What if my bones were in a museum

Others were gathered with more systematic intent—carefully removed from cemeteries or other archaeological sites. The gradual, piecemeal and sometimes haphazard acquisition of human remains and subsequent attempts to draw important ideas from their study eventually developed into an outright competition to fill bone rooms with rare specimens.

The desire for scientific collections and competing ideas about race and the history of humankind fueled the growth of bone collections, which outgrew storage areas and spilled into hallways and occasionally onto gallery floors in exhibitions. Physicians and anatomists who came of age during the Civil War were keenly aware of efforts to systematically utilize human skeletons for science.

Some sought out the chance to get involved in the project themselves. Those involved disagreed on how best to categorize the races, care for the bodies, and understand them in the tapestry of human history—but they agreed on the inherent value of the project to establish and build bone rooms. The bones would have been identified as those of a Native American man, a Dakota stand-in for many tribes across the Americas—a lone and broken man intended to represent a unique and vanishing race.

In some instances, bones were presumed to be similar enough to be simply interchangeable within racial categories; if the jaw was too broken or shattered for display, the museum could replace the broken or missing bone with another, similarly sized portion of a different Native American skeleton.

Medical doctors, anthropologists, and other scientists in the United States and Europe came to believe that perceived behavioral attributes of different peoples—such as intelligence and industriousness—could be directly correlated with physical characteristics, such as the size and shape of the skull. Some even believed that racial attributes could be measured and, indeed, ranked on a grand scale of humankind.

George A. While not all scientists were as bold and direct in their racist conclusions, collecting, studying, and displaying nonwhite human remains largely supported the scientific and pseudoscientific racism that dominated the era.

Significant ideas about the human body were hotly contested between the lateth and earlyth centuries, and scientists frequently turned to human remains collections for evidence to support new theories responding to old questions.

These questions touched on many apparent problems and emerged in unique forms over time. Why do humans from distinct places appear different? What happens to our bodies when we age? Are some people inherently better suited to thrive in the natural and modern world, and if so, why?

In transitioning from grave to museum bone room, human remains were endowed with new and powerful scientific meaning. By the turn of the century, skeletons became a key tool for testing the numerous theories surrounding race that were developing across a range of disciplines in the United States. If you want to try to find or return the headstone to the family of the dearly departed—and really, why not try? Marble end table, anyone? Baxter suggests getting in touch with an expert like those at DMNS , History Colorado, or a local member of the Archaeological Conservancy to determine the responsible and respectful next steps.

Comedy Crime Drama. Director Jeannot Szwarc. Top credits Director Jeannot Szwarc. See more at IMDbPro. Photos Top cast Edit. Eli Goodman Dr. Alexander Wheaton as Dr. Alexander Wheaton. Boris Karloff Imhotep as Imhotep archive footage uncredited. Jeannot Szwarc. Storyline Edit. I then forwarded the collection to Washington as ordered except one Ogalalla skull of a young squaw that died of phthisis.

I retained that skull on account of the remarkable beautiful teeth she had — every tooth was perfect and of the most symmetrical order. The skull, now at this late day, I have sent you by mail for the museum.

The teeth did not stand the test of time, exposure, or perhaps the arid climate of this country. I am sorry that a few of them got lost. I secured the skull from a scaffold that was created on a high hill, overlooking a small indian [sic] village — about 16 miles up the Missouri river from Ft.

As I got it in the day time, and before the eyes of many Indians, who could see me in the distance, I had a lively adventure with it — perhaps partly on that account, I held on to it as long as I did, as a trophy. If your receive it, please let me know.

While some bones collected as trophies ended up in museums, as did the above example, it is also clear that many skulls and other bones continue to languish in the closets and on the fireplace mantles of private collectors throughout the United States and beyond.