An unofficial blog about the National Museum of Health and Medicine (nee the Army Medical Museum) in Silver Spring, MD. Visit for news about the museum, new projects, musing on the history of medicine and neat pictures.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Jim Edmondson on 'Dissection' on Lopate radio show
Dissection
Author James Edmonson, Chief Curator of the Dittrick Medical Center and Museum at Case Western Reserve University, explains why, in the nineteenth century and into the twentieth century, medical students took pictures of themselves with the cadavers they dissected. His book Dissection: Photographs of a Rite of Passage in American Medicine includes 138 rare, historic photographs that reveal a strange piece of American medical history
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Dec 9: Lecture on emerging diseases
Lecture at the NMHM: Investigating Emerging Diseases
When: Wednesday, December 9, 2009, 1:00-2:00 p.m.
What: Dr. Michael Turell, a research entomologist with the Virology Division of the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute on Infectious Disease, will discuss the institute's role in investigating several outbreaks including Hantavirus, Ebola, and West Nile virus. |
Cost: FREE.
For more information: (202)782-2673 or nmhminfo@afip.osd.mil
900,000 and counting
MIS 66-9275 has 63,345 views
Dec 9: AFIP professional staff conference by Museum curator
The following lecture is presented by the National Museum of Health and Medicine
Date/Time: 09 Dec 09/1100am
Location: Dart Auditorium
Speaker(s): Franklin Damann
Curator
National Museum of Health and Medicine
Title: Human Decomposition Ecology
Details: The museum Curator discusses recent research exploring the regulation of human decomposition at the University of Tennessee's Anthropology Research Facility. One goal of this research is to assess the potential the microbial community to estimate time since death.
Department of Medical Education
Armed Forces Institute of Pathology
6825 16th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20306-6000
Ph: (202) 782-2596
Friday, December 4, 2009
Jan Herman on History of Naval Medicine in World War 2
Navy Medicine in the Last Campaigns: Iwo Jima and Okinawa
The presenter is Jan Herman, M.A.
Historian of the Naval Medical Department
Special Assistant to the Navy Surgeon General
http://mediasite.cidde.pitt.edu/mediasite/Viewer/?peid=7b8b1494-f99f-4726-8177-46b28a75bd7f
Famous brain dissected for study
The brain of Henry Molaison, who could not form memories after his brain surgery, is being dissected – you can read about it in this article - Dissection Begins on Famous Brain, By BENEDICT CAREY, December 3, 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/03/health/research/03brain.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=brain%20memory&st=cse and view it live here - http://thebrainobservatory.ucsd.edu/hm_live.php
We have a very large brain collection in our Neuroanatomical Division.
Harvard's Comparative Zoology Museum
A nice article on the Museum is at http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/HarvardGazette12.03.091.pdf
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Dec 5: The Art and Science of "OUTBREAK: Plagues that Changed History"
The Art and Science of "OUTBREAK: Plagues that Changed History"
with the artist Bryn Barnard
When: Saturday, December 5, 2009, 10:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. (Feel free to drop in; no reservations required.)
What: Bryn Barnard, author and artist of "OUTBREAK," will host three exciting programs on Saturday, December 5, 2009, including an illustration workshop and a special session aimed at younger audiences. Free, open to the public, no reservations required. See the schedule below for more details. Questions? Call (202) 782-2673 or email nmhminfo@afip.osd.mil. Schedule: (Come for one program, or stay for the whole day!): 11:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.: Book Signing (limited quantity of books available for sale in the Museum gift shop) 1:00 p.m.: “OUTBREAK: Plagues That Changed History”—Join Bryn Barnard for a discussion about several diseases represented in his book, including the plague, cholera, tuberculosis, and toxoplasmosis. 2:15 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.: Book Signing and Coffee Break with the Artist 3:00 p.m.: Family Program: Children will enjoy this special presentation on illustrating science books, including a demonstration by the artist! Presentation will be followed by a book signing. |
Dec 9: Lecture at the NMHM: Investigating Emerging Diseases
Lecture at the NMHM: Investigating Emerging Diseases
When: Wednesday, December 9, 2009, 1:00-2:00 p.m.
