Click to learn more about each United States-based Documented Skeletal Collection.
Originally based in St. Louis, MO, the Terry Collection was pioneered by Robert J. Terry, an Professor of Anatomy at Washington University. Inspired by his mentor, Sir William Turner, from his stint abroad in Scotland, Terry began amassing the skeletons left over from medical school dissections. He invisioned this collection as a resource to study skeletal biology, anatomy, and pathology. Terry collected skeletons from 1910 and until his retirement in 1941, at which point his colleague, Mildred Trotter, took over. She continued collecting skeletons until her retirement in 1967. At this point, the collection was moved to the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C., where it is to this day.
A total of 1728 individuals are currently housed in the collection. Birth years are between 1828 and 1943.
References
Hunt DR, Albanese J (2005). History and demographic composition of the Robert J. Terry anatomical collection. American Journal of Biological Anthropology, 127(4):406-417.https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.20135
Muller JL, Pearlstein KE, de la Cova C (2017). Dissection and documented skeletal collections: Embodiments of legalized inequality. In: K. C. Nystrom, ed. The bioarchaeology of dissection and autopsy in the United States. New Paltz, NY: Springer. pp. 185-201.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-26836-1_9
The Hamann-Todd Collection has remained in Cleveland, OH, since its inception, although it has moved slightly from the Case Western Reserve University to the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. Similar to Terry, Carl A. Hamann began collecting medical school cadaver skeletons in 1893 in an effort to create a resource to study anatomy. He was most likely inspired to do so by his time at the University of Pennsylvania, where the Morton Cranial Collection was housed. Hamann had collected 100 skeletons before his job transfer in 1912. His successor, T. Wingate Todd, is responsible for nearly all of the skeletons in this collection, as he continued to collect skeletal remains until his death in 1938, amassing 3,000 individuals.
A total of 3100 individuals are currently housed in the collection. Birth years are between 1825 and 1910.
References
Muller JL, Pearlstein KE, de la Cova C (2017). Dissection and documented skeletal collections: Embodiments of legalized inequality. In: K. C. Nystrom, ed. The bioarchaeology of dissection and autopsy in the United States. New Paltz, NY: Springer. pp. 185-201.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-26836-1_9
The UTK Collection is housed in Knoxville, TN. This collection was started by William M. Bass, through his creation of the Anthropology Research Facility (often referred to as The Body Farm) in order to better study postmortem changes, or decompositional changes after death. All individuals studied at the FARC are subsequently added to the donated collection. This is currently considered the largest, modern documented skeletal collection in the United States. Furthermore, this collection has expanded its donation intake forms so that each donor has associated demographic, socioeconomic, occupational, birth, and other information for researchers to access (with permission).
A total of 1800 individuals are currently housed in the collection. Most birth years are post 1940.
References
Collection About Page. Accessed at: https://fac.utk.edu/utk-donated-skeletal-collection/
The Maxwell Collection is housed in Albuquerque, NM. This collection was started by Stanley Rhine, a professor at the University of New Mexico, in 1975 and is still incorproating new individuals every year (between 0 and 45 a year). Similar to the UTK Collection, the Maxwell Collection is also considered modern due to the later birth dates of individuals within the collection. However, associated documentation varies by individual and how that individual was added to the collection (i.e., self donation, next-of-kin donation, medical examiner donation, etc.).
A total of 308 individuals are currently housed in the collection.
References
Komar DA, Grivas C (2008). Manufactured populations: what do contemporary reference skeletal collections represent? A comparative study using the Maxwell Museum documented collection. American Journal of Biological Anthropology, 137(2):224-233.https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.20858