Hundreds of gently lit jars holding tumor-ridden brains line the walls of the Cushing Brain Collection, assembled by the pioneering neurosurgeon Harvey Cushing in the early 20th century. With more than 400 jars on display, and another 150 or so awaiting preservation, the collection now resides in a custom-built room two floors below Yale’s medical school library.

In life, Dr. Harvey Cushing was not only an award-winning surgeon, but also a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, World War I veteran, and gifted artist. His academic and professional life was dedicated to studying the brain and developing new and radical diagnoses and surgical techniques to help patients suffering from debilitating and often lethal brain tumors.

The collection was donated to Yale in 1939 after Cushing’s death, but was only installed in the new custom exhibit space in 2010 after decades in storage. Originally scattered throughout the University, by the 1960s the collection had fallen into disrepair. Students in the 1990s formed a kind of fan club, venturing into the basement where the collection had been moved to add their names to a poster. Finally, funds were raised to establish the new, dedicated space to house the collection.

The collection also includes artifacts from Cushing’s life and medical career, a piece of steak signed using an electrosurgical knife by Ivan Pavlov, and drawers full of infant skulls. Nearby a collection of rare, historic medical books includes works by Copernicus and a handwritten edition of the works of Aristotle from the 13th century.