A Repository for Bottled Monsters: Conventions of Display: Cultures of Exhibition in Twentieth-Century Medicine. NLM History of Medicine Summer of Seminars

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Conventions of Display: Cultures of Exhibition in Twentieth-Century Medicine. NLM History of Medicine Summer of Seminars

Miriam and I spoke at the same panel at the History of Medicine meetings, so I can tell you she's looking at some interesting material here. We hope to provide her with more, based on the Museum and AFIP's experiences with traveling exhibits.

NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE
History of Medicine Division
Summer of Seminars
Thursday, August 27, 2009, 2-3:30pm
NLM Visitor Center, Bldg 38A, NLM
Bethesda, MD

Conventions of Display: Cultures of Exhibition in Twentieth-Century
Medicine.

Miriam Posner
Yale University

Most medical historians have heard of anatomical museums and displays of
anomalies in earlier eras. Few are aware, however, that exhibition has
also been a crucial component of twentieth-century medicine. The
prominence of exhibition in medicine suggests that historians should
refine their notions of how medical ideas are communicated to
accommodate this lively and interactive culture.

The next History of Medicine Division seminar will be held on Wednesday,
September 9, 2-3:30pm, in the NLM Visitor Center, Bldg 38A. In
conjunction with NLM's newest travelling exhibit, "The Literature of
Prescription: Charlotte Perkins Gilman and 'The Yellow Wall-Paper,'"
Helen Horowitz of Smith College will speak on "Underneath the Whirls:
Rethinking Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Sex, Nervous Breakdown, and S. Weir
Mitchell."

All are Welcome

Sign language interpretation is provided. Individuals with disabilities
who need reasonable accommodation to participate may contact Stephen
Greenberg at (301-435-4995), e-mail greenbes@mail.nih.gov, or the
Federal Relay (1-800-877-8339).

Due to current security measures at NIH, off-campus visitors are advised
to consult the NLM Visitors and Security website:

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/about/visitor.html

Stephen J. Greenberg, MSLS, PhD
Coordinator of Public Services
History of Medicine Division
National Library of Medicine
National Institutes of Health
Department of Health and Human Services
301-435-4995
greenbes@mail.nih.gov

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Who are we?

Mike Rhode was the chief archivist of the Museum from 1989-2011, and is the founder of this blog. I maintain an interest in the course of the museum, and will be posting relevant information.

The Army Medical Museum was founded in 1862 during the American Civil War. After World War II, a parent-child relationship was inverted and the Museum became part of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology. Since then, the Museum has moved around Washington, stopping for years in Ford's Theatre, and on the National Mall where the building it shared with the National Library of Medicine once stood, until it was demolished in 1968 for the Hirshhorn Museum. For 35 years it was at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, and now is in Silver Spring, MD.

So what about that blog name?

It's historical. I found it in a quote from one of the former curators. World War II confirmed the Army Medical Museum's primary role in pathology consultation. James Ash, the curator during the war and a pathologist, noted, "Shortly after the last war, more concerted efforts were instituted to concentrate in the Army Medical Museum the significant pathologic material occurring in Army installations." He closed with the complaint, "We still suffer under the connotation museum, an institution still thought of by many as a repository for bottled monsters and medical curiosities. To be sure, we have such specimens. As is required by law, we maintain an exhibit open to the public, but in war time, at least, the museum per se is the least of our functions, and we like to be thought of as the Army Institute of Pathology, a designation recently authorized by the Surgeon General."

After the war, it evolved into the tri-service Armed Forces Institute of Pathology.

A Repository for Bottled Monsters

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Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Conventions of Display: Cultures of Exhibition in Twentieth-Century Medicine. NLM History of Medicine Summer of Seminars

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