Dr. John Collins Warren's Medical Kit, 1840
Dr. John Collins Warren, the son of renowned surgeon John Warren, taught at Harvard from 1809 to 1847, served as the first dean of the medical school, and helped found Massachusetts General Hospital. Himself a leading surgeon of the day, Dr. Warren performed the first public demonstration of surgery on a patient anesthetized with ether provided by a Boston dentist, W. T. G. Morton.

Dr. Warren used this portable medicine kit, encased in red leather, containing surgical instruments and powdered medicines. His card, which was found in the kit, lists the address of his home at No. 2 Park Street in Boston.

Dr. Warren donated his collection of anatomical and pathological specimens to Harvard, where it formed the basis of the Warren Anatomical Museum, now located at the Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.