About This Collection
The Anatomical Board was created in 1883 for the purpose of acquiring and distributing human cadavers to surgeons and medical schools in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of 1998, it is known as the Humanity Gifts Registry Board and is composed of representatives from the medical and dental fields and the Secretary of Health. The Board establishes rules and regulations governing registry operations. This collection contains a register, arranged chronologically by date received, of human cadavers received by the Anatomical Board to be distributed to medical and dental facilities for research. Information provided for each cadaver includes name, gender, color, age, place of birth, marital status, and occupation, date received, date and cause of death, physician's name, where received from and delivered to, tag number, whether cut or uncut, condition, and the claimed, substitute, or buried tag number. In addition, there is a monthly consolidated report of receipts from institutions giving the total number of bodies, the number of cut and uncut bodies, the number of white or black males and females, the number or bodies in good, bad and fair condition, the number of claimed, substitute, and buried cut and uncut bodies, and occasional remarks regarding each institution providing cadavers to the Anatomical Board.