Phrenology cast of head with numerological map of faculties, 1812-1847

Phrenology cast of head with numerological map of faculties, 1812-1847

Boston Phrenological Society

Phrenology

Casts

Head

Plaster cast of head with numerological map of faculties, in the style of Spurzheim. Cast is tan with pink, blue, green, and orange separated sections. Numbers range from 1-33, with 21 missing and two sections not numbered. Cast is hollow and open at the bottom.

Unknown

1812-1847, between

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Warren Anatomical Museum (WAM 03634)

object

1 Cast

Castings (object genre)

physical object

WAM 03634

This cast was created between 1812 and 1847 and acquired by the Boston Phrenological Society. Dr. Johann Spurzheim (1776 – 1832), 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