Megan Curran Rosenbloom (born 1981) is an American medical librarian and expert on
anthropodermic bibliopegy
Anthropodermic bibliopegy is the practice of binding books in human skin. , The Anthropodermic Book Project has examined 31 out of 50 books in public institutions supposed to have anthropodermic bindings, of which 18 have been confirmed as huma ...
, the practice of
binding books in
human skin
The human skin is the outer covering of the body and is the largest organ of the integumentary system. The skin has up to seven layers of ectodermal tissue (biology), tissue guarding Skeletal muscle, muscles, bones, ligaments and organ (anato ...
.
She is a team member of the Anthropodermic Book Project, a group which scientifically tests skin-bound books to determine whether their origins are human.
Rosenbloom is the author of ''
Dark Archives
''Dark Archives: A Librarian's Investigation into the Science and History of Books Bound in Human Skin'' is a 2020 non-fiction book by the medical librarian and death-positive advocate Megan Rosenbloom. Dealing with anthropodermic bibliopegy, ...
'', a 2020 non-fiction book on the history, provenance, and myths about books bound in human skin.
Education
In 2004, Rosenbloom earned a bachelor of arts degree in journalism from
Drexel University
Drexel University is a private university, private research university with its main campus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Drexel's undergraduate school was founded in 1891 by Anthony Joseph Drexel, Anthony J. Drexel, a financier ...
. Rosenbloom received her
Master of Library and Information Science
The Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) is the master's degree that combines two interdisciplinary academic disciplines. Library science is applied information science and a subfield of information science. This degree focuses on inf ...
from the
University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The university is composed of seventeen undergraduate and graduate schools and colle ...
in 2008.
Career
Rosenbloom is a collection strategies librarian at
UCLA
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...
Library in Los Angeles.
She previously worked as a medical librarian at
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...
Norris Medical Library, and as an obituary editor for the ''
Journal of the Medical Library Association''.
Through her library work, Rosenbloom had access to a large number of old and rare medical books that were also about death.
She began doing public lectures on the way the history of medical advancements is intertwined with the use of nameless corpses and met
Caitlin Doughty
Caitlin Marie Doughty (born August 19, 1984) is an American mortician, author, blogger, YouTuber, and advocate for death acceptance and the reform of Western funeral industry practices. She is the owner of Clarity Funerals and Cremation of Los ...
; together they curate Death Salon events.
Rosenbloom believes the more people deny the inevitability of death, "the more people are psychically destroyed when it happens in their lives."
She co-founded and directs Death Salon, the events arm of
The Order of the Good Death
The Order of the Good Death is a death acceptance organization founded in 2011 by mortician and author Caitlin Doughty. The group advocates for natural burial and embracing human mortality.
Along with Doughty, members include Sarah Chavez, Dire ...
where people can have conversations and discussions with others about death.
Death Salons are a mix of private Order of the Good Death business and public events, happening nearly annually since 2013.
As a member of the Anthropodermic Book Project, Rosenbloom and her colleagues Daniel Kirby, Richard Hark and Anna Dhody use
peptide mass fingerprinting
Peptide mass fingerprinting (PMF), also known as protein fingerprinting, is an analytical technique for protein identification in which the unknown protein of interest is first cleaved into smaller peptides, whose absolute masses can be accurately ...
to determine if the binding on books is of human origin.
Rosenbloom is part of the outreach team, trying to convince rare book libraries to have their books tested.
Writings
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See also
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Death Cafe
A Death Cafe is a scheduled non-profit get-together (called "social franchises" by the organizers) for the purpose of talking about death over food and drink, usually tea and cake. The idea originates with the Swiss sociologist and anthropologist ...
References
External links
Official website*
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Rosenbloom, Megan
21st-century American librarians
People involved with death and dying
Living people
Women and death
Drexel University alumni
University of Pittsburgh alumni
21st-century American women librarians
University of Southern California people
1981 births
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Medical librarians