The Edinburgh Phrenological Society had a collection of over 2,000 life and death masks. The Henderson Trust was formed when Mr. William Henderson died and left a large amount of money to the Edinburgh Phrenological Society; and even when the science began to loose popularity the Trustees were bound by a clause that meant they were not allowed to disperse or destroy any of the collection.

The collection remained fully intact until 1940 when a storage shelf that they were kept on collapsed and the broken casts were disposed of.

In 1988 the Casts were put on display for the first time in over 100 years at a show in the Edinburgh Festival.

Since then Edinburgh University has acquired the casts, ending the Henderson Trust in 2012.  About 40 masks are on show in the Edinburgh Anatomy Museum, which you can see below, and the rest are in storage at the National Galleries of Scotland, of which there are a few examples below.