What: Dr. Michael Turell, a research entomologist with the Virology Division of the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute on Infectious Disease, will discuss the institute's role in investigating several outbreaks including Hantavirus, Ebola, and West Nile virus. |
Cost: FREE.
For more information: (202)782-2673 or nmhminfo@afip.osd.mil
Suraci photo album
We have the Alfred J. Suraci (1911-1993) Collection in the archives, which includes the papers and two photograph albums Dr. Suraci made of his World War 2 patients at Northington General Hospital in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Later Dr. Suraci was the chief of plastic surgery at Providence Hospital, Prince George's Doctor's Hospital, and Sibley Memorial Hospital. Here are scans of the cover of one of the albums and a title page.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Can we make 1,000,000 Flickr views in 2009?
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Painting by Samuel Bookatz in Museum
Now that I'm at home, I can post the pictures.
Bookatz at the Medical Museum in 1990, cleaning up the paperwork on the painting.
A bad snapshot of the painting.
Dec 5: Book illustrator at Medical Museum
The Art and Science of "OUTBREAK: Plagues that Changed History" with the artist Bryn Barnard
When:
Saturday, December 5, 2009, 10:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. (Feel free to drop in; no reservations required.)
What:
Bryn Barnard, author and artist of "OUTBREAK: Plagues that Changed History," (on exhibit through Jan 22, 2010 at NMHM) will host three exciting programs on Saturday, December 5, 2009, including an illustration workshop and a special session aimed at younger audiences. Free, open to the public, no reservations required.
See the schedule online at http://nmhm.washingtondc.museum/events/event_2ed.html for more details. Questions? Call (202) 782-2673 or email nmhminfo@afip.osd.mil.
Where:
National Museum of Health and Medicine, on the campus at Walter Reed Army Medical Center
6900 Georgia Avenue, NW, Building 54, Washington, D.C. 20307 (Enter at Elder St., NW)
Adults must present photo identification to gain entry to Walter Reed.
Contact:
(202) 782-2673 or email nmhminfo@afip.osd.mil
"Forever Forward" patch
From our researcher Mike Lemish, whose book on military working dogs in Vietnam is due out in January:
This is the 4” patch that will accompany the book, which should be out by mid-January, at the latest (I hope!):
ARF!
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Museum souvenier DIY repost
Here’s how you do it.
Go to the Medical Museum flickr site. Look through the photos and select the one you like. There's roughly 1600 photographs in the account.
Click on it and then on the top of the photo, click on ‘all sizes’. Select ‘download’ for the large size which will save it to your harddrive.
For Zazzle, where I’ve been experimenting, go to http://www.zazzle.com and establish an account. Click on ‘create a product’ and pick a product. Click on ‘add an image’ and then pull the picture off your harddrive. Position it on the product until you like it. You can add multiple images or text to some products. You can also make multiple products using the same image which will have been stored in your account under ‘my images.’
Click on either ‘add to my cart’ or ‘post for sale’ when you’re happy with the way it looks.
Pay them and do what you will with the finished product. They can be a bit cranky when it comes to publishing stamps and wouldn’t let my Civil War surgery experiment go out to the world, although they sold me the stamps.
Have fun. Let me know if you do anything particularly interesting.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Holiday Mail for Heroes
The American Red Cross again is sponsoring a national "Holiday Mail for Heroes" campaign to receive and distribute holiday cards to service members, veterans, and their families in the United States and abroad. The card campaign includes those working and receiving care at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The American Red Cross and Pitney Bowes Inc. will partner for the third year to provide screening of all mail sent to the following P.O. Box address:
Holiday Mail for Heroes
P.O. Box 5456
Capitol Heights, MD 20791-5456
People should not send cards to Walter Reed unless they are addressed to a specific wounded warrior. Due to security reasons, Walter Reed cannot accept generic mail. Cards should be postmarked not later than December 7 to reach service members recovering at Walter Reed.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Yellow Fever vaccine
I heard on NPR this morning that millions of yellow fever vaccines, about 12 million actually, are now being offered in Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Benin. According to the World Health Organization, since 2007 a total of 29 million people have been protected through mass vaccinations conducted in other African countries. We have in our Registry of Noteworthy Research in Pathology some records of Max Theiler, who received a Nobel Prize in 1951 for his development of an effective vaccine against the disease.
