Anatomy Day Materials at the Wilson Special Collections Library: Digital Collections and Online Resources

Anatomical fugitive sheets provide an early interactive model for looking inside the human body. These printed illustrations are single sheets, similar to broadsides, that depict the body using layers or flaps that can be lifted to reveal internal organs and other body parts, mimicking what one would find upon dissection.

A tool for those researching Medieval and Early Modern medicine and medical imagery, this site provides access to an extensive collection of medical illustrations dating from the 6th to the 16th century and gathered from more than 30 institutions and libraries. Users can browse by many topics, including: subject, language, and date. The site also offers a list of related resources (e.g. bibliographies and other digital collections).

The Four Seasons are unique, 17th-century copperplate engravings from the Trent Collection that were digitally reconstructed from more than 200 photographs in order to reproduce the experience of lifting the multilayered flaps and volvelles to reveal various anatomical dissections. A metaphor for the stages of human life, the prints illustrate not only human anatomy but are replete with allusions to alchemy, astrology, astronomy, botany, geography, palmistry, physiology, uroscopy and zoology.

Frank H. Netter was a physician and illustrator whose anatomy pictures appeared in numerous publications. This collection also contains over 4,000 of his original sketches that cover all aspects of human anatomy, medical conditions and procedures.

A digital collaboration among some of the world's leading medical libraries. The MHL promotes free and open access to quality historical resources in medicine.