Missing Parts: A Critical Analysis of Amputees and Disability History in Three Canadian Archives and Museums

Abstract

This thesis examines the ways that disability history in Canada—specifically amputee history—is constructed and presented in different museums and archives through three case studies: The Middleville and District Museum, the Museum of Health Care at Kingston, and Library and Archives Canada. Through the lens of critical disability studies, I investigate the narratives and conceptions of disability within each of these institutions and bring disability into conversation with archival studies in order to recommend ways that disability history might be made more discoverable, accessible, and equitable. Each institution, representing different types of museums and archives in Canada, is useful and important for the study of disability history for different reasons, and each requires different archival methodologies when dealing with disability. This thesis recognizes and argues the importance of examining the processes and systems at play in museums and archives which construct particular views of disability history.