The Journal of Experimental Medicine published an article in 2007 about Max Theiler and his years-long efforts to develop a vaccine. The first field trial in Brazil in 1938 proved to be highly successful and since then, more than 400 million doses have been shown to be safe and effective. The vaccine is still produced the same way as Theiler developed it in 1938: by passing the virus through chicken embryos.
Theiler won the Nobel Prize after just four nominations. The first time was in 1937 for his work on yellow fever in mice. The committee wasn't impressed. In 1948 the second nomination came from Albert Sabin (later of polio vaccine fame). The committee was a little more impressed but said Theiler's work would be prize-worthy if someone could show it was he and not his colleague Wray Lloyd who had conceived of and planned the work. The committee accepted the documentation that was produced and said good job, but gave the prize to Paul Müller for his work on DDT.
1950 produced another nomination. The committee said really good job this time but gave the prize to three other researchers for their discoveries on hormones of the adrenal cortex.
In 1951, on the very last day that prize nominations were being accepted for the year, the chairman of the committee, Hilding Bergstrand, slid in his recommendation for Theiler under the wire. Theiler was in competition with Selman Waksman for his discovery of streptomycin. Can't you see the committee holding yellow fever vaccine in one hand and streptomycin in the other, weighing them against each other? To Theiler's advantage, not only did Bergstrand do the nominating, he also did the evaluating. Fourth time was the charm, and Theiler won the only Nobel Prize ever awarded for a vaccine. Waksman won the following year but it had taken him 39 nominations over six years.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Mologne House
(what Kathleen didn't say was that the WRS saw her photograph in the WRAMC History book and asked her if they could use it, and she kindly said yes - Mike)
Friday, November 20, 2009
Dr. John H. Brinton
Marine Biologists
I just found this while looking for something else. That's usually the way it is around here. It's from the BUMED (U.S. Navy Bureau of Medicine) collection that we scanned. It has to be under copyright, so hopefully someone will tell us who the cartoonist is.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Reeve 035097
Reeve 035097
Originally uploaded by otisarchives1
I just uploaded several medical illustrations of empyema on our Flickr page. I came across at least a couple of dozen of them today and this is the first installment.
Another one of those weird coincidences
[Edward Livingston] Trudeau had two sons, Edward Livingston Trudeau Jr., who died of tuberculosis, and Francis B. Trudeau, who succeeded his father at the sanatorium as director until 1954. Francis B. Trudeau's son, Francis Trudeau, Jr. is the father of cartoonist Garry Trudeau.
Where the coincidence comes in is that we have original art for the April 21 and 22, 2004 Doonesbury comic strips, which of course are done by Garry Trudeau.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Good advice during this flu season
Some helpful advice I found while searching for images in the Archives -
Jasmine High, MA
Archives Technician
Otis Historical Archives
National Museum of Health and Medicine
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Graphic Tales of Cancer in America
I'll be lecturing on this on Sunday, November 22 at 10 am at the History of Science Society meeting. If you're planning on being there, stop in and say hello. - Mike
Otis Archives' Flickr image used to make art
To see it, click through the link to her site, click on illustration at the top, and then click on the right arrow to get to the second page of illustrations. It's the bit with all the eyes in the middle.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
On defining a psychiatric disease
Op-Ed Contributor
The Short Life of a Diagnosis
By SIMON BARON-COHEN
Published: November 10, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/10/opinion/10baron-cohen.html
Asperger syndrome and autism should be thoroughly tested before being lumped together in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Dissection makes Amazon's Top 10 for 2009 in Science
Medical challenge coin challenge
Challenge coins have been proliferating in recent years, due to decreasing costs among other reasons.
Information can be found in this article -http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/01/AR2009110102261.html
We have an extremely large, but not well-catalogued, numismatics collection occupying a couple of safes in Historical Collections. To better position the Museum for the long-term addition of these to the numismatics collection, I’ve proposed that we scan the ones that people have on their desks, and record who was giving the coin out and when. I did the ones on my desk this morning
Friday, November 6, 2009
Einstein correspondence
James Carroll turns up again
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
International Museum of Surgical Science featured
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Have you ever heard of the Isthmian Canal?
