Transforming the Coit Museum of Pharmacy & Health Sciences
The multimillion-dollar transformation of the University of Arizona R. Ken Coit College of Pharmacy’s History of Pharmacy Museum to the newly named Coit Museum of Pharmacy & Health Sciences will officially reopen to visitors on homecoming weekend.
The free museum has thousands of individual artifacts of pharmacy and medical history on display. Numerous new exhibits, including many interactives, were added in the renovation.
The Upjohn Pharmacy collection from Disneyland is one the highlights of the collection and the first display that visitors will encounter. Beginning with the Upjohn collection, the museum is laid out as a dynamic story that includes the past, the present, and an intentional look to the future.
It is unlike any traditional, static museum; instead, it’s an eye-catching and interactive experience, with each turn leading to another discovery.
A transformational gift
Travelling around Arizona for years, former state board inspector Jesse Hurlbut and his wife Mary had amassed a collection of thousands of items from drugstores across the state.
“They were looking to get rid of a collection of drug products,” said Stephen Hall, the former director of the museum. “So that was how this all came to be and that’s the backbone of what we have here.”
That collection became the original History of Pharmacy Museum in 1966 and was housed in the old pharmacy and microbiology building on the UArizona main campus.
“For more than 50 years, the museum existed without a centralized home, without a strong budget, and without basic assets like parking or exhibit lighting,” Hall explained. “The founders of the museum always strove to make the most of what we had to work with.”
That is, until entrepreneur, investor, and UArizona College of Pharmacy alumnus R. Ken Coit stepped in with a $50 million gift that would establish endowed chairs and professorships, provide scholarships, and expand the museum.
Coit’s investment in the College and the pharmacy museum is transformational. The investment turned a collection of display cases scattered around the college into a cutting-edge museum that will develop into a tremendous asset for the university and local community.
This new era for the museum also led to the name change from the History of Pharmacy Museum to the Coit Museum of Pharmacy & Health Sciences for two reasons: the museum is no longer focused solely on history, and it is no longer exclusively focused on pharmacy, opening exhibits up to include the other UArizona Health Sciences colleges and beyond.
“The museum is an excellent showcase of pharmacy’s history and the newly dedicated space will highlight the interdisciplinary nature of our field as it continues to evolve and adapt to future healthcare challenges,” said R. Ken Coit College of Pharmacy Dean Rick G. Schnellmann, PhD.
An interactive museum for the modern era
The museum’s evolution followed two design tenets: transform the visitor from a passive observer to a fully engaged and curious visitor upon exit and to offer experiences provided solely within the museum.
The must-see Great Moments in Pharmacy exhibit was a 2021 Telly Awards Silver Winner in the museum category. The exhibit features 40 paintings from the 1950s that have been digitized and made into stunning parallax (moving) animations. While each painting is narrated with the painting’s story, the visitor visually flies in and around the living painting. The Great Moments in Pharmacy exhibit took 10 months to produce and included talent contributions from California, Arizona, Texas, Washington DC, and Sri Lanka.
The innovative museum design and the interactive exhibits were produced by Doug Reid and his company Augustwolf. Reid has worked with Coit for many years. The fabrication and installation of the museum was completed by Houston-based Southwest Museum Services. Reid said Rene Cortez from UArizona Facilities Management and David Bishop, buildings manager for the College of Pharmacy, have played key roles in the museum’s construction.
Hall and Reid collaborated closely throughout the entire project. Hall said Reid was “instrumental in making the project happen.”
“From the moment you step inside the museum, you can tell a lot of thought was put into each exhibit and an intention behind it all to share pharmacy’s history in a meaningful and memorable way,” Schnellmann said.
A legacy built on the shoulders of others
Throughout its history, the museum has had four curators. The first was founder Jesse Hurlbut, whose wife Mary was also actively involved in running the museum. The second was the author and noted pharmacy historian George A. Bender, who curated the museum from the late 1960s to the late 1970s as the college prepared to move from the main campus to the health sciences campus. The third and longest running director was Richard (“Dick”) M. Wiedhopf, who oversaw the museum for almost four decades. Stephen Hall started out as a volunteer working with Wiedhopf in 2014 and eventually became an assistant curator. Hall was promoted to curator after Wiedhopf’s retirement in 2017 and became director in 2022.
COIT MUSEUM OF PHARMACY & HEALTH SCIENCES GRAND OPENING
Saturday, October 29 | 10:00–11:30 AM
The community is invited to the grand opening celebration of the Coit Museum of Pharmacy & Health Sciences. Attendees can expect to hear from Alumnus R. Ken Coit, UArizona President Robert C. Robbins, and other special guests.
Following the brief program and the unveiling of the bronze R. Ken Coit statue, guests will have the opportunity to walk through the museum's new Visitor Center. A special commemorative poster highlighting the sculptor Bruce Wolfe and artist Dave Mattos will also be given to attendees. Supply is limited.