Whole heart specimens remain the gold standard for studying the anatomy of congenital heart defects. Centers across the United States, Europe, and other parts of the world maintain precious collections of heart specimens with unoperated heart defects dating back to the pre-surgical correction era. Other specimens demonstrate certain repair procedures no longer performed. These specimens are unique and irreplaceable, and bear historical significance for the evolution of congenital heart surgery. The specimens are often formalin-fixed (1), and maintained in formalin while in storage. A problem we have encountered with specimen maintenance is drying out of specimens from being unintentionally left unattended following use or due to loss of formalin from storage containers. Dessicated heart specimens are firm, breakable, and essentially useless for teaching as they cannot be handled or manipulated with ease. Recently, we have been confronted with such dilemma, which was remedied by trying a reconditioning formula originally designed to rescue dried out tissue blocks for histological processing (2). We share our experience in reconditioning our inadvertently dehydrated heart specimens using a simple Formol-Glycerol solution that allowed for rehydration and recovery of such specimens.