This first one is a lovely hand-tinted lantern slide of Spanish laborers.
This second one is a chart (table?) showing a marked decrease in fatalities from various diseases, supposedly when sanitary measures were put in place- such as covering food, digging drainage ditches, oiling still bodies of water, etc. Note the Americans giving themselves a big old pat on the back.
Friday, October 30, 2009
Lecture on Smithsonian's Arts and Industries Building
The Latrobe Chapter of the Society of Architectural Historians
proudly presents
What's New in What We Know About the Smithsonian's Arts & Industries Building
Panel Discussion led by Cynthia Field, Emeritus Architectural Historian, Smithsonian Institution
Monday, November 9, 2009
Charles Sumner School Museum and Archives
6:30 P.M. - light refreshments, 7:00 P.M. - lecture
Five years ago, Cynthia Field thought she told us everything there was to know about Adolf Cluss and his fascinating masterwork, the Smithsonian's Arts & Industries Building. That was then, and this is now. Join us to hear from Dr. Field and the Smithsonian team who have been studying the building in ever greater detail. They will present findings so new they have only just been learned using sophisticated analyses as well as old fashioned research.
The panel will consist of three Smithsonian members: Cynthia Field, now Emeritus Architectural Historian for the Smithsonian; Sharon Park, Associate Director, Architectural History and Historic Preservation; and Christopher Lethbridge, Project Manager. They will be joined on the panel by two members of the Washington office of Ewing-Cole who worked on the historic structures report: Gretchen Pfaehler, Managing Principal, and Cristina Radu, Architectural Historian.
After a brief reminder of the important historical information, Park and Lethbridge will discuss the sustainability aspects their studies have revealed and consultants Pfaehler and Radu will tell us their findings about the use of materials in the building.
Their work will elucidate the structure we have come to regard as one of Washington's grandest buildings. All the members of the panel will answer questions following the presentations.
The discussion takes place at The Charles Sumner School Museum and Archives,
1201 17th Street, NW, Washington, DC. Reservations are not required.
$10.00 for Latrobe Chapter Members and full-time students (with ID), $18.00 for non-members.
For general information, please see the Latrobe Chapter website at www.latrobechaptersah.org, or contact Caroline Mesrobian Hickman at (202) 363-1519 or cimhickman@yahoo.com
Thursday, October 29, 2009
You never know where your name will turn up
This turns out to be about the Kennedy Assassination.
The 1997 report I wrote that the article mentions is online here.
The original Finck report was scanned this past year and we put it online here.
84 Charing Cross Road
One letter from R. Lier & Co. in Florence says they're sending him the book he ordered and, "As we have not had the pleasure to do business for you other times, we should appreciate very much your kind remittance by cheque soon. We take advantage of this opportunity to send you, under separate cover, our last Bull. XI on Anatomia and Chirurgia in the hope that you will find in same something interesting. Please believe us." I don't know what that last sentence means, but I like it, and think about getting something in the mail you have not yet paid for.
Some of the names of the bookstores are Emile Nourry Librarie Ancienne (Paris); Libreria Antiquaria Editrice (Florence); and Buchhandler und Antiquar (Leipzig). I think they'd be great places to poke around in.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
What was 'black tongue?'
We got a research inquiry today asking ‘what was ‘black tongue’ which threw me for a moment as I’d never heard of it. Fortunately my predecessors recorded information about it.
Black Tongue was a common name for erysipelas – see the two attached documents from the Medical & Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion (3rd Surgical vol.) in the footnote starting on the first page.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erysipelas gives an overview and you can see why it would be a dangerous disease before antibiotics.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Latest Flickr statistics
This mustard gas testing shot has been popular lately:
We're working on a project to get many 700,000 images we currently have scanned online for searching and use (although as many as 50,000 of those are book pages we've already loaded onto Internet Archive). Stay tuned for more details.
Clubfoot treatment developer dies
Ignacio Ponseti, Hero to Many With Clubfoot, Dies at 95
By DOUGLAS MARTIN
Published: October 24, 2009
Photographic coverage of military war dead at Dover
With ban over, who should cover the fallen at Dover?
