A Market for Death: The Use and Abuse of Cadavers in Nineteenth-Century America

"A Market for Death: The Use and Abuse of Cadavers in Nineteenth-Century America" examines the rise of grave robbing for the procurement of human bodies for educational and entertainment purposes. In the late eighteenth century, new medical schools sought cadavers for dissection and anatomical study, and public entrepreneurs used bodies and body parts for entertainment in dime museums and traveling shows. While some bodies were available to the medical schools legally, most of the specimens used for medical education or public entertainment were stolen from their graves. This study focuses primarily on the period from the Revolutionary War through the passage of the first mandatory anatomy act in 1883. As a work of public history, this thesis builds upon an online exhibit that provides a new means for the public to learn about the ways that bodies were used for both educational and entertainment purposes in the early United States.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts

Level thesis:degree_level

Masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

History

Grantor

University of Houston

Year dc:date.issued

2015

Author dc:creator

• Scovil, Lindsay K.

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Melosi, Martin V.

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Schafer, James A., Jr.
• Romero, R. Todd

• Anatomical study
• Dissection
• Early American medicine
• American medical schools
• Grave robbing
• Cadaver procurement
• Resurrection men
• Dime museums
• Phrenology
• Nineteenth century
• Culture
• Online exhibit

Statement dc:rights

• The author of this work is the copyright owner. UH Libraries and the Texas Digital Library have their permission to store and provide access to this work. Further transmission, reproduction, or presentation of this work is prohibited except with permission of the author(s).

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10657/1135

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:uh-ir.tdl.org:10657/1135