A Repository for Bottled Monsters: Shakespeare

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Gail Paster on Shakespeare at NLM

This will probably be an excellent talk, but I no longer go to the NLM due to NIH's ridiculous security measures.

NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE,
History of Medicine Division Seminar
Wednesday, January 14, 2009, 2-3:30pm
Lister Hill Auditorium, Bldg 38A, NLM
Bethesda, MD

"The Humor of It: Bodies, Fluids, and the History of Medicine in Shakespeare."

Dr. Gail Kern Paster,
Director, The Folger Shakespeare Library

Gail Kern Paster took office as Director of the Folger Shakespeare Library in 2002. She is the author of numerous scholarly articles and three books. Her latest book, "Humoring the Body: Emotions and the Shakespearean Stage" will form the core of her talk, which will examine how humoral theory, the central tenet of Renaissance medicine, affected how characters acted and reacted on the stage and in life.

Due to advance interest in this talk, the presentation will be held in the Lister Hill Auditorium.

All are Welcome

Note: The next history of medicine seminar will be held on Wednesday, February 11, 2009 at 2-3:30pm in the Lister Hill Auditorium. In a special program for African American History Month, Professor Kevin Mumford will speak on "Brother Redeemers: Black Gay History and the Impact of the Aids Crisis, 1974-1988."

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

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

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Gail Paster on Shakespeare at NLM

Get new posts by email:

FeedBurner FeedCount

Google analytics