Few in media choosing to capture events, but military posts pictures
By Christian Davenport
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, October 24, 2009
- after the fallen soldiers arrive, they're examined by the Armed Forces Medical Examiner which is part of AFIP (until BRAC finishes)
Friday, October 23, 2009
Oct 26: Museum on History Channel's Death Masks
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Bring your kids! Halloween at the Medical Museum, Sat. 10/31, 10am-1pm
Halloween at the Medical Museum
When: Saturday, October 31, 2009, 10:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Where: The National Museum of Health and Medicine
Building 54
What: The National Museum of Health and Medicine and Family Magazine will host family-friendly Halloween activities for ages 5 and up. Children will be able to participate in a costume contest (with prizes!) and make skeleton crafts (a dancing macaroni skeleton, a medieval plague mask, and a skeleton wall hanging) as well as join in a Halloween-themed family yoga demonstration by Shakti Yoga.
Cost: FREE
Photo ID required.
For more information: nmhminfo@afip.osd.mil or (202) 782-2673
http://www.nmhm.washingtondc.museum
NEW TEMPORARY EXHIBITION OPENS ON HALLOWEEN:
Outbreak: Plagues That Changed History
On Exhibit October 31, 2009 – January 22, 2010
OUTBREAK is the story of epidemics that changed human society. Learn how diseases such as smallpox, cholera and yellow fever shaped our history, our culture and our civilization. Featuring the art of Bryn Barnard.
Monday, October 19, 2009
More Agent Orange news
Acute and subacute transient peripheral neuropathy
AL amyloidosis
Chloracne
Chronic lymphocytic leukemia
Diabetes Mellitus (type 2)
Hodgkin's disease
Multiple myeloma
Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma
Prophyria cutanea tarda
Prostate cancer
Respiratory cancer
Soft tissue sarcoma other than osteosarcoma, chondrosarcoma, Kaposi's sarcoma or mesothelioma
Here's a link to the Washington Post article about Agent Orange and the new diseases.
Friday, October 16, 2009
Morbid Anatomy in Time Out New York
http://newyork.timeout.com/articles/halloween/79539/morbid-anatomy-library
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Blog tip - Civil War Medicine (and Writing)
Trade literature additions
Blotter - Phedros eases spasmodic and irritating bronchial coughs due to colds.
Blotter - Agarol for Constipation, William E Warner & Co.
Blotter - Alcaroid, an effective alkalizer and digestant, American Ferment Company.
[American Ferment Company? An honest name at least.]
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Dr. Paul Cannon's vision of the future
But he ended with his vision of the future. I think he'd be pretty disappointed to see what little progress has been made.
--Vaccinations for leukemia and cancer
--Control of population explosion
--Control of atherogenic elements [having to do with cardiac disease, if I read Google correctly]
--Control of air pollution
--Control of water pollution
--Control of factors of mental health
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Another museum selling collections to pay bills
Widow of Crawford Auto-Aviation Museum founder works to save husband's legacy
By Joan Mazzolini, The Plain Dealer
October 05, 2009, 6:29PM
NARA on MSHWR
National Archives
9th and Penn Ave, NW
Tuesday, October 27, at 11 A.M.
Room G-24, Research Center (Enter on Pennsylvania Avenue)
Civil War Medicine
Archives specialist Rebecca Sharp and reference librarian Nancy Wing discuss The Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion, 1861–1865. This published source contains details of Civil War medical and surgical procedures, and information about individual patients. (This lecture will be repeated at the National Archives at College Park, MD, in Lecture Room B, on Thursday, October 29, at 11 a.m.)
This one looks relevant too:
Tuesday, October 6, at 11 A.M.
Room G-24, Research Center (Enter on Pennsylvania Avenue)
Documenting Death in the Civil War
John Deeben, genealogy archives specialist at the National Archives, explores death records created during and after the Civil War by the War Department, examining how they documented personal circumstances of soldiers’ deaths in various situations, including the battlefield and military hospitals and prisons. (This lecture will be repeated at the National Archives at College Park, MD, in Lecture Room B, on Thursday, October 8, at 11 a.m.)
