A Repository for Bottled Monsters: July 2017

Tuesday, July 11, 2017

July 13: New National Library of Medicine history book premiere

You are cordially invited to a public symposium to mark the recent publication of Images of America: US National Library of Medicine, and the simultaneous availability via NLM Digital Collections of the complete book at:

https://collections.nlm.nih.gov/ImagesofAmericaNLM

and original versions of the 170+ images which appear in the book in black and white:

https://go.usa.gov/xNfnw

Learn more about this new, publicly-available publication here:

https://www.nlm.nih.gov/news/illustrated-history-nlm-published-2017.html

The symposium will be a part of the NLM History of Medicine Lecture Series and will take place this Thursday, July 13, 2016, from 2:30pm to 4pm in Lipsett Amphitheater on the first floor of the NIH Clinical Center, Building 10, on the NIH Campus in Bethesda, MD. PLEASE NOTE THE SPECIAL TIME AND VENUE.

If you cannot join us onsite, you can watch the proceedings via NIH Videocasting: https://videocast.nih.gov/. You can also participate in the proceedings via Twitter by following #NLMHistTalk.

Sign language interpretation is provided. Individuals with disabilities who need reasonable accommodation to participate may contact Stephen J. Greenberg at 301-827-4577, or by email at stephen.greenberg@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

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

Pages

Monday, July 17, 2017

Editorial on NMHM repatriation

Tuesday, July 11, 2017

July 13: New National Library of Medicine history book premiere

Get new posts by email:

FeedBurner FeedCount

Google analytics