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The Paul S. Russell, MD Museum of Medical History and Innovation is a free museum that displays artifacts and exhibits related to medicine and health care, with an emphasis on Massachusetts General Hospital. The museum is a part of the hospital and is located at the front of the hospital’s main campus in Boston.

While there are a number of medical museums in the United States and several other hospitals have museums within their wings, the Russell Museum has been called the only freestanding museum associated with a present-day hospital in the United States. The museum was founded in 2011 with the support of a group of donors who sought to honor the hospital’s bicentennial with the creation of a museum. It is named for Paul S. Russell, MD, a pioneer in transplant surgery, who chaired the MGH History Committee that founded the museum.

ArchDaily quoted the hospital’s president, Dr. Peter Slavin, regarding the opening: “The Russell Museum is a symbol of the hospital’s educational mission. It is designed to be a cultural and educational portal. Through the lens of the MGH, the museum aims to tell the story of the evolution of medicine and the innovations under way today that will shape the practice of medicine in the future.” The building features copper paneling, large windows, and a rooftop garden. The copper is in part a nod to the dome on the hospital’s Bulfinch building, the home of the Ether Dome. It received a North American Copper in Architecture Award (NACIA) from the Copper Development Association in 2015.

The collections include historical and contemporary artifacts relating to Massachusetts General Hospital and the history and evolution of medicine. Their online catalog lists over 1,400 items. The hospital also has a historical archive which is available to researchers by appointment. Objects on display at the museum include inventions made by staff of the hospital, such as Wright’s stain (an early histological stain) and a 19th-century operating chair invented by Dr. Henry J. Bigelow, and historical items owned by staff of the hospital, such as an 1845 surgical set and a traveling apothecary kit. They displays also include contemporary and recent medical equipment, accompanied by interactive panels describing the frontiers of a variety of medical fields. Another exhibit hosted at the museum is SharingClinic, a kiosk in which visitors can listen to audio clips of personal stories of health care experiences told by patients, family members, and health care providers. The kiosk is a part of Health Story Collaborative, a project led by Dr. Annie Brewster.

The museum hosts educational lectures which are open to the public. The museum’s website states that they also offer group tours of the museum and the Ether Dome, by reservation.