August 16, 2023
The Washington Post Editorial Board published an opinion regarding a recent journalistic investigation of The Smithsonian. In this piece, the Editorial Board stated its support for the Mütter Museum’s decision to embark on an ethical review of its content. Part of the editorial is provided below and can be fully accessed .
At the moment, Philadelphia’s Mütter Museum is embroiled in after a new generation of museum leadership rightly called for ethical reviews of the remains on display, as not all of the specimens, especially those collected in the 19th century from enslaved people, Native Americans and other disenfranchised groups, came from people who had the opportunity to consent to having their body parts displayed in perpetuity. Although a number of donors and museum loyalists have taken aim at the Mütter’s new president and executive director, accusing them of a having a “woke” agenda, Mütter leadership was correct to take down a popular YouTube series that showcased human remains from the collection. Officials were also in the right when they convened a panel of experts to investigate whether the sources of the remains in question had genuinely consented to such exposure and whether any more crucial context could be learned about their lives.