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In fall 1850, the first students arrived in the small frontier city of Ann Arbor to enroll in the University of Michigan’s new Medical School. Today, 175 years later, what began in a single building on the U-M Diag has grown into one of the largest and highest-ranked academic medical centers in the world. Its biomedical education programs, patient care at hospitals and clinics statewide, and massive research community are all part of what’s now known as Michigan Medicine.
Now, a new museum exhibit explores how that transformation took place, and its impact on society, through artifacts, photos and fascinating facts about U-M’s medical history. “Creating the Future of Medicine for 175 Years,” traces the roots and evolution of U-M medical education, biomedical research and patient care. In addition to the 175th anniversary of the Medical School, 2025 also marks the 100th anniversary of the opening of the “Old Main” University Hospital that was U-M’s flagship for 60 years. It stood where today’s Frankel Cardiovascular Center and new D. Dan and Betty Kahn Health Care Pavilion now stand.
Among the artifacts on display: the hand bell used to summon U-M’s first medical students to class - microscopes and other instruments that U-M scientists used in discoveries about the roles of microbes and genes in disease - medical and surgical equipment from the 19th and early 20th centuries, from scalpel sets and leech jars to early electronic heart and diabetes monitors - life-size mannequins used to train early nursing students - a scale reproduction of the carved stone arch through which generations of patients, faculty, staff and students entered Old Main. (A great backdrop for photos.)and a flight suit and helmet worn by Survival Flight nurses as they deliver advanced life-saving care in the air aboard U-M’s helicopters and jet.
The exhibit also includes dozens of photos of pioneers and path breakers from across U-M medical history; maps and images of the places where they worked and studied; and information about their contributions to biomedical progress and the care patients worldwide receive today. Along the way, museum goers can ponder questions on the walls about their own views and experiences related to medicine and science.
The museum’s building even has a connection to U-M medical history. Built in the 1830s as a house on Wall Street, it traveled slowly on a flatbed truck to its current spot in 1990, after being saved from demolition when U-M expanded parking for the first location of the Turner Geriatric Clinic and the current Kellogg Eye Center. Read more about the move at aadl.org/node/40590
Exhibit credits: The exhibit was created by members of the Michigan Medicine Department of Communication and the Medical School’s Center for History, Humanities, Arts, Social Sciences and Ethics in Medicine. It includes photos and information from the U-M Bentley Historical Library, and artifacts from CHHASSEM, the U-M Nursing History Society and the Washtenaw County Historical Society.
It is open September 20 through April 30 at the Museum on Main Street near downtown Ann Arbor, with free public hours from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays, and private tours weekdays by reservation for groups of all ages.To arrange a free group tour on any weekday between September and the end of April, or for questions about visiting, call 734-662-9092 or email [email protected]. (By Kara Gavin)
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