Museum of Medical History

The Museum of Medical History is now open Tuesday-Friday by appointment. Please note: All visitors to the museum are requried to wear masks regardless of vaccination status.

Click Here To Book Your Reservation

If you are interested in booking a school or group tour, please contact Ronnie Hammond at RHammond@ssvms.org.

The Museum of Medical History of the Sierra Sacramento Valley Medical Society showcases developments in medicine with a special relationship to our region, from the mid-1800‘s through today. The Museum is organized by various themes: patent medicines and pharmacology, basic science and laboratory medicine, antibiotics and infectious diseases, medical diagnosis and therapy, surgical diagnosis and therapy, nursing, Asian medicine, radiology, quackery and local medical history. Click here to browse the Museum’s Artifacts.

A variety of larger artifacts are also displayed including a turn-of-the-century doctor’s office diorama, a 1950-era iron lung, Civil War amputation kits, and a variety of medical art.

You’ll also find an array of classical 19th century instruments including cups, various tools for bleeding, ether masks and medicines with mercury, arsenic and strychnine. The Museum of Medical History is also home to an extensive library containing early medical textbooks and journals.

The museum is free of charge and open to the public, by appointment only.

Click Here To Book Your Reservation

Museum of Medical History
Sierra Sacramento Valley Medical Society
5380 Elvas Ave
Sacramento, CA 95819
(916) 452-2671
Map

Open Tuesday-Friday, 10 AM-4 PM

Closed Mondays/Weekends

School Tours

The Museum of Medical History is available for school tours. For more information or to schedule a school tour, contact Ronnie Hammond at RHammond@ssvms.org.

Early Sacramento Medical History

Prior to the arrival of settlers and explorers into Northern California, the Sierra Sacramento Valley region was described as “...one of the most healthful territories on the continent with a climate unrivaled in purity and equability...Nor is sickness, that scourge of humanity, here to harass and hinder us in our pursuits...” However, with the early explorers came diseases against which Native Americans had no resistance, and with the gold seekers came numerous diseases and epidemics, bred by the lack of hygiene and sanitation.

At the peak of the Gold Rush it was noted that, “Within a few short months, they (the gold seekers) produced in Sacramento a collecting point of health tragedy not to be equaled any other place in the world.” Ill health began on the trip westward, both by sea and by land, with many infectious agents including cholera and scurvy caused by inadequate supplies of fresh fruit and vegetables. It was estimated that 6% of all early settlers died coming to California, and 20% lost their lives within six months of arrival. Epidemics in Sacramento were devastating, such as cholera (1850) that killed 1,000 Sacramentans in three weeks. Medical care was far from ideal. Competing with the regular medical doctors, or allopaths, were the “irregular” doctors, such as eclectics, Thomsonians and homeopaths, in addition to poorly trained or untrained individuals who hung out a shingle and practiced medicine.

Organized medicine in Sacramento grew out of the tension between “regular” and “irregular” practitioners, which came to a head in 1850 with the formation of the Medico-Chirurgical Association, the first medical organization in California. Formed by Dr. J.B.D. Stillman and 31 other pioneer physicians for the cultivation of science, honor and dignity, it lasted only six years. The Sacramento Medical Society was formed in 1855 only to disband eight years later. Finally, five years later, in 1868, the Sacramento Society for Medical Improvement, today’s Sierra Sacramento Valley Medical Society, was formed.

Our pioneer physicians were innovators. Under their guidance, the second City Board of Health in the United States was formed, as was the first prepaid hospital insurance plan, the first railroad hospital in the world, the first successful appendectomy in California, the first weather bureau on the west coast, and the first building in California designed specifically to be a hospital.

Donate

The Museum of Medical History is staffed by the Sierra Sacramento Valley Medical Society’s Historical Committee and is operated entirely from donations from the community. Click here to make a tax-deductible donation.