1957 influenza epidemic

Today's Washington Post has a large article on the 1957 influenza epidemic. We've got a selection of photographs from this, mostly involved with diagnosing it in Japan, on our website.

4-volume book set of historical Ophthalmology photographs donated

Dr. Stanley Burns, a longtime friend of the Museum, donated his latest publication yesterday – a 4-volume book set of historical ophthalmology photographs. It’s only been out for two weeks and we’re quite pleased to get it. Dr. Burns has one of the largest private collections of history of medicine photographs and opens it for use as the Burns Archive in New York City. This is the 6^th set of historical medical photographs that he’s published , and its formal title is Ophthalmology A Photographic History 1845-1945, Selections from the Burns Archive.

Noteworthy Pathologists

I've been processing a collection called the Registry of Noteworthy Research in Pathology. I expected to be thoroughly bored with the material and have been pleasantly surprised that I find a lot of it interesting. Like this photograph of pathologists gathered in Holland in 1934 that I came across today.















OK, it's a bunch of people in a photo. What makes this so remarkable is a letter that accompanied it to the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology where the sender writes, "It probably represents the last time that some of the great giants of pathology of the early part of the 20th century ever came together. Only a few attended the Third Congress in Stockholm in 1937 and then came the War. By the time of resumption of meetings in 1950 most of them were gone."
















The records even include a chart of names of some of the attendees.

Ben Gage, art handler, blogs about moving museum piece

Ben Gage put this link in a comment, but I'll highlight it on the main blog as it's an interesting side of museums that most people don't have to consider -

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

National Museum of Health and Medicine: Walter Reed Army Hospital

http://artandarthandling.blogspot.com/2009/08/national-museum-of-health-and-medicine.html

More Nursing Materials in the Archives

At a "junque" store in Tennessee Mike found some materials which belonged to Mary Charles Green Carter, who graduated from the School of Nursing at St. Mary's Memorial Hospital in 1956:  photos, a diploma, a Tennessee state nursing license, and a certificate showing three months' completion at Eastern State Hospital in Knoxville. We're going to scan these and add them to the NCP collection. In our line of work it's not always possible to put faces to names and names to faces. This tiny collection is a real treat because we have both.

Conventions of Display: Cultures of Exhibition in Twentieth-Century Medicine. NLM History of Medicine Summer of Seminars

Miriam and I spoke at the same panel at the History of Medicine meetings, so I can tell you she's looking at some interesting material here. We hope to provide her with more, based on the Museum and AFIP's experiences with traveling exhibits.

NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE
History of Medicine Division
Summer of Seminars
Thursday, August 27, 2009, 2-3:30pm
NLM Visitor Center, Bldg 38A, NLM
Bethesda, MD

Conventions of Display: Cultures of Exhibition in Twentieth-Century
Medicine.

Miriam Posner
Yale University

Most medical historians have heard of anatomical museums and displays of
anomalies in earlier eras. Few are aware, however, that exhibition has
also been a crucial component of twentieth-century medicine. The
prominence of exhibition in medicine suggests that historians should
refine their notions of how medical ideas are communicated to
accommodate this lively and interactive culture.

The next History of Medicine Division seminar will be held on Wednesday,
September 9, 2-3:30pm, in the NLM Visitor Center, Bldg 38A. In
conjunction with NLM's newest travelling exhibit, "The Literature of
Prescription: Charlotte Perkins Gilman and 'The Yellow Wall-Paper,'"
Helen Horowitz of Smith College will speak on "Underneath the Whirls:
Rethinking Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Sex, Nervous Breakdown, and S. Weir
Mitchell."

All are Welcome

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

Korean War ballistics studies

There are now 921 items across Historical, Anatomical and Archives divisions related to Korean War ballistics research, searchable (in our internal EMU database) under the keyword phrase “Korean War Ballistics.”  These various research projects are detailed in the OTSG publication “Wound Ballistics in World War II supplemented by experiences in the Korean War.”

