Body armor article noted in passing

This article raised a few thoughts about the Museum and the Pathology Institute - "Contracts for Body Armor Filled Without Initial Tests: Inspections Skipped in 13 Of 28 Deals, Report Finds," By Dana Hedgpeth, Washington Post Staff Writer, Thursday, April 3, 2008; Page D01.

"Why?" you say.

Don't worry, we're not producing armor. However over the years, the AFIP has helped evaluate armor. We've got hundreds of pictures of used (unfortunately) body armor from the Korean War in the Archives, and several actual pieces on display now on the Museum floor. Also, the AFIP currently runs the Office of the Armed Forces Medical Examiner which is responsible for investigating military deaths and performs autopsies that can suggest the protection that the armor did or did not afford.

And we've got a really cool piece of armor from the Civil War that didn't work at all. It's got a bullet hole right through the breastplate. Whoops. (It's not on display now, but there is a photo of it in the lobby).

More medical museum excerpts from the AFIP's annual reports

The rest of the Medical Museum Excerpts from the AFIP Annual Reports:

1996

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2006

After 2006, the report went digital.

These are all laid out by the unsung Fran Card. One of them in the oughts got garbled in the printing process, but I don't recall which it is.

Medical museum excerpts from AFIP annual reports

Alright, this isn't exciting, but where else are you going to find them? These are links to scans of the Medical Museum section of the AFIP Annual reports. There's some interesting bits off and on.

Medical Museum Excerpts from the AFIP Annual Reports of 1947-1991.

Medical Museum Excerpts from the AFIP Annual Reports of 1992.

Medical Museum Excerpts from the AFIP Annual Reports of 1993.

Medical Museum Excerpts from the AFIP Annual Reports of 1994.

Medical Museum Excerpts from the AFIP Annual Reports of 1995.

Medical Museum Excerpts from the AFIP Annual Reports of 1997.

the military's medical school

Our colleagues in Bethesda at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences made it into the Post today - see "Today's Lesson: Major Disaster - Military Medical School Simulates Chaotic Situations," By Jackie Spinner, Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, March 10, 2008; Page B04. Interestingly enough, the moulage techniques being used in this picture were developed by an Army Medical Museum staffer, Sgt. Cortizas. We've got some historical moulage kits as well as photographs and papers on the development of them including this collection:

OHA 334

* Training Aids Section Files, 1955-1963
* 3.5 cubic feet, 7 boxes.
* No finding aid, part arranged, inactive, unrestricted.
* Records of a defunct AFIP division concerned with medical training, which grew out of work done at the Museum. Includes material on films, moulages, manikins, and other training aids. Many of the products are in Historical Collections.

New finding aid for Haymaker collection

Dr. Webb Haymaker was a neuropathologist at AFIP. We have a small collection of his papers and just put online a finding aid for them.

Morgellons disease and AFIP

A few week's ago the Washington Post Magazine published an article on Morgellons Disease which was not a condition that I was familiar with. Last week I came across an article stating that the Pathology Institute was asked to look into it - see "CDC enlists military to study skin ailment," Washington Times January 18, 2008.