Bone Rooms: From Scientific Racism to Human Prehistory in Museums
Bone Rooms: From Scientific Racism to Human Prehistory in Museums Bone Rooms: From Scientific Racism to Human Prehistory in Museums OTHER ARTICLES In 1864 a U.S. army doctor dug up the remains of a Dakota man who had been killed in Minnesota. Carefully recording his observations, he sent the skeleton to a museum in Washington, DC, that was collecting human remains for research. In the bone rooms of this museum and others like it, a scientific revolution was unfolding that would change our understanding of the human body, race, and prehistory.In Bone Rooms Samuel Redman unearths the story of how human remains became highly sought-after artifacts for both scientific research and public display. Seeking evidence to support new theories of human evolution and racial classification, collectors embarked on a global competition to recover the best specimens of skeletons, mummies, and fossils. The Smithsonian Institution built the largest collection of human remains in the United States,...