 

This includes all the historic armored vest material on display to the public.

AFIP's CWIP & metal frag programs

The Pentagon News  Broadcast featuring AFIP’s collaboration with the Combat Wound Initiative Program and interviews with Dr. Izadjoo, COL Stojodinovic and Adonnis on the Pentagon Channel .

 

You can also visit the link http://www.pentagonchannel.mil/ and click on the “Around the Services” broadcast for 19 August 2009 “Infection Collection - Scientists collect bacteria from wounded warriors for healing research.” 

 

Government Printing Office (GPO) Military History Update features WRAMC book

 

New Military History Publications Issue #130 - August 2009     1. Walter Reed Army Medical Center Centennial: A Pictorial History, 1909-2009 (Hardcover) Description: Provides A profusely illustrated history covering the full range of Walter Reed Army Medical Center's activities in service to the Army and the Nation. Some photographs are in color. Year/Pages: 2009: 293 p. ; ill. Stock #: 008-000-01020-0 U.S. Price: $35.00 International Price: $49.00   Prices and availability are subject to change. In addition to online, orders may be submitted via telephone, fax (202-512-2104), email, and postal mail. Contact the GPO Contact Center between 8:00 a.m. and 5:30 p.m., EST at 1-866-512-1800 (Toll-free) or 202-512-1800 (DC Metro area only) to place or inquire about orders. When placing an order via phone, please refer to processing code 3378. Send email orders to ContactCenter@gpo.gov. Send mail orders to: U.S. Government Printing Office, P.O. Box 979050, St. Louis, MO 63197-9000.

U.S. Government Printing Office · 732 N. Capitol Street, NW · Washington, DC 20401

AFIP REMAINS OPEN FOR BUSINESS- NOTICE TO CONTRIBUTORS

This announcement was sent out to AFIP staff last week; I've posted it here in light of today's Washington Post story - "Pathology Institute Defends Its Turf: We're Still Open, New Firm Is Told," By Steve Vogel, Washington Post Staff Writer, Monday, August 17, 2009.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009 11:31 AM

NOTICE TO CONTRIBUTORS
AFIP's Pathology Consultative Services Remain Fully Functional
The Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, AFIP, is open for business and
absolutely will continue to receive and process pathology consultation
cases in our AFIP laboratories. The AFIP proudly continues to serve our
beneficiaries and customers as we have done ever since our founding in
1862.
Unfortunately, it has come to the attention of the AFIP that some
contributors are confused and under the false impression that the AFIP
will no longer be accepting cases for consultation after August 2009 or
that the AFIP has already transitioned into another organization.
This is not the case - the AFIP has not closed. We want to assure you
that the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology and its AFIP labs are still
operational and located at 6825 16th Street, NW, Washington, DC, on the
campus of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
The AFIP will continue to support and enhance the health and well being
of the Department of Defense, Veterans Administration, other
Governmental Agencies, and the civilian medical community. The AFIP
continues to serve by providing medical, veterinary, and dental
expertise in pathology in diagnostic consultation, education, and
research.
Looking toward the future years, the Department of Defense is in the
process of establishing an organization called the Joint Pathology
Center (JPC) which will succeed the AFIP when the AFIP is disestablished
in accordance with the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process in
September 2011. The JPC, in accordance with Section 722 of Public Law
110-181, will function as the reference center in pathology for the
Federal Government and will, at a minimum, provide pathology services to
the military healthcare system, Department of Veterans Affairs, and
other federal agencies.
The AFIP and other leaders in military healthcare are committed to
ensuring that DoD continues to have a one-stop shop for pathology
consultation and that the transition from the AFIP to the JPC in terms
of services will be transparent and seamless to our beneficiaries and
customers.
There should be no decrement in pathology consultative services as the
AFIP transitions to the JPC by 2011. We will keep you updated on this
process over the next several years.
So, please rest assured that the AFIP is open and definitely continues
to accept military, Veterans Affairs, and civilian cases in all
pathology departments and that the AFIP is committed to maintaining its
tradition of pathology consultative services, education and research.

