelphia, as were some of the earliest public health measures, including America's first public water supply in

1431-420: The Mütter Museum is the last known remaining model of Madame Dimanche, who had a, "human horn ( cutaneous horn ). Successfully removed after six-years growth from Madame Dimanche, a Parisian widow, in the early 19th century. From the original collection of Dr. Thomas Dent Mütter (1811-1859)". The museum's holdings also include: Dr. Rush helped to found the College of Physicians of Philadelphia in 1787, which

1484-471: The Mütter Museum opened a gallery in her memory. In an article written about the gallery's September 30, 2005 opening, the New York Times described the "Gretchen Worden Room": There are jars of preserved human kidneys and livers, and a man's skull so eaten away by tertiary syphilis that it looks like pounded rock. There are dried severed hands shiny as lacquered wood, showing their veins like leaves;

1537-401: The Mütter Museum. The first book, 2002's The Mütter Museum: Of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia , contains images of the museum's exhibits shot by contemporary fine art photographers. William Wegman , Joel-Peter Witkin and Shelby Lee Adams have work that appear in the book. The second book was 2007's Mütter Museum Historic Medical Photographs . Mütter , a screenplay based on

1590-511: The PBS program Finding Your Roots , in which she explored her Jewish heritage. A year prior, host Henry Louis Gates Jr. had been a guest on Fresh Air . At the conclusion of their Fresh Air interview, Gates invited Gross to appear on Finding Your Roots . In 2020, Gross appeared as a fictionalized version of herself in the audiobook version of the Max Brooks novel Devolution . She

1643-482: The Russian Empire. She said that her family lived in an apartment near Senior's Restaurant, a local landmark. When she was young, people would often ask where Gross came from, assuming that her lack of a heavy Brooklyn accent meant she grew up elsewhere. She has an older brother, Leon J. Gross, who works as a psychometric consultant. In 1968, Gross graduated from Sheepshead Bay High School. She earned

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1696-523: The Science of Medicine, and thereby lessen human misery, by investigating the diseases and remedies which are peculiar to our country" and to promote "order and uniformity in the practice of Physick," it has made important contributions to medical education and research. The College hosts the Mütter Museum , a gallery of 19th-century specimens, teaching models, instruments, and photographs, as well as

1749-418: The annals of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia nearly 70 years after The Mütter American Giant first graced its halls and ascertained that there truly was nothing known about the former owner. Ella Wade (1892-1980), began her tenure at the College of Physicians of Philadelphia as a clerk. She became the first female curator and the first curator without an MD. Gretchen Worden joined the museum staff as

1802-555: The book, and the Mütter Museum's Francis C. Wood Institute for the History of Medicine has additionally awarded Aptowicz with a Wood Institute Travel Grant to help further fund and support her work on this project. In April 2013, it was announced that Aptowicz's biography of Mütter will be published in Fall 2014 by the Gotham Books division of Penguin. On September 4, 2014, Dr. Mütter's Marvels: A True Tale of Intrigue and Innovation at

1855-436: The furniture and finishing of the principal rooms. The College of Physicians of Philadelphia Building is a two-story rectangular red brick structure with limestone trim that was completed in 1909. Many of its forms are drawn from London's Royal College of Physicians , designed by Robert Hooke and built in 1673–77. The building houses the library, a lecture hall, the museum, and offices. Three facades are highly decorated –

1908-400: The life of Mütter Museum founder Thomas Dent Mütter, won the 2003 "Set In Philadelphia" Screenwriting Award at the Philadelphia Film Festival and a Sloan Foundation Fellowship at the 2004 Hampton International Film Festival. The screenplay, written by poet and Philadelphia native Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz , remains unproduced, although a short based on the feature-length script was created as

1961-425: The main facade on South 22nd Street facing west, the northern facade facing Ludlow Street, and the southern facade facing a courtyard. Three broad horizontal bands of limestone – along the basement, at the top of the first floor, and the balustrade – artistically unite all the facades. The 22nd Street facade is most richly ornamented with a grand entrance behind a monumental gate and a wrought iron fence. The entrance

2014-583: The main rooms branching off this axis. The stair, which dominates the first story, has a bronze railing and a niche holding a sculpture of Aesculapius , the god of healing. Mitchell Hall, originally called the Hall of Portraits, is a grand ceremonial hall measuring 71 by 48 feet (15 m). It holds much of the College's art collection, including works by Robert Vonnoh and William Merritt Chase . The Norris Room contains an unusual carved stone Gothic fireplace designed by Theophilus Parsons Chandler Jr. The fireplace

2067-404: The minutes show, proceeded to spend Dr. Mütter's money like sailors on shore leave". In other words, some museum material was purchased by College Fellows as they travelled the world, and they were reimbursed for each purchase and any expenses incurred in connection with acquisitions. Other collection items were donated from the private collections of physicians. In October 2023, the Mütter Museum

