Telephone number:	+31 (0)71 527 1629
E-Mail:	h.m.huistra@hum.leidenuniv.nl
Faculty / Department:	Faculteit der Geesteswetenschappen, Institute for Cultural Disciplines, KG Moderne beeldende kunst
Office Address:	Johan Huizingagebouw Doelensteeg 16 2311 VL Leiden Room number 2.19

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Fields of interest

History of science, history of medicine, nineteenth century, (pathological) anatomy, science and the public, museums, collections, objects

Research

Collecting pathological anatomy (Within the NWO project ‘Cultures of collecting: The Leiden anatomical collections in context’)    

I research the historical and educational import of the nineteenth-century pathological collection at Leiden University. In the nineteenth century, anatomy focused more and more on pathology. At the same time, anatomical collections became less accessible to the public, artists became less involved in the construction of anatomical objects and both the education and the practice of medicine changed. A new medicine emerged: one  that was more concerned with practical knowledge of pathology and healing than with theoretical knowledge of old anatomy and physiology.   

The project investigates how these changes are reflected in the university's pathological-anatomical collection. I want to find out how technological and medical developments influenced the way specimens were no longer exhibited in their ideal form; how ideas in anatomy determined the formation of pathological anatomy as an academic discipline; how pathological collections related to the perception of the body and its diseases; how the anatomical museum was shut off from the public view; and how educational values determined the exhibition of particular specimens.  

More information can be found on the website Cultures of Collecting

Curriculum Vitae

Dec 2008 – present
PhD Candidate, Leiden University  

Sep 2006 – Oct 2008
MSc History and Philosophy of Science (cum laude), Utrecht University Thesis: Gas discharge tubes at the Museon. A collection description 

Sep 2000 – Aug 2006
BSc Physics (cum laude), Utrecht University Thesis: Buys Ballotand the Royal Dutch Meteorological Institution. Research for an exhibition (in Dutch)