2023 Margaret Angus Research Fellowship (MARF) Competition Open

This competition is now closed. The Museum of Health Care would like to thank all applicants. The Museum of Health Care is accepting proposals for a resident 16-week summer research fellowship (May – September), which will investigate a topic relevant to the history of health and health care. The fellow will communicate the results of … More 2023 Margaret Angus Research Fellowship (MARF) Competition Open

MARF 2022 Lecture recording and manuscript now available

If you missed the live presentation of this lecture, a recording is now available at the link below. You can also access a digital version of Anna’s manuscript below. Anna’s project examines the lived experience of cystic fibrosis (CF) in the latter half of the 20th century as expressed through the healthcare objects associated with … More MARF 2022 Lecture recording and manuscript now available

“You wake up soaked”: Mist Tents and Cystic Fibrosis

For those living with cystic fibrosis (CF) from the 1960s to mid-1970s, nights called for fog. People with CF would tuck into bed under a plastic canopy filled with a medicated mist, accompanied by one or more whirring compressors nebulizing solution all night long. These “mist tents,” as the devices were known, were considered a mainstay of CF treatment—until, abruptly (and perhaps mercifully), they weren’t. … More “You wake up soaked”: Mist Tents and Cystic Fibrosis

2022 Margaret Angus Research Lecture

Anna’s project examines the lived experience of cystic fibrosis (CF) in the latter half of the 20th century as expressed through the healthcare objects associated with its treatment. By tracing the material histories of two fundamental categories of CF-related objects, inhalation therapies and parenteral antibiotics, she evokes the changing routines of everyday life with the illness from the 1940s to 1990s. … More 2022 Margaret Angus Research Lecture

(IV) Hook-ups: Cystic fibrosis and intravenous antibiotics

Antibiotics have been a mainstay of CF treatment throughout the decades. This simple statement, however, obscures their various manifestations in the lives of people with CF. The principles may have been similar in 1950 and 1990, but the experiences were vastly different. Material culture illuminates the changes that textual references can obscure, as exemplified here by the objects of intravenous (IV) antibiotic treatment for CF lung infections. … More (IV) Hook-ups: Cystic fibrosis and intravenous antibiotics

The “Stuff” of Cystic Fibrosis

Since cystic fibrosis (CF) was identified in 1938, tens of thousands have lived with the severe genetic disease. Each experience has been individual, yet common threads run through, most notably experiences of healthcare. People with CF become well-acquainted with the clinic, the hospital, the pharmacy; the need to accommodate at home piles of pill bottles, physio devices, nebulizer set-ups, perhaps home IVs, feeding tubes, oxygen compressors, insulin. The lived experience of everyday life with CF in a large part resides in these objects and their environments. … More The “Stuff” of Cystic Fibrosis

Welcome MARF 2022: Anna Krentz

The Museum of Health Care is pleased to welcome Anna Krentz, this year’s Margaret Angus Research Fellow!⁠ ⁠ Anna Krentz is an archivist, historical researcher, and writer with cystic fibrosis. Her interdisciplinary background includes an MA from Toronto Metropolitan University and Honours BA from St. Francis Xavier University, as well as, graduate coursework in the … More Welcome MARF 2022: Anna Krentz

2022 Margaret Angus Research Fellowship: Now Accepting Applications!

The Museum of Health Care is accepting proposals for a resident 12-week summer research fellowship (June – September), which will investigate a topic relevant to the history of health and health care. The fellow will communicate the results of their research by posting updates via the Museum’s blog, producing a scholarly manuscript that will become part of the Museum’s collection, and giving a public lecture in the fall. … More 2022 Margaret Angus Research Fellowship: Now Accepting Applications!

The Lived Experience of COVID-19 in Canada presentation recording available

Savannah Sewell (MARF 2021) presented the results of her project, in which she endeavored to create a holistic and human narrative focused account of the lived experience of COVID-19. Savannah spoke to the hurdles and highlights of her experience in amassing a foundational COVID-19 Collection for the Museum of Health Care, and offered examples of the artifacts and narratives collected. … More The Lived Experience of COVID-19 in Canada presentation recording available