2120-403: The most famous of these is the fully articulated skeleton of Harry Raymond Eastlack , who suffered from FOP . Other osteological specimens include: The Mütter Collection comprises almost 1,500 wet specimens acquired between the 19th and 21st centuries. These include teratological specimens, cysts, tumors and other pathologies from nearly every organ of the body. These include: Augmenting

2173-409: The museum's behalf. She was also instrumental in the creation of numerous Mütter Museum projects, including the popular Mütter Museum calendars and the book, The Mütter Museum: Of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia . During Worden's tenure, the visitorship of the museum grew from several hundred visitors each year to, at the time of her death, more than 60,000 tourists annually. After her death,

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2226-405: The museum. In the foreword of The Mütter Museum: Of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia , she wrote "While these bodies may be ugly, there is a terrifying beauty in the spirits of those forced to endure these afflictions." In September 2020, the Mütter Museum launched a medical history podcast, entitled My Favorite Malady. Blast Books has published two large books of photography involving

2279-552: The night before an interview, often asking them unexpected questions about their early careers. Terry Gross was born in Brooklyn , New York City, and grew up in its Sheepshead Bay neighborhood, the second child of Anne (Abrams), a stenographer , and Irving Gross, who worked in a family millinery business, where he sold fabric to milliners. She grew up in a Jewish family, and all her grandparents were immigrants, her father's parents from Tarnów , Poland, and her mother's from

2332-666: The personal life and professional practice of doctors in the Philadelphia region and around the world. The library is open to the public three days per week by appointment only. As members of the Medical Heritage Library and the Philadelphia Area Consortium of Special Collections Libraries (PACSCL) , the Library's medieval manuscripts and state medical journals have been digitized. Visitors can also view digital exhibitions created by

2385-421: The public. Founded by Thomas Dent Mütter in 1858 for medical research , the museum's contents include medical oddities , anatomical and pathological specimens , and antique medical equipment . Anatomical specimens include the conjoined liver of Siamese twins Chang and Eng Bunker ; and a section of the brain of Charles J. Guiteau , who assassinated President Garfield . Medical instruments include

2438-421: The real human specimens on display are numerous wax models displaying various examples of pathology in the human body. These models, mostly produced by Tramond of Paris and Joseph Towne of London, were used for educational purposes when cadavers were difficult to acquire and preserve. Some moulages are known to have used skeletal remains as a part of their construction. One of the most famous wax models on display in

2491-419: The style of a gentleman's club. By 1900 the growth of the library and museum collections forced consideration of another move. Andrew Carnegie contributed $ 50,000 in 1903 to start the building fund, and in 1906 he agreed to contribute the final $ 50,000 needed for construction. The cornerstone was laid on April 29, 1908, and the building dedicated on November 10, 1909. The completed cost was $ 289,266, excluding

2544-478: Was a local interview program at the time. In 1985, Fresh Air with Terry Gross went national, being distributed weekly by NPR . It became a daily program two years later. Gross typically conducts the interviews from the WHYY-FM studios in Philadelphia , with her subject at the studio of a local NPR affiliate convenient to them connected via telephone or satellite feed. For the majority of these conversations, Gross

2597-522: Was awarded a grant from the Pew Center for Arts and Heritage to research the history of the collection of human remains to better understand how each body and specimen came into the museum collections and to conduct discussions with members of the public to discuss the future of the museum. The first Town Hall discussion took place on November 17, 2023. The Mütter Museum is home to over 3,000 osteological specimens, including several full skeletons. One of

2650-482: Was donated in 1885 by George William Childs , publisher of the Philadelphia Public Ledger , and originally built in the College's old Locust Street building. The Mütter Museum is a two-storied space surrounded by a gallery in the northeast corner of the building, Among the 24 founding fellows were: Terry Gross Terry Gross (born February 14, 1951) is an American journalist who

2703-509: Was given by Morgagni to John Morgan, a founding fellow of the College. The library's collection includes over 400 editions printed before 1500, known as incunabula , which is the second-largest collection of medical incunabula in the United States. Over 12,000 other rare books including De motu cordis (On the Motion of the Heart) (1628) by William Harvey and De humani corporis fabrica (On

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2756-655: Was ill-equipped for the job, especially at establishing discipline, and was fired after only six weeks. Gross began her radio career in 1973 at WBFO , an NPR CPB-funded college station, then broadcasting from the Main Street Campus of the University at Buffalo in Buffalo , New York , where she started out as a volunteer on a show called Woman Power , then co-hosted This is Radio . Typical subjects of these shows were women's rights and public affairs. In 1975, she moved to WHYY-FM in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , to host and produce Fresh Air , which

2809-603: Was the curator of the Mütter Museum from 1937 to 1945. He published multiple papers looking into some of the more questionable histories of museum collections, including The Soap Lady, and the Mütter American Giant. McFarland was able to prove, through dogged historical and archival research, that Leidy's stories for both "The Petrified Woman" at the Mütter Museum, and "The Petrified Man" at the Wistar Institute were complete nonsense. McFarland read through

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