Upcoming exhibit: Where We Go to Heal: Women's Health in History

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Where We Go to Heal is an ongoing painting series by artist, painter and patient-partner Hannaleah Ledwell which explores the healing spaces of people living with chronic illness and disability. Born of the artist's own experience navigating illness, the project centres the voices of patients who, like her, remain resilient in the face of difficult diagnoses and the everyday reality of living in a world not built for them.

Working from intimate conversations with participants, Hannaleah asks each person to describe the space of comfort and sanctuary where they draw strength, whether real, imagined, or anchored in memory. Without visual references beyond the imagery evoked by their stories, she translates her impressions of their sensations and memories into large-scale oil compositions.

The exhibition Where We Go to Heal: Women’s Health in History presents work developed through the Michele Larose-Osler Library Artist in Residence Programme, where Hannaleah expanded the project through archival research into medical history. Focusing on conditions such as endometriosis, multiple sclerosis, Complex-PTSD and gynecological conditions, her research traced how these illnesses have been misdiagnosed, dismissed, and misunderstood across centuries of medical practice. What emerged was a consistent through line: social perceptions of women have always dictated how their pain is treated — and that reality persists today.

The exhibition pairs the artist’s paintings with curated archival materials that illuminate this history. Together, these elements weave a dialogue between lived experience and institutional memory, inviting us to question what medicine has chosen to see, what has been overlooked, and the impact of those choices.

Where We Go to Heal invites visitors to consider illness as not only a physical reality, but a social, historical, and political one — and to reflect on what genuine care might look like when we finally centre those who have long been left out of the story.

Accessible during opening hours from 16 April 2026 - 31 July 2026. More information.

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Where We Go to Heal est une série d'œuvres en cours de l'artiste, peintre et patiente-partenaire Hannaleah Ledwell, qui explore les espaces de guérison des personnes vivant avec des maladies chroniques et des handicaps. Né de l'expérience personnelle de l'artiste face à ses propres maladies, le projet place au cœur de la démarche les voix de patient·es qui, comme elle, demeurent résilient·es malgré des diagnostics difficiles et un monde qui n'a pas été conçu pour elleux.

À partir de conversations intimes avec les participant·es, Hannaleah invite chaque personne à décrire l'espace de réconfort et de refuge où iel puise sa force; que ce soit un lieu réel, imaginé, ou ancré dans la mémoire. Sans référence visuelle autre que les images évoquées par leurs récits, elle traduit ses impressions de leurs sensations et de leurs souvenirs par la peinture à l'huile.

L'exposition Where We Go to Heal: Women’s Health in History présente des œuvres développées dans le cadre du Programme de résidence d'artiste Michèle Larose - Bibliothèque Osler, au cours duquel Hannaleah a approfondi le sujet grâce à une recherche archivistique en histoire de la médecine. En se penchant sur des conditions telles que l'endométriose, la sclérose en plaques, le TSPT-complexe et des conditions gynécologiques, ses recherches ont retracé comment ces maladies ont été minimisées, mécomprises et sujettes de diagnostics erronés au fil des siècles. Émergent de cette recherche, un fil conducteur s'impose: la perception sociale des femmes a toujours dicté la prise en charge de leur douleur, et cette réalité persiste encore aujourd'hui.

L'exposition associe les peintures de l’artiste à des archives soigneusement sélectionnées qui éclairent cette histoire. Ensemble, ces éléments tissent un dialogue entre l'expérience vécue et la mémoire institutionnelle, invitant à questionner ce que la médecine a choisi de voir, ce qu'elle a préféré ignorer, et le coût de ces choix.

Where We Go to Heal invite les visiteur·euses à considérer la maladie non seulement comme une réalité physique, mais aussi sociale, historique et politique, et à réfléchir à ce que pourrait être un soin véritable, lorsqu'on place enfin au centre celleux qui en ont trop longtemps été exclu·es.

Accessible pendant les heures d'ouverture du 16 avril 2026 au 31 juillet 2026. Plus d'informations.

Current exhibit: How to transform black and white incunabula into luxury items

Quaestiones in primum librum Sententiarum Petri Lombardi

When Johannes Gutenberg printed his 42-line black and white Bible in 1455, a new era began in the dissemination of knowledge. As a result, this Bible is considered as the first incunabulum, a term used to describe books printed from the beginning of printing until the year 1500. In the history of the book, this transition from manuscript to printed book triggered an intense period of innovation, in typography, book layout and decoration, to name but these.

Although still influenced by the handwritten book where colour was important, the new black and white printed book was given its own aesthetics by printers who sought to enhance its prestige. While the vast majority of printed books remained in black and white, some were rubricated, that is, decorated with simple initials of different sizes, especially red, and with other elements serving as visual markers for chapters and paragraphs, as in manuscripts.

