A Repository for Bottled Monsters: Ward's Natural Science Establishment

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Letter of the Day: November 11 (2 of 2)

Ward’s Natural Science Establishment,
College Avenue (opposite University),
Rochester, N.Y., Nov. 11 1884

Dr. John Billings, Washington.

Dear Sir,

I have for the past fortnight been greatly busy in packing and shipping 10 car-loads of specimens to the World’s Exposition at New Orleans.

And now I must follow them day after tomorrow, to stay there for six weeks, or until New Years. This leaves me no time to go through my stock and my late African acquisitions and pick out things which I can offer you.

I must request you to kindly wait on me for this until my return from the South, when I will give it prompt attention.

Respectfully yours

Henry A. Ward.

We have set aside for you the Elephant skull – to ship to you with other things later.

Monday, March 1, 2010

Letter of the Day: March 1 (2 of 2)

The 'heart of Jumbo' is from P.T. Barnum's famous elephant, of course.

Ward's Natural Science Establishment

Nos. 16-26 College Avenue (opposite University),

Rochester, N.Y., March 1 1886

Dr. John S. Billings,

Army Medical Museum.

Dear Sir,

I have lately received directly from Australia a fine Foetus of Dugong (Holicore australis) in alcohol. It is about 3 ½ feet long, and is in excellent condition. Price is $75.

Heart, & Penis, & Eyes of adult Dugong in alcohol, $18.

I still have Heart of Jumbo in alcohol $30

Or, the whole lot for $118.

Shall I send by Express or Freight?!

Very truly yours,

Henry A. Ward.

No hurry about payment.

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, November 11, 2010

Letter of the Day: November 11 (2 of 2)

Monday, March 1, 2010

Letter of the Day: March 1 (2 of 2)

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