A Review of Research Aims for Historical Anatomical Skeletal Collections in the United States

Many osteological methods used by biological anthropologists today were initially developed using historical anatomical skeletal collections such as the Hamann-Todd and Terry Collections. However, these collections were amassed through state legislation that permitted the dissection and curation of unclaimed individuals. These laws targeted low socioeconomic and marginalized communities that were less likely to be able to afford burial or claim relatives. Until recently, very few scholars have acknowledged the lived experiences of individuals who make up such collections. As such, there are ongoing conversations about the ethics of continued research with these collections. Part of evaluating this ethical dilemma is understanding exactly how these collections are being used for research, to evaluate to what extent these collections are used for methodological studies that neglect to consider the identities of the people in their samples.

In this study, we categorized and analyzed research aims for 100 academic journal articles and 185 conference abstracts that used or significantly discussed the Terry, Hamann-Todd, Cobb, or Huntington Collections.

Results show that most studies conducted using these collections have historically entertained questions of methodological significance, but there is a recent shift toward studies that focus on the lived experiences of individuals that compose historical anatomical skeletal collections.

This analysis demonstrates that the discipline is responding to recent debates about the ethics of historical skeletal collections and is moving toward establishing better recognition of the individuals that constitute some of the most influential collections in biological anthropology.