KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Medicine's Hall of Fame and Museum in Shawnee announced Monday it has permanently closed and the items in the museum will be up for auction in November.
The museum opened in early 2020, but organizers say COVID-19 pandemic restrictions limited the museum's ability to fully open. Organizers say they were never able to recover from the decline in attendence.
Most of the items that were in the museum were collected by physician Dr. Bruce Hodges, who had been collecting artifacts from all over the world for over 50 years.
95% of the artifacts that were in the museum were from his contributions.
The artifacts at the museum will now be up for auction in November. The auction will be conducted by Mayo Auction and Realty. Items that will be auctioned include rare antique medical equipment, Native American and African tribal medicinal practice artifacts, early apothecary items and other unique instruments of medicine.
The museum was home to more than 4,500 medical artifacts from over 21 different countries.
There will be in-person previews for the items on Friday, Nov. 4, from 2-6 p.m. at 6305 Lackman Road in Shawnee, Kansas. Items can also be bidded off online until Monday, Nov. 7.
