Coit Museum Interpretive Gallery

The interpretive gallery is made up of five areas:

Upjohn Collection

The most prestigious of the museum’s holdings, the Upjohn Pharmacy collection comes from Disneyland. Located on Main Street U.S.A. from 1955, when the park opened, until 1970, the Upjohn Pharmacy spoke to the changing landscape of the pharmacy profession.

Sponsored by The Upjohn Company, a major drug manufacturer from Kalamazoo, Michigan, the Upjohn Pharmacy was something new and something ancient. It consisted of two exhibit spaces. The larger was a replica of an apothecary from the 1890–1910 period (the timeframe Main Street was meant to recreate), and the smaller was a technology-driven space that showcased The Upjohn Company as it existed in the mid-century. Upjohn was founded in 1886, so the Upjohn Pharmacy provided the perfect platform for the company to tell its own “then and now” story.

In 1970, the Upjohn Pharmacy closed. Much of its antique collection was given to the California Museum of Science and Industry (now the California Science Center), where it was kept for almost 40 years. Then, in 2007, the collection was given to the History of Pharmacy Museum. Today, it is the centerpiece of the museum.

The Future of Pharmacy

The Big Bottle Experience allows visitors to select and enlarge bottles from our collections. The Video Tree, comprised of more than 20 screens, contains short videos on the museum's history, as well as fun and informative videos related to pharmacy and health sciences. 

Apothecary Shop

This room, designed as an early 20th century pharmacy, includes original beauty, photography, and drug products dating back 50-100 years. Create your own custom medicine bottle to take with you (limited to small groups). 

Pharmacy-in-action

Enjoy the Big Pharma display that traces the history of today's large pharmaceutical companies and listen to pre-recorded emergency calls from the Arizona Poison and Drugs Information Center, the 2nd poison control center established in the US. 

History Interactives and Changing Exhibits 

In addition to being our temporary exhibit space, this hallway features the award-winning Great Moments in Pharmacy interactive display and the History of Pharmacy sliding timeline, as well as a stunning collection of mortars and pestles from around the world.