Everyone is welcome to the next installment of the History of Science, Medicine, and Technology Colloquium Series. Huntington Library’s Molina Curator for the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences, Joel Klein, will be presenting “Curatorial Life and the Lives of Objects: Early Science and Medicine at The Huntington Library.”

This talk explores the range of work that defines curatorial life in a special collections library and how it shapes the “lives” of objects. Curating is not a single task but a set of activities—acquisitions, exhibitions, teaching, research, donor engagement, etc.—that determine how materials are preserved, described, interpreted, and used. Focusing on early science and medicine collections at The Huntington Library, I illustrate how my responsibilities intersect in practice. After briefly tracing my path from getting a PhD and moving into curatorial work, I present several case studies: securing and reuniting a first edition of Andreas Vesalius’s De humani corporis fabrica with a historic Los Angeles collection; working with technical services in the Library to describe ethically complex materials; yearly engagement with medical students through object-based teaching and narrative medicine exercises; and an NEH-funded project on Isaac Newton’s watermarks. These examples show how curatorial work actively shapes the meaning and use of historical materials.

See you in the History of Science Room or via Zoom

https://ucla.zoom.us/meeting/register/bYObH7HJRpSdIUK3JY_91w