Dr. Kahn's Grand Museum

from the journal New York Medical and Eclectic, 1879

Dr. Joseph Kahn opened an anatomical museum  in London in 1851, which featured a "Mechanical Venus" - a large model of the female body, and depicted, as other anatomical museums of the Victorian period did, both the healthy human body and the physical consequences of venereal disease. He also seems to have been interested in sideshow attractions: in 1856 it was reported that "Dr. Kahn of London" was interested in exhibiting "The Boy with the Real Tail" although neither boy nor tail was said to have been found, in the end.

Kahn was originally endorsed by the British medical journal the Lancet in the early 1850s, but they denounced him severely once they began to receive letters of complaint later in the decade. Kahn was involved in several lawsuits from the 1850s until he disappeared about 1864 (Dr. A.W. Bates, in the excellent article cited below, suggests that Kahn returned to his native Germany). He seems to have left the contents of his museum behind, and they were taken up his business partner Mr. Jordan. Jordan sold dubious patent medicines for "secret diseases" under the name Perry and Co.,and had become partners in the museum with Kahn.

In 1870, Jordan moved the museum's contents to New York and  opened Kahn's Grand Museum in New York at 698 Broadway. It was by then not merely an anatomical museum but a "Magnificent Palace of Wonders." The wonders now include Science and Art as well as anatomy. Kahn's Grand Museum was open in New York at least as late as 1879 when this splendid illustrated advertisement appeared in the New York Medical and Eclectic. In 1884 Lewis Jordan of 51 East 10th Street - also known as Joseph Jacques, Lewis J. Kahn, Lewis J. Jordan and Dr. Ricord* - was arrested in New York for "treating three patients under a diploma illegally and fraudulently obtained." Jordan was practicing as "Dr. Jacques" with a degree issued by the Eclectic Medical College. He was believed to be the original Dr. Kahn of London by the Times, and they state that there Kahn was convicted "for obtaining money by 'trick, unprofessional conduct, and malpractice.'" Jordan's residence at 51 East 10th was said to be "simply a side show for a Broadway museum, where he answers to the four names given above."

*Ricord was the name of Napoleon's physician; see, for example, "Napoleon's Doctor Ricord," New York Times, Nov. 17, 1889.

SOURCES

Bates, A.W. "Dr. Kahn's Museum: Obscene Anatomy in Victorian London," JSRM Vol 99 No. 12 (2006), pp 618-24. The definitive history of Kahn and his museum - well worth a read. [link]
 
"A Museum Doctor With Four Names," New York Times, Mar. 22, 1884.

"The Boy With A Real Tale," New York Times [reprinted from the Dublin Medical Press], Jan. 23, 1856.

Rosenman, Ellen Bayuk. Unauthorized Pleasures: Accounts of Victorian Erotic Experience (Cornell UP, 2003), pp 34-7.

Dr Kahn's and other Anatomical Museums here at showhistory.

*****

Many thanks to Annie Barnes at the absolutely wonderful Hibbitt Family History Blog for the Ancestor Approved Award! I couldn't possibly choose 10 out of the many incredible genealogy blogs that I read and subscribe to so I say to all of my dear genealogist friends: please feel free to take this one. I am supposed to list 10 surprising, humbling and/ or enlightening aspects of my research too - but alas, I am not doing too much genealogical research right now. Instead, I'm mostly blogging over at my pop culture blogs...and working on an off-line writing project (don't want to say too much about it but suffice it to say, it is quite time-absorbing!). Instead, I promise to come back and tell you about my Best Genealogical Find of 2010 which involves an old hand-drawn family tree (literally, a tree picture with ancestors written in), some vagabond 18th century Germans and some Frakturlicious Google Books.