Carly Hilts of quarterly history magazine The Past has commended our ambitious transformation of the Hunterian Museum. "The museum’s new layout represents an arresting insight into human ingenuity – a fascinating overview of both the history of medical understanding and practices (and the triumphs and ethical issues accompanying these) and an exciting exploration of where further advances might lead us in the future. But it tells a powerful story, too, about the people who contributed to these advances, whether professionally or as patients. This is no coldly clinical scientific narrative, but one that is rich with human experiences and full of thought-provoking questions."

"While a collection centred on medical specimens could be viewed as objectifying or othering its subjects, a powerful aspect of the new displays is the way in which the lives of Hunter’s patients are brought to the fore. Their images, their experiences, and their own words feature in highly personal and often poignant assemblages – accompanied by an interactive tool drawing on Hunter’s casebooks – which eloquently remind viewers of the human stories and human suffering behind many of the specimens within the museum."

"Linking these early sections with rooms exploring modern medical advances is the Long Gallery – a glass-walled corridor running spine-like through the museum, with smaller rooms feeding off it. It is in this area that Hunter’s specimen collections really come into their own, its walls lined with glass jars presented almost like jewellers’ displays, containing human and animal ‘preparations’ representing almost any species, organ, or condition that you can imagine...Within this area, interactive digital displays are again used to great effect, allowing visitors to explore specific aspects of the collections in greater detail, and to learn about topics from pathology and how anatomical specimens are prepared to how new species are named."

"The recent reorganisation reflects a more sensitive presentation of the Hunterian’s holdings."

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