NLM History of Medicine Summer of Seminars

NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE,
History of Medicine Division
Summer of Seminars
Thursday, August 13, 2009, 2-3:30pm
NLM Visitor Center, Bldg 38A, NLM
Bethesda, MD

"Poster Children and the Construction of American International
Identity."

Julia F. Irwin
Yale University

Throughout the twentieth century, American public health and medical
philanthropies relied on images of children to raise funds and awareness
for their international health and social welfare interventions. Such
images evoked innocence and vulnerability, but also promise and
possibility. Because of this combination of traits, representations of
children proved quite valuable for reformers trying to garner domestic
support for overseas assistance projects. They suggested, moreover, that
Americans had a moral obligation to share their biomedical, scientific,
and financial assets with the world. In a period in which the United
States was consolidating its political and economic influence in the
world to become a global power, these projections of altruistic American
internationalism carried important cultural weight.

The final HMD "Summer of Seminars" program will be held on Thursday,
August 27, 2-3:30pm, in the NLM Visitor Center, Bldg 38A. Miriam Posner
(Yale University) will speak on "Conventions of Display: Cultures of
Exhibition in Twentieth-Century Medicine."

All are Welcome

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

How good we have it

For all of the problems computers can give us, consider this. I've been processing a collection called the Registry of Noteworthy Research in Pathology, a compilation of personal papers, lab experiments, photos, correspondence, and so on of pathologists of note. Among them is Esmond R. Long, who published A History of Pathology in 1928 and A History of American Pathology in 1962 (among other books). In a letter to his publisher about the expected size of a new book, he asks if the publisher wants the Notes at the end of each chapter or at the end of the book. He wants the publisher to, "Please decide now, so that I can number the pages accordingly." For us, in our cut-and-paste world and automatic renumbering, not a big deal, but for his 400-page book, I'd say it would be a pretty big inconvenience.

Peter Parker painting collection online

Check out Yale's collection of clinical portraits commissioned by Peter Parker, which they've put online. These paintings were done in China by Lam Qua in the early 19th century. I'd seen a few reproduced before, but this is a very nice presentation of the whole collection.

Thanks to Masteribid for the tip.

1336 new records added to EMU catalogue

Kathleen changed the Ball Ophthalmic Museum finding aid that she’d recently revised into a spreadsheet and we imported it into our EMU catalogue today. 1336 new records exist now.

Cigars? Cigarettes? Gross photo?

The Washington Post is reporting that the US is going to follow the lead of Canada and other countries by putting graphic photographs of the damages caused by cigarettes on packaging. I'm glad to say that we've got a sample of Canada's packaging from some years ago - collected by Ass't Director for Collections Jim Connor, I think. I'm sure we'd be glad to get the US versions to complement it, if anyone reading this is a local smoker.

Roughly 1600 new records added to our EMU catalogue today

Jasmine converted the list of folders in the AFIP Historical Files to a spreadsheet and we imported them today. If you search on the title, you’ll get the folder title. A sample would be - Institutional Records of Afip or Museum - folder - Davis, Harry A. (1875-1951); Entomologist with AFIP  [AFIP Historical Files]  - Active - AFIP Box 55.

 

Hopefully we’ll get the catalogue open to the general public in 2010.

In the meantime, the existing finding aid is still online.

Another excellent cancer article in NY Times

Their series on the modern history of cancer continues.

Forty Years' War
Lack of Study Volunteers Hobbles Cancer Fight
By GINA KOLATA
Published: August 3, 2009
In the war on cancer, a major hurdle involves finding cancer patients willing to participate in clinical trials.

Michael Kimmelman on viewing art in a museum

We're not exactly an art museum, although we do have some pieces of art on the walls, but this article speaks to most museum experiences, I think, as it addresses the question of how does one view objects in a museum?

Abroad
At Louvre, Many Stop to Snap but Few Stay to Focus
By MICHAEL KIMMELMAN
Published: August 3, 2009
Watching people look at art rekindles a question: What exactly are we looking for when we wander museums?

