As Pennsylvania Hospital — America’s first chartered hospital — marks its 275th anniversary this year, the hospital also plans to celebrate the occasion by transforming its historic Pine Building into a museum.
The museum, which officials said would include exhibits that “links the nation’s first hospital’s rich history with Penn Medicine’s continued leadership in science and medicine,” is set to open to the public in May of this year.
“Pennsylvania Hospital is not only linked to the history of just Philadelphia – but to the history of the United States of America: From caring for soldiers during the American revolution to sending physicians and nurses abroad to care for soldiers in World War I and World War II, from the Yellow Fever in 1793 to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, from brewing healing teas from herbs grown on hospital grounds to developing brain-computer interfaces that can treat conditions like Parkinson’s disease and obsessive-compulsive disorder, ” said Stacey Peeples, Lead Archivist at Pennsylvania Hospital in a statement on the planned new museum. “I am thrilled to illuminate the huge contributions of generations of caregivers, patients and staff, so that every visitor can share in the pride we feel in the history of Pennsylvania Hospital.”…