Furthermore, printers set aside around twenty copies, sometimes printed on vellum, for hand finishing. This production was intended for religious or secular clients, many of whom were bibliophiles. The buyer could then acquire the book in leaves from the printer or a bookseller and choose to have it illuminated and bound by the artists and bookbinders in a city often very far from its place of printing. One could also buy it already ornamented, when printers would set up decoration workshops, places of serial decoration, which, despite standardization, still left room for some customizing.

The current exhibition provides an opportunity for many discoveries to be made about the hand-finishing of the incunabula drawn from both the Rare Books and Special Collections Department and the Osler Library. Visitors are invited to appreciate these artists and the beauty of their varied styles of the second half of the XVth century that transformed the seemingly austere books of medicine, science, and theological commentaries into luxury items!

Accessible during opening hours from October 21, 2025, through April 7, 2026. More information.


Recent events and exhibits

Book Talk: North of Nowhere with Marie Wilson

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The Truth and Reconciliation Commission was established to record the previously hidden history of more than a century of forced residential schooling for Indigenous children. Marie Wilson helped lead that work as one of just three commissioners.

With the skills of a journalist, the heart of a mother and grandmother, and the insights of a life as the spouse of a residential school survivor, Commissioner Wilson guides readers through her years witnessing survivor testimony across the country, providing her unique perspective on the personal toll and enduring public value of the commission. In this unparalleled account, she honours the voices of survivors who have called Canada to attention, determined to heal, reclaim, and thrive.

Part vital public documentary, part probing memoir, North of Nowhere breathes fresh air into the possibilities of reconciliation amid the persistent legacy of residential schools. It is a call to everyone to view the important and continuing work of reconciliation not as an obligation but as a gift. It is an essential companion text to the commission’s 2015 final report, which documents the history of Canada’s residential schools. Beautifully written, the book, through the survival testimonies, challenges all of us to examine and deepen our commitment to advancing reconciliation.

"In North of Nowhere, Marie Wilson honours her vow to residential school Survivors to ‘do no harm’ and to bear witness to and honour their experiences ‘I see you. I hear you. I believe you. And I love you’—Marie’s words as a Commissioner to Survivors set the tone for this very important book." — Perry Bellegarde, former National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations.

More information: Book Talk: North of Nowhere with Marie Wilson event page.

The Medical Students Osler Society hosted a related public lecture following the book talk. 
Marie Wilson, “HUMILITY HOPE AND HEALING: An Examination of the Hidden Words in Truth and Reconciliation.


2025 McGill Medical Student Research Symposium

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The Medical Student Research Symposium will feature participants in the Del Maestro Family William Osler Medical Student Essay Awards and recipients of the Molina Foundation Medical Student Osler Library Research Awards. Learn about humanities research conducted by McGill Medical Students! The presentations have special importance for the essayists, since their presentations will be factored into the final results to determine this year’s award winners.

More information: 2025 McGill Medical Student Research Symposium (hybrid)

Order of events

Del Maestro Family William Osler Medical Student Essay Awards. Essay titles:
  • Samia Cherkaoui, "The Music of Illness: How Ravel, Schumann, and Scriabin Composed the Brain’s Silence."
  • Princesse Tsamo Tiobou, "Beyond the Scalpel: Women Partners of the MNI: Avis Cone and Helen Penfield."
  • Djalica Diallo, "Généalogie d’un Regard Psychiatrique."
  • Paris Dastjerdi, "The Origins of McGill’s Department of Psychiatry and Its Legacy of Division from Neurology."
  • Rukun Dou, "No Patient Alone: Mapping Dr. Penfield’s Enduring Legacy on the Ethics of Awake Craniotomy."
  • Arielle Mbuyo Ngantchang, "The Hidden Cost of Beauty: The Cultural, Historical, and Health Impact of Black Hair."
  • Shanya Maheu, "Stomach, Stress, and Sex: Gendered Constructions of Ulcer Disease in the Mid-Twentieth Century."
Special Presentation on glass stethoscopes by Dr. Milton Roxanas
Molina Family Research Award recipients:
  • Samy Amghar, “Wicked Wounds and Wretched War: Reframing Antimicrobial Resistance through World War I Writings by Canadian Medical Personnel”
  • Ilyas Oultache, “Greek to Arabic Translation of Medical Knowledge on Mental Illness During the Abbasid Period, and the Layla and Majnun Paradigm”

Book Talk | Something Hidden with Jefferson Lewis

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On September 26th, 2025, the Osler Library of the History of Medicine heard Jefferson Lewis, author and grandson of Wilder Penfield, speak about the second edition of Something Hidden: The Life of Wilder Penfield.


The Mind Mappers

Book cover for the Mind Mappers by Eric Andrew-Gee

On May 27th, 2025, the Osler Library of the History of Medicine celebrated the launch of The Mind Mappers, a new book by Globe and Mail journalist Eric Andrew-Gee.


ouch ouch ouch

Exhibit | ouch ouch ouch

 

In The Body in Pain, Elaine Scarry wrote that "to have pain is to have certainty; to hear about pain is to have doubt".  

