Exhibits and lectures

Current exhibit: When There Are No Words

Until March 30, 2025
 
 white flowers on blue background

When There Are No Words

La version française suit.

The exhibit, When There Are No Words, addresses the subjects of death and grief in Québec society through the lens of colour, symbols, printed texts, and handwritten messages found in sympathy cards from the last 150 years. It also includes a selection of condolence objects provided by the Organ and Tissue Donation Program of the McGill University Health Centre as an illustration of a different expression of sympathy.

Presented by the Department of Social Studies of MedicineMaude Abbott Medical Museum, and the Osler Library of the History of Medicine.


L’exposition Quand les mots manquent aborde les thèmes de la mort et du deuil dans la société québécoise à travers le prisme des couleurs, des symboles, des textes imprimés et des messages manuscrits trouvés dans des cartes de condoléances datant des 150 dernières années. Elle comprend également une sélection d’objets de condoléances fournis par le Programme de don d’organes et de tissus du Centre universitaire de santé McGill, illustrant une autre forme d’expression de sympathie.

 

Recent events and exhibits:

The Scientific Revolution in the Renaissance and the Dialogue between Galileo and Kepler

 

 

Reading Abbott

Maude Abbott loved to read. This exhibition explores both what she read and ways we can read her life story.

 

Heart & Mind by Stéphan Ballard, 2023 Michèle Larose-Osler Library Artist-in-Residence

Sequence Heart and Mind by Stephan Ballard

 

Thou Hast Need of Them: Historical Minorities in the Faculty of Medicine

 Historical surgical tools / Left side: Logos McGill Library, Jewish Public Library, School of Medicine / Right side: Maude Abbott Medical Museum & Osler Library crest

Staff from the Osler Library of the History of MedicineMaude Abbott Medical Museum, and the Jewish Public Library Archives discussed the fascinating holdings related to three medical graduates from McGill University, each of whom prevailed over the systemic barriers they faced in pursuing their medical careers. Each institution gave a brief presentation about their graduate, followed by the opportunity to interact with items from their material history.

Past exhibitions and presentations

2023

2022

2021

  • Show and Tell: The Secrets of Women / Montrer et racontrer : les secrets des femmes. Local artist Caroline Boileau and McGill-trained historian Margaret Carlyle interact with a few of the Osler Library's new acquisitions (and some older ones!) in an attempt to demystify medical history during a feminist dialogue of discovery. 15 December 2021. Enjoy the event here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEOJVltN-_Y.
  • Research and the Osler. An evening celebrating medical student humanities research supported by the Osler Library. Featured speakers: Lilly Groszman, "Untold Medical History: Montreal’s Days of Shame;" Brendan Ross, "The Chinese Apotheosis of Dr. Norman Bethune: The Making of a Medical Folk Hero;" Faith Wallis, "Osler the Student." Watch the symposium: https://youtu.be/VakT8WDlfOg.
  • The many faces of Norman Bethune. A moderated discussion held virtually on 23 March 2021. Watch the discussion: https://youtu.be/ZEtprnIxDE4.
  • Perspectives on Sir William Osler in the 21st century. Virtual symposium hosted by our colleagues in the Department of Social Studies of Medicine on February 3, 2021. Moderated by Suzanne Morton (McGill University) and featuring panelists Jenna Healey (Queen's University), Samir Shaheen-Hussain (McGill University), Nadeem Toodayan (University of Queensland), André Lametti (McGill University), Mary Hague-Yearl (McGill University), and Christoph Gradmann (University of Oslo). Read summaries of each of the talks, written by the medical students from the McGill Osler Society. Watch the symposium: https://youtu.be/tUFzsaNaiOI.

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

  • The Literature of Prescription: Charlotte Perkins Gilman and The Yellow Wallpaper. A Biography of Neurasthenia in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, curated by Prof. Andrea Tone. September - April 2014.

2013

  • Designing Doctors, an exhibit talk by Professor Annmarie Adams, McGill School of Architecture. Tuesday, 7 May 2013, 1:00-2:00, Meakins Auditorium (5th floor McIntyre Medical Sciences Building).
  • "Neurological Laboratories" to Interdisciplinary "Centres of Brain Research": Otfrid Foerster, Wilder Penfield, and Early Neuroscience in Breslau and Montreal, a Nickerson Fellowship talk by Dr. Frank Stahnisch, Thursday, 2 May 2013, 2:00 - 3:00, Don Bates Seminar Room 101, Department of Social Studies of Medicine, McGill University, 3647 Peel Street.

2012

2011

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