The whole human brain collection held at Cornell University was accumulated at the end of 19th century and the beginning of the 20th by Dr. Burt Green Wilder. Over 600 human brains were collected, but due to years of neglect and their poor storage in the university basement, many of the brains deteriorated over the years and had to be carried out of the basement via buckets. Despite this, an effort was made to retain the most interesting brains and today the collection still contains some 70 whole human brains.

Special emphasis was made to acquire brains of famous people. The collection includes a suffragist who donated her brain in 1925 to prove that woman's brain was in no way inferior to a man's, and the gray matter (or in this case, due to some discoloration, green matter) of one Edward Howard Rulloff, a convicted murderer who was hanged in 1871. Eight brains, including the above mentioned, are on display in Cornell University's Uris Hall. The other 62 are still kept in the basement.