*The Army Medical Museum (ie us) wrote the book and we retain original records and specimens that were used to compile it.**
**We also scanned it for you all.
More good stuff from the Registry
James Carroll was a Major in the Army who worked with Walter Reed on his yellow fever research. He volunteered to be bitten by a mosquito that had previously bitten three others who had yellow fever. He contracted the disease and several years later died of cardiac disease that was attributed to his bout of yellow fever.
Here's a letter from the President of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, petitioning a Congressman to grant a special pension to Carroll's widow.
Page 1
Page 2
And here is the Congressman's reply.
Maybe I'm missing something, but I thought being a Major in the Army meant you were in military service to your country.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Red Cross selling items from Archives to close budget gap
Red Cross to Auction Off Little Pieces of Its History
By STEPHANIE STROM
Published: October 3, 2009
To help address a $50 million budget deficit, the American Red Cross will sell some of the memorabilia it has squirreled away over many years.
This is a trend we're seeing more and more of.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Garfield autopsy letter
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
You never know what you'll find in the archives
Two pictures from 1898
SKIN LESIONS OF HOG CHOLERA. AMM 489
SENDING CARRIER PIGEON FROM RELIEF (DURING THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR). AMM 64
More new pictures will go up on our Flickr site tonight as I browsed and picked some using the new software.
Museum's scanning software upgrade adds thumbnails
Feed the Dawgs
Here's Mike's email:
Just wanted to pass this along to all my "dog friends." I know things are tight all around but if your are looking to support our troops (both 2-legged and 4-legged) this may a good choice. More info at their site http://feedthedawgs.com/FeedtheDawgs.aspx If you get a chance, check it out.
ARF!
Mike
Vaughn,
Will you forward my email to the other VDHA Unit Directors and have them pass it on to the members of their units. The Feed the Dawgs guys are doing a great thing for today's dogmen and women. They can use our support if any of the guys can afford to make a donation.
Thanks,
Jim Stewart 377 SPS Unit Director VDHA
377 SPS K9 9/67-9/68 Dobe 7X49
Guys,
I just received an email from our brother 377 SPS dogman, Jon Hemp. He is involved with Feed the Dawgs, to which I have just made a donation, and they could use some additional donations to keep going. Jon explained their upcoming project like this.
Just about every time it looks like we're running out of fuel and headin' for the ditch, someone steps up. No money from donations has ever been spent on anything BUT the new troops. A big piece of your donation will go towards feeding 82 3rd Marine Division Dawgs at 29 Palms on 7 November. Best guess is that the event will cost us approximately $700 to $800 once we have a final headcount including family members, vet detachment, PAO personnel and the Base Commander - estimated now at 130 people.
The Feed the Dawgs web site is at: http://feedthedawgs.com/FeedtheDawgs.aspx
If you can help this group of guys feed some of today's MWD handlers send your donation in the name Jon Hemp to:
Jon Hemp
1437 Revelation Way
Redlands, CA 92374
Sunday, September 27, 2009
"New" Civil War picture found
The text says, Eugene Shaw M.D. Written up in New York Herald for bravery and skill on the battle fields of the Civil War - 21 years old when he was made Ass't Surgeon, 116th NY Regiment.
Rec. Feb. 1939.
Ac. 52965.
Digital archives
One thing that gives me the heebie-jeebies, though, is where the author says, "We horrify archivists when we talk about digitizing things and then throwing them away. Of course, one need not destroy the physical object after making a digital copy, but one of the most enjoyable aspects of Total Recall is the reduction of clutter; it is especially satisfying to shred one's papers and eliminate rows of filing cabinets and shelves. When curators come to deal with our archives, they will surely find hundreds fewer physical objects because of Total Recall. But they will have hundreds of thousands of additional digital artifacts. Whether you agree that is a highly positive trade-off, it is surely coming."
Archivists are fascinated by having/handling the real thing. I'm a big fan of not keeping multiple copies of some journal article but no way is some one-of-a-kind document going through the shredder because we've scanned it. Will I pitch my uncle's handwritten pages of his poetry because I have 600 ppi scans of them? I'll keep that clutter, thank you.
