Galter Library is excited to host the National Library of Medicine’s (NLM) traveling exhibit, Frankenstein: Penetrating the Secrets of Nature / Frankenstein: Penetrando en los secretos de la naturaleza, on display until early November 2024. In addition to the traveling exhibit, Galter team members have curated two companion exhibits, now on display in the Eckenhoff Reading Room. Visitors will journey from fiction to fact through the intersections of science and imagination and will be left to ponder what the next 200 years of discovery may hold. All exhibits are presented in both English and Spanish. 

Reviving the Body: Science, Frankenstein, and the "Spark of Life" delves into the 18th-century world of scientific exploration that inspired Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. During this period, Europe was alive with experimentation and discovery, particularly in the realm of electricity. Scientists of the time conducted a wide range of experiments, both practical and bizarre, as they sought to understand electricity’s potential uses—particularly in medicine. Could it cure disease, or perhaps even reanimate the dead? Reviving the Body showcases how these early experiments and ideas shaped the modern understanding of medicine and technology. 

Inspired by Shelley’s iconic novel, Reconstructing the Body, the second exhibit, seeks to reimagine the human body using images and artifacts from the library’s collections. While Victor Frankenstein famously constructed his creature from actual body parts, the library’s display pieces together a person using internal imaging, anatomical illustrations, and historical medical artifacts. In Shelley’s time, medical professionals were just beginning to explore the possibilities of electricity and electromagnetism in medical treatments, paving the way for today’s advanced technologies such as CT scans, MRI imaging, and even the automated external defibrillator (AED). By tracing the timeline of these developments, visitors will see how the imaginative concept of reanimation transformed into life-saving medical technology.  

Reviving the Body and Reconstructing the Body were curated and designed by Emma Florio, Archives & Research Specialist, Katie Lattal, Head of Special Collections, Lindsey O’Brien, Cataloging & Metadata Librarian, and Annie Wescott, Research Librarian. For questions and additional information, please contact Galter’s Special Collections Department: ghsl-specialcollections@northwestern.edu 

Read this blog post in Spanish: Reviviendo el cuerpo: la ciencia, Frankenstein y la chispa vital