The museum was initially established as part of the university's medical school, in its department of histology. The museum's founder, Klon Stephanos, has been described as the "father of physical anthropology" in Greece,[2] Under Stephanos, the museum emphasized its function as research laboratory, rather than as a venue for public displays. It received many early contributions from the medical faculty in the area of anatomical pathology, as well as becoming an important repository within Greece for historical anthropological specimens that had in the past been sent to foreign institutions.[3]