National Mall
, then moved to Walter Reed on Georgia Avenue in 1971. Today, it has its own building in Silver Spring, where it’s a field-trip destination for schoolkids. But as anthropological and medical museums reckon with questions of medical consent, repatriation of human remains, and histories of racism, some are facing questions.
So far, the NMHM—which fell into relative obscurity when it relocated from the Mall—has avoided that kind of scrutiny. “The institution really lost this larger place in American consciousness,” says Redman. “But despite the fact that it’s not one of the main tourist attractions in the US anymore, it still is deserving of ethical and moral scrutiny.”
After several major newspapers recently covered the Mütter Museum’s internal debate over its past and future,Alofagia Oney, a communications officer representing the museum, wrote in an emailed response that the museum hadn’t heard many concerns from its visitors about the human remains in its collection. “The NMHM has received very few inquiries or comments about consent,” Oney said.
But these cases of active participation represent relatively few of the objects on display at the museum. And broader questions of medical consent are still important, Redman says. “I think it’s important for these processes to happen more publicly than museums are frankly demonstrating comfort with,” says Redman. “To see these conversations taking place more publicly would be a valuable thing.”