Frankenstein is not a monster.

Frankenstein, commonly remembered as the slow-moving movie character, is actually not the monster’s name. Frankenstein, in the original context, is the doctor who created and abandoned the monster. That’s just one thing visitors can learn in a new exhibit on the Hill.

Molly Kerby, enrollment management instructor, helped bring the “Frankenstein: Penetrating the Secrets of Nature” exhibit to Western. It opened Saturday.

Author Betty Bennett helped launch the exhibit with a lecture discussing Mary Shelley, the author of “Frankenstein.” She wrote a biography about Shelley and is currently working on a second one.

Kerby said she has been working on events and learning more about the exhibit for almost two years.

With Action Agenda money from Kentucky, Kerby was able to bring the $60,000 display to Western for free.

“It didn’t cost us a dime,” Kerby said.

She said the exhibit is intended to be seen from a medical point of view and tends to travel to schools with medical programs. Kerby said when she applied for the exhibit, she had to focus solely on a humanities perspective.

Aside from science, philosophical ideas and women’s studies are also a focus, which is the reason the exhibit is at Western.

The schedule of events related to the exhibit includes notable speakers and several films. Bennett was the first of several. Others include Katherine Green, Deborah Logan, Ted Hovet and Michael Seidler. Kerby said she is also working on showing “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.”

?Green will be speaking on Jan. 29. Her speech is entitled “Shelley’s Family Inheritance: Revolution, Alienation, and Abandonment.”

Logan, an English professor, will be speaking Feb. 5 about Frankenstein’s creature as he appears in Shelley’s novel.

Hovet will be speaking on Feb. 12 on “Monster Metaphors in Shadow and Light.”

Seidler will conclude the lectures on Feb. 26 with a talk entitled “Monsters and Morals: Dr. Frankenstein in a Brave New World.” Seidler has taught courses in Biomedical Ethics for more than 20 years.

“My focus will be the ethical issues raised by the story and its use,” Seidler said.

Several places in the area are also supporting the exhibit. Both the Bowling Green Public Library and Barnes & Noble are hosting speakers tied to the exhibit.

“It may really be something for the library crowd,” Kerby said.

Reach Lynn Steller at [email protected].