Henry Forman Atkinson Dental Museum

The Henry Forman Atkinson Dental Museum contains over 2500 objects, photographs, documents and catalogues relating to the history of dentistry and dental education in Victoria. Objects in the collection date from the early 1700s and provide insights into the changes and developments within the dental profession and its striving to improve the standard of dental education, dental health and dental care within Victoria.

The object collection includes clinical equipment such as instruments used for oral surgery, conservative dentistry and dental prosthetics, and laboratory equipment such as instruments and materials used for dental mechanics, teaching and research.

Archival material, relating to the Dental Museum collection and located in the University of Melbourne Archives, dates from the 1880s to the present day. It includes the minute books of the Odontological Society of Victoria (1887-1903), Dental Hospital (1890-1895, 1929-1941), Australian College of Dentistry and their subcommittees; correspondence; ledgers (1903-1934, 1947-1953) and cash books (1903-1910, 1934-1959); photographs and press cuttings. There are also teaching notes, early educational texts, and personal records of senior staff.