This influential statement, alongside research into early pseudoscientific anatomical iconography, graphic pathography, and discourses in contemporary ecofeminisms, forms the basis of ouch ouch ouch, an exhibition of new work on the somatic, temporal and poetic dimensions of physical pain. 

Ouch ouch ouch will debut an artist book of speculative illness morphologies, based on a collection of sensation maps assembled through a daily practice of body scan meditation. Alongside the internal phenomena of pain, a series of gestures representing the duration of the residency (or a single very long, very painful moment) explores the non-linear, dilatory, and atemporal nature of illness.   

The accompanying text addresses the act of viewing and draws into question the visible external boundaries of the human form in an extended reflection on the presence of others, objects and non-human animals in early anatomical texts.

Curated by Ev Ricky. Accessible during opening hours. On until October 15, 2025. More information. 


When There Are No Words

painting of a flower
When There Are No Words

The exhibit, When There Are No Words, addresses the subjects of death and grief in Québec society through the lens of colour, symbols, printed texts, and handwritten messages found in sympathy cards from the last 150 years. It also includes a selection of condolence objects provided by the Organ and Tissue Donation Program of the McGill University Health Centre as an illustration of a different expression of sympathy. Presented by the Department of Social Studies of MedicineMaude Abbott Medical Museum, and the Osler Library of the History of Medicine.


The Scientific Revolution in the Renaissance and the Dialogue between Galileo and Kepler

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Reading Abbott

Reading Abbott banner

Maude Abbott loved to read. This exhibition explores both what she read and ways we can read her life story.


Past exhibitions and presentations

2024

 

Pam and Rolando Del Maestro Family William Osler Medical Student Essay Awards, 2024 

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2024 Ceremony | Molina Foundation Medical Student Osler Library Research Awards 

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Heart & Mind by Stéphan Ballard, 2023 Michèle Larose-Osler Library Artist-in-Residence

Sequence Heart and Mind by Stephan Ballard

 

Thou Hast Need of Them: Historical Minorities in the Faculty of Medicine

 Historical surgical tools / Left side: Logos McGill Library, Jewish Public Library, School of Medicine / Right side: Maude Abbott Medical Museum & Osler Library crest

Staff from the Osler Library of the History of MedicineMaude Abbott Medical Museum, and the Jewish Public Library Archives discussed the fascinating holdings related to three medical graduates from McGill University, each of whom prevailed over the systemic barriers they faced in pursuing their medical careers. Each institution gave a brief presentation about their graduate, followed by the opportunity to interact with items from their material history.

2023
2022
2021
  • Show and Tell: The Secrets of Women / Montrer et racontrer : les secrets des femmes. Local artist Caroline Boileau and McGill-trained historian Margaret Carlyle interact with a few of the Osler Library's new acquisitions (and some older ones!) in an attempt to demystify medical history during a feminist dialogue of discovery. 15 December 2021. Enjoy the event.
  • Research and the Osler. An evening celebrating medical student humanities research supported by the Osler Library. Featured speakers: Lilly Groszman, "Untold Medical History: Montreal’s Days of Shame;" Brendan Ross, "The Chinese Apotheosis of Dr. Norman Bethune: The Making of a Medical Folk Hero;" Faith Wallis, "Osler the Student." Watch the symposium.
  • The many faces of Norman Bethune. A moderated discussion held virtually on 23 March 2021. Watch the discussion.
  • Perspectives on Sir William Osler in the 21st century. Virtual symposium hosted by our colleagues in the Department of Social Studies of Medicine on February 3, 2021. Moderated by Suzanne Morton (McGill University) and featuring panelists Jenna Healey (Queen's University), Samir Shaheen-Hussain (McGill University), Nadeem Toodayan (University of Queensland), André Lametti (McGill University), Mary Hague-Yearl (McGill University), and Christoph Gradmann (University of Oslo). Read summaries of each of the talks, written by the medical students from the McGill Osler Society. Watch the symposium.
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
  • The Literature of Prescription: Charlotte Perkins Gilman and The Yellow Wallpaper. A Biography of Neurasthenia in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, curated by Prof. Andrea Tone. September - April 2014.
2013
  • Designing Doctors, an exhibit talk by Professor Annmarie Adams, McGill School of Architecture. Tuesday, 7 May 2013, 1:00-2:00, Meakins Auditorium (5th floor McIntyre Medical Sciences Building).
  • "Neurological Laboratories" to Interdisciplinary "Centres of Brain Research": Otfrid Foerster, Wilder Penfield, and Early Neuroscience in Breslau and Montreal, a Nickerson Fellowship talk by Dr. Frank Stahnisch, Thursday, 2 May 2013, 2:00 - 3:00, Don Bates Seminar Room 101, Department of Social Studies of Medicine, McGill University, 3647 Peel Street.
2012
2011