Indiana Medical History Museum

Surprised my medical nerd boyfriend for our anniversary with a tour here yesterday and we both loved it! Our guide, Ava was full of information and very friendly!

Went to a lecture about the Science of Broken Bones. Very interesting information on how forensic labs work to determine how a crime or injury happened. Below is the description of the lecture from their site:"Blunt force trauma is common in deaths involving assaults, falls, and motor vehicle accidents. In these cases, analysis of the skeletal fracture patterns can be key to reconstructing events around the time of death. But what can forensic scientists actually read from fracture patterns? Is it possible to know the number of blows? The type of implement used? To differentiate accidental injuries from child abuse? Over the past decade Michigan State University forensic anthropologists and engineers have addressed these questions through experimental research using animal, human, and computer models. This presentation will highlight some exciting findings from this research and what they mean for analyzing forensic cases. Along the way we will also explore the surprisingly contentious and sometimes macabre history of trauma research.Presented by Mari Isa. Isa is currently a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Anthropology at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan. She received degrees in anthropology and human biology from MSU in 2014, and an MA in anthropology in 2016. In 2015 she was awarded a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship to support her dissertation research, which applies perspectives from the field of biomechanical engineering to skeletal trauma analysis in forensic anthropology. Isa also served as the laboratory manager at the MSU Forensic Anthropology Laboratory from 2016 to 2017."IMHM has tours as well as many events/lectures. This was the second lecture I've attended there. I hope to take a tour of the building soon.

Super accommodating staff! I worked with Norma to organize a large group tour, we were able to have 40 students come through in 5 sets of tours of 8. The staff is super knowledgeable and taught us a ton about the history of the building and medicine in Indiana. They answered lots of our questions and were very friendly. I'd definitely recommend to anyone who is interested in medical history! There's lots of surprises within the museum, my favorite part is the room of brains and hearts in jars with explanations of the persons' symptoms. Super neat!

This. Place. Is. Spectacular!It is sort of like a mini Mütter Museum, if you are familiar with that at all. (And you should be...)I had heard about this place from an acquaintance a couple years back and made it my mission to visit on a return trip to Indy. I was not disappointed! In fact, I was blown away! It costs $10 for a tour, which might seem a bit steep for such a small building. But it was more than worth it! You get a very specific, in-depth and interesting guided tour from one of the staff. Our guide was wonderful! She had studied medicine in some form for a while and was extremely knowledgeable and passionate. She certainly added to our experience.We started in the lecture hall to get a brief history of the building, which was the autopsy and pathology building of the former Central State Hospital for the Insane. The primary area of concern was syphilis, and its effects. You get a thorough tour of the entire building, how the activities housed in the building changed through the years, and what happened in each office and room of the building.On top of that, you get an interesting overview of how people with mental illnesses were treated (medically) in the past and how doctors and pathologists did their work in those days.There is an abundance of old and antique furniture, machines and items to look at and hold your attention. I took so many pictures of so many weird, cool things!I expected to enjoy my visit here, but I didn't expect to love it so much! It is something off the beaten path, a little weird, a little morbid, and a lot awesome! It probably isn't for everyone, considering the subject matter. But I would absolutely recommend it to just about everyone!The place and the people who work here are fantastic!Important tips:- $10 for the tour. Cash is preferred, but they can take credit cards.- tours start on the hour- I assume tours generally last about an hour. Our lasted longer, because we were asking so many questions. But they have other staff on hand to start the next tour, so there shouldn't be a rush to finish. Ask your questions! They love to answer them!- entrance door is locked from the outside...look at the signs on the door, which instruct you to ring the bell to get inside. Don't be distracted my your friends and keep trying to open the locked door...not that that happened to me....*shifty eyes*- you'll think your GPS is wrong. Don't worry, it is not.

Went here with my medical school class and it was great! They gave us a guided tour which was very informative and interesting. I recommend going if your curious about medicine or science. A great place to take parents as well! You do need to schedule tours so be mindful of that!

The Indiana Medical History Museum is located on the Central State Hospital Campus on West Vermont. This place is so cool if your a history buff, in the medical field or curious about the history of mental disease. So many stories and so much history to explore on the tour. Easy to find and parking isn't an issue. Note they are closed Sunday - Tuesday with open hours of 10a-4p, Wednesday through Saturday. The tour guides are very knowledgeable and friendly. The tours are approximately an hour and start on the hour. Doors are locked during a tour due to limited staff so arrive a few minutes before your tour. The last tour begins at 3:00 p.m. No reservations needed unless you are a group of 6 or more then call ahead preferably 3 weeks. The admission is only $10 for adults, $9 for seniors, $5 for college students with valid ID and only $3 for students under 18. Very affordable for families and groups plus an amazing amount of history surrounds you while hearing revealing, true stories. It definitely is a museum worth revisiting because it is difficult to catch and retain everything the first time through. The heart of the museum is the Old Pathology Building, the oldest surviving pathology facility in the nation. The Building is on the National Register of Historic Places. Inaugurated in 1896, the Pathological Department facilitated medical education and research on the physical causes of mental disease. In operation until the 1960s, the Pathological Department was reborn as a museum in 1969 and its scientifically equipped interior was left intact with several new pieces donated over the years. You'll view the Teaching Amphitheater, the Autopsy room where organ were retained to study, the Anatomical Museum and lab room, the Morgue, the Photography Room, the Clinical Laboratory and the Histology Lab to name a few. The doctors were diligently working to discover the causes of depression, dementia and schizophrenia. I was amazed at the number of interesting stories we heard and truly saw how much has changed in a 100 years. A very enjoyable and instructive tour plus they try to answer all questions if possible.I highly recommend if you're searching for something different to do for an hour even if you have no medical background. Are you an avid history buff? The tour is afforable, enjoyable and you'll appreciate how far our medical history has come in a 100 years. Note, not suitable for small children, those with issues of discussions concerning death, autopsies, or viewing body parts and skeletons. Some squeamish folks could have issues.

So cool!! The tour guide was phenomenal and engaging. It was very educational without an overabundance of information. I really enjoyed it and would go again!! :)

Highly recommended. Fantastic experience. Knowledgeable tour guide. Lots of artifacts and history.

Although the history is fascinating, would not recommend. The volunteers there were rude and uninformed. I have volunteered for various causes, and this is a bad mixture. There is always bullies in charge, the staff not trained and pushed out of areas in the museum because another tour was behind this. You stare at items for about three minutes and told to move on, yet the description describes a one hour tour. It was a half hour. Received dirty looks from the volunteers because we had to reschedule an Uber. They wanted us to wait outside in the cold. Really? They had a lecture hall we could have waited for the Uber. The staff had memorized the scripted tour. One tour had an arrogant attitude and the other guide was in training and read off the information from index cards. The smarmy guide asked how many people had medical knowledge. Most were nurses (including myself). The group I was in raised their hands and she took the group that had none. We got the training girl, who was sweet. But could not answer any questions. After she read off her cards she would point and say her lines but knew no answers to obvious questions-- "are these liver cells?" I don't know. Stock answer from her. Poorest example of a "museum" I have ever seen. Skip it. It's a house, basically and though only $10 admission, it probably relies on donations so you can see why they don't fix the peeling ceilings or take proper care of the other "attractions "

I can't express how much I loved this tour. It is like walking into a time capsule. I felt like I was a visitor to the lab in the 1800's getting a tour of my new work place. Learning how far we have come in the study of mental health and how those conclusions came to be was fascinating. Our tour guide explained things with such ease you felt like you were in a movie reliving those times. I truly appreciated this tour and am grateful to the people that continue to work to save things such as this from destruction.