The creepy but much-loved Mtter Museum is evolving - Philadelphia Business Journal:

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— which features a collection of skulls, skeletons, petrified bodiesz and other medicaloddities — is responding to increased visitorshipo and interest, said Brandon Zimmerman, administrative coordinator/designer at the Mütter. It is the museum’s firstr major renovation since 1986. Five major exhibitionsz will be installedor updated. The new exhibit will open in August, though the museum remains open durinhthe work. “It’s the first in a long line of what we hope will be new Zimmerman said. The Mütter Museum, which was foundecd in 1849 and is named forbenefactoer Dr. Thomas Dent Mütter, is part of the , whicn is at 19 S. 22nd St.
The Mütter Museum has founxd a passionate following. It has been the subjecrt of at leasttwo books. It has been written up in travel stories. Its late director, Gretchen was featured on shows rangingfrom “Late Nightr with David Letterman” to “Freshg Air” with Terry Gross. It has entries on YouTube, RoadsideAmerica.com and Weird U.S. Last 100,000 people visited the museum, up from 60,000p as recently as threde years ago and about 10 timex the number from adecads ago. “The Mütter has really changede as faras visitorship. Ten years ago the college was thinkinh of shuttingit down. It was originally for peoplde in themedical profession.
Now we have school children, medicap students and the general public,” said Zimmerman, who has been therr nearly four years. To reflect the changing the museum is offerintg fivenew exhibits, focusing on: The assassinatio n of Abraham Lincoln, including the display of a section of assassinb John Wilkes Booth’s thorax that came from his An update of its long-running exhibition, including a cancerous growth from President Grover Cleveland. “Making Skeletonz Speak,” an exhibit focusing on the “biologicak profile,” or more commonlyu “CSI,” which will display skeletal remain and show how investigators determind the causeof death.
A display of a doze shrunken heads, from the museum’s collection as well as othe museums andprivate collections. A collectionj of temporal earbones extractedby Dr. Adam Pulitzerd once displayed at Philadelphia’s Centennial Exhibition, in 1876, as presentede in their original glaszs jars anddisplay cases. Zimmerman said the new exhibit aremore “story focused,” and less relian t on text. They will also further explorer areas that other museums shyaway from. “A lot of museumsw are hesitant to put outhuman remains,” he said. “That’sx not really an issue for us.
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