One set of vision tests in a museum display tells us a great deal about the history of immigration to the United States, and gives us an interesting behind-the-scenes peek at how museum collections and exhibits operate.

If you follow the museum on social media, you may notice new little boxes in the bottom corner of our pictures that say “ALT.” These three letters are a key feature in making our social media more accessible to people who are blind or have low vision.

The history of women in ophthalmology takes us across the United States, and even into Europe, but imagine our delight to find that there was a part of this history centered in the museum’s hometown of San Francisco, California.

Did you know that the museum’s collection also includes science fiction toys? Science fiction has often imagined ways that the future might enhance or restore eyesight, and science fiction toys have brought that imagination into the hands of fans from all over the world.

The Truhlsen-Marmor Museum of the Eye® is celebrating the Halloween season with a new tour and gallery guide, Ocular Oddities: Weird and Wild Stories in Ophthalmology. Come visit the museum in person during our four open days a week, or check out these strange-but-true stories in a new virtual tour on the museum app.