Phrenology cast of head of Caesar Reynolds, 1833

Phrenology cast of head of Caesar Reynolds, 1833

Boston Phrenological Society

Phrenology

Casts

Head

Plaster phrenology cast of head of Caesar Reynolds. Cast is light brown in color and shows top of head to top of neck. Underside of cast is open.

Shurtleff, Nathaniel Bradstreet, 1810-1874

1833

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Warren Anatomical Museum (WAM 03618)

object

1 Cast

Castings (object genre)

physical object

WAM 03618

This cast was created in 1833 by Nathaniel Bradstreet Shurtleff (1810-1874) and was initially in the possession of the Boston Phrenological Society. Dr. Spurzheim, a leader in the study of phrenology, brought his knowledge and cast collection to America in 1832. After his death, the newly formed Boston Phrenological Society possessed his collection of skulls and casts. Dr. John Collins Warren purchased the collection in 1847 after the Society’s dissolution. In 1849, Dr. Warren took physical custody of the collection and temporarily transferred it to the Warren Museum of Natural History on Chestnut Street, before moving the collection to its intended permanent location in the new medical school building on North Grove Street. The phrenological collection was left in the basement of the old Medical School building on North Grove Street when the Medical College moved to a different building on Boylston Street in 1880. In 1911, the North Grove Street building was being demolished and the collection was almost destroyed. Dr. R. H. Fitz intervened and the collection was moved to the Administrative Building of the Harvard Medical School.

Phrenology cast