Bruno Gebhard Papers
Postcard circa 1940
On November 13, 1940 the first permanent health museum in the U.S.A. was opened. Why did it happen in Cleveland? According to Dr. Bruno Gebhard first Director of the Cleveland Health Education Museum, there were two reasons: 1) voluntary health agencies were looking for better visual teaching aids, 2) health education minded members of the Academy of Medicine concurred in this interest, but were anxious to give "a more permanent aspect to health education in Cleveland, in establishing a permanent museum where scientifically prepared material of a visual nature might be made available to the public at all times".
Gebhard's curatorial duties at the German Hygiene Museum in Dresden prepared him for the supervision of international health exhibits. Fearing the rising shadow of Hitler, Gebhard left Germany in 1937 and joined the New York World's Fair staff as medical consultant. In 1939 he was appointed the Director of the Cleveland Health Education Museum, from which he retired in 1965.
Gebhard (gesturing) with Dr. Joseph Goebbels,
viewing a model of the Autobahn.
The Gebhard Archives have been divided into six groups including biographical data, professional interests and activities, speeches and articles in german and English text, information about health exhibits in Germany and about the development of the Cleveland Health Museum, an oral history and various newspaper clippings. Housed separately is an extensive photograph collection that documents Gebhard's career in Germany as well as his work in Cleveland.
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