International Museum of Surgical Science, Chicago

The house and the Museum collection are both worth the visit. The house is a beautiful old mansion on the lake. The collection of medical and surgical devices and the stories they tell are so interesting. The docents were friendly and helpful. The building still has the original, working elevator, which I was able to use because I have trouble with the stairs. Don't forget to visit the gift shop!

The museum was great! Lots of interesting tools and great information to back it all up. It was so cool to see how little things have changed since the early days of medicine. The receptionist was great and helpful and super sweet considering we came in from the driving rain soaking wet. We walked around for about 3-4 hours reading everything while we dried out. At 10 til five we headed down to check out the gift shop and there was a second incredibly rude “worker” there. She was being very condescending to those who were trying to check in and buy tickets for an after hours opera and she was controlling the only register even though her patrons were forced to download and use a specific app to buy her tickets. We were told that we had 1 minute to find everything and check out. When another patron asked about an item that didn’t have a price sticker (nothing was marked), she was told to wait while an opera patron was given preferential treatment. Then we were all told to leave with out being given prices after our minute was up. When we raised objection we were told to shop online. She was incredibly rude. Maybe if the store allowed patrons to purchase souveniers they would have more money to afford more polite staff like the first lady who greeted us when we walked in. Rating based on staff friendliness that ruined an otherwise amazing experience.