Human Remains

Two key ideas arise from Swain's writing. The first is perhaps the most important: the idea of respect. Once we as museum curators commit to educating students and the public about human anatomy using a skeleton as an educational resource, our primary concern must be granting "due respect" to the original owner of the displayed bones. In the Alfred Denny Museum this respect comes in several forms:

1.  Being as transparent as possible about the information available to us  surrounding the skeleton's collection and origin

2.  Ensuring the skeleton is exhibited in a dignified posture, kept clean and well preserved.

 Signalling the ethical considerations surrounding our decision to keep it in  the museum.

The second point that emerges from Swain is more nuanced.
By displaying human remains, Swain suggests that we face up to the feeling of "compromise" at every turn. Especially in this case, where the wishes of the skeleton's deceased owner cannot be known, we must acknowledge the possibility that by displaying their remans, we compromise their wishes for their own posthumous treatment. In short, there is a very real chance that they would not have wanted their skeleton on display.

As viewers, our own feeling of compromised morality – that we're doing something that "may not be quite right" (Swain's words) – becomes important as a counterweight to this potential violation of the deceased person's preferences. It is important that in viewing this display we are never entirely comfortable – this feeling of discomfort is there to be held and thought through rather than shied away from. It reminds us, finally, of the humanity attached to any display of human remains, and that our decision to display it in an educational context comes amidst uncertainties about the life and desires of the person it belonged to first.