Phrenology cast of skull of Madeline Albert, 1811-1835
Description:
Plaster cast of skull of Madeline (Madeleine) Albert, a woman who was executed for murdering her family. Cast is tan in color and shows cranium from top of head to upper jaw on pedestal base.
The Harvard Medical Library does not hold copyright on all the materials in the collection. For use information, contact the Warren Anatomical Museum Curator at chm@hms.harvard.edu
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Notes:
This cast was created between 1811 and 1835 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.
