In 1956,Alma Merrick Helmsannounced that she was bound for Stanford University. But she would not be attending classes. Upon learning that there was a "special shortage of women's bodies" for medical students, this semiretired actress had filled out forms todonate her corpseto the medical college upon her death.
Ashistoriansof medicine, we had long been familiar with the tragic tales of 18th- and 19th-century grave robbing. Medical students had to snatch unearthed bodies if they wanted corpses to dissect.
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But there waslittle to no discussion of the thousandsof Americans in the 20thcentury who wanted analternative to traditional burial— those men and women who gave their bodies to medical education and research.
So we decided to research this especially physical form of philanthropy: people wholiterally give themselves away. We are now writing a book on this topic.
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