Friday, September 25, 2009
Darwin Symposium: Finished Proofs? A symposium to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of Species (1859)
The History of Medicine Division of the National Library of Medicine and the Office of History at the National Institutes of Health are pleased to announce a symposium:
Finished Proofs? A symposium to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of Species (1859)
Location: Lister Hill Auditorium, National Library of Medicine (NIH)
8600 Rockville Pike, Bldg. 38A
Bethesda, MD
Date: 1 October 2009
Time: 9:00 AM – 6:15 PM
SPEAKERS:
Janet Browne, Harvard University
Eric Green, National Human Genome Research Institute
Michael Ruse, Florida State University
Barry Werth, Independent Author
Edward O. Wilson, Harvard University
COMMENTATORS:
Nathaniel Comfort, Johns Hopkins University
Alan E. Guttmacher, National Human Genome Research Institute
Joe Palca, National Public Radio
Maxine Singer, Carnegie Institution for Science
All are welcome.
Michael J. North, northm@mail.nih.gov
Head of Rare Books & Early Manuscripts
History of Medicine Division
National Library of Medicine
8600 Rockville Pike
Bethesda, MD 20894
(301) 496-9204 * fax (301) 402-0872
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd
National Institutes of Health
Department of Health and Human Services
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Inventor of medical ultrasound has died
Civil War Reenactment at NMHM next Saturday, 10/3, 10am-5pm
“Civil War Reenactment at the Medical Museum”
When: Saturday, October 3, 2009, 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Where: The National Museum of Health and Medicine
Building 54
What: The grounds of the nation’s medical museum will be transformed into a living history experience of Regular Army life during the Civil War. Displays on Civil War medicine and the role of the Sanitary Commission will be available along with exhibits on camp life, infantry drilling exercises and 19th century weapons displays. Children will enjoy hands-on activities such as building a replica of the hospital ship USS Red Rover, making a medical unit flag and creating a pin-hole camera.
Performances by the Federal City Brass Band at 10:00, 11:00, 1:30 & 2:30.
The reenactment is made possible by members of the 3rd U.S. Regular Infantry Reenactors. AFIP’s very own YN2(AW) Kelly Cochran is a member of the 3rd U.S. and will participate in the program!
While visiting the reenactment, visitors are encouraged to tour the Museum's permanent exhibition "To Bind Up the Nation's Wounds: Medicine During the Civil War." NMHM was founded in 1862 to study battlefield medicine in order to improve the care of the soldier.
The event will take place on the west grounds of the museum and in the museum galleries. This family event is open to the Walter Reed community and the general public.
Cost: FREE
Free parking available. Photo ID required.
For more information: nmhminfo@afip.osd.mil or (202) 782-2673
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
NY Times on insurance falling behind medical technology
By ASHLEE VANCE
Published: September 15, 2009
Devices like iPhones and netbook PCs that can help the speech-impaired are not covered by Medicare or insurers.
Flickr picture statistics
Ruminations on the latest issue of museum & society
This rolled in recently:
Hello, Subscribers to museum & society ,
The latest issue of museum & society is now available online at: www.le.ac.uk/ms/museumsociety.html.
contents
‘Journey without maps’: unsettling curatorship in cross-cultural contexts
Lisa Chandler
Translations: experiments in dialogic representation of cultural diversity in three museum sound installations
Mary Hutchison and Lea Collins
Objects, subjects, bits and bytes: learning from the digital collections of the National Museums
Siân Bayne, Jen Ross and Zoe Williamson
Review Article
Simon J. Knell, Suzanne MacLeod and Sheila Watson (eds),
Museum Revolutions: How Museums Change and are Changed
Kylie Message
Best wishes,
Jim Roberts
Production Editor
museum & society
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Jim Roberts Hon FMA
Webmaster
University of Leicester
School of Museum Studies
http://www.le.ac.uk/museumstudies
The third article is of interest to me. One point that I think wasn’t emphasized enough is that non-art museums can only put about 1%, in a best case scenario, of their collections on display. Therefore the online museum gives people an opportunity to access objects that no one else, including the curators, are using or paying attention to. In our scanning project, we have over 700,000 images created. Some of them are books, but the great majority are photographs that nobody had looked at since they were taken and the only record of them had been an index card in a nondescript building in Washington, DC. Someday soon, these will be available to anyone in the world who has Internet access. To me, that’s a big change in the status quo.