NLM History of Medicine Summer of Seminars

NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE,
History of Medicine Division
Summer of Seminars
Thursday, August 6, 2009, 2-3:30pm
NLM Visitor Center, Bldg 38A, NLM
Bethesda, MD

"The Anatomist and the Book in the Early Sixteenth Century."

R. Allen Shotwell, Indiana University

The role of the book in the study of anatomy is an interesting one.
This presentation suggests that there are things to be learned by
looking at the history of anatomy as a topic in the larger history of
the book, but these lessons may not be as simple nor as pervasive as
some might think.

The next HMD "Summer of Seminars" program will be held on Thursday,
August 13, 2-3:30pm in the NLM Visitor Center, Bldg 38A. Julia F. Irwin
(Yale University) will speak on "Poster Children and the Construction of
American International Identity." The final program in the series will
be held Thursday, August 27, 2-3:30pm, also in the NLM Visitor Center,
Bldg 38A. Miriam Posner (Yale University) will speak on "Conventions of
Display: Cultures of Exhibition in Twentieth-Century Medicine."

All are Welcome

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

History of battlefield medicine - CNN.com

A former intern sent in this site - http://edition.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/07/23/battlefield.medicine.history/index.html?iref=intlOnlyonCNN#cnnSTCOther1 – which has some nice images, but note that the images don’t necessarily correspond to the text alongside them. There was no photography in the Napoleonic Wars for instance.

 

By popular demand! Weekday Medical Illustration class added at NMHM, August 6th.

“An Introduction to Techniques in Medical Illustration”

When: Thursday, August 6, 2009 (10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.)

 

Where: National Museum of Health and Medicine

 

What: This workshop will explore the delicate beauty of traditional carbon dust illustration. While working from real specimens, participants will learn about the careful observation and drawing techniques required to create beautiful and accurate drawings using carbon dust, colored pencil, and ink. Ages 13 to adult. All levels welcome.

 

Course leader: Elizabeth Lockett, Scientific Illustrator and Collections Manager of the Museum’s Human Developmental Anatomy Center

 

Pre-registration is required by July 31, 2009: nmhminfo@afip.osd.mil or (202) 782-2673. Class limited to 15 students.

 

Cost: FREE!

 

Photo ID required.

 

Information: nmhminfo@afip.osd.mil or (202) 782-2673

 

www.nmhm.washingtondc.museum

This is what the Creative Commons is all about

Originally uploaded by jrmyst

I just found this on Flickr, an original and creative use of one of our images, a medical illustration by DK Winter. Far out.

New banner exhibition available from NLM

I am posting this message on behalf of a colleague.  Please direct any inquiries to her. Thanks!

 

 

 

A NEW BANNER EXHIBITION!

The National Library of Medicine is accepting requests to host a new banner exhibition scheduled to be available October 4 2009. 

The title is Literature of Prescription: Charlotte Perkins Gilman and “The Yellow Wall-Paper”

In the late nineteenth century, at a time when women were challenging traditional ideas about gender that excluded them from political and intellectual life, medical and scientific experts drew on notions of female weakness to justify inequality between the sexes. Artist and writer Charlotte Perkins Gilman, who was discouraged from pursuing a career to preserve her health, rejected these ideas in a terrifying short story titled “The Yellow Wall-Paper.” The famous tale served as an indictment of the medical profession and the social conventions restricting women's professional and creative opportunities.

 

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd/about/exhibition/travelingexhibitions/literature.html

 

As with our other banner exhibitions, we are asking host libraries to cover incoming FedX expenses, which usually run a few  hundred dollars. The booking period is six weeks. The online exhibition will feature K-12 lesson plans and a higher education module and will be available after Labor Day.

 

An additional note, historian Helen Horowitz advised on the project and developed the higher education module, and is currently writing a book about the topic. She’ll be speaking about her research on Gilman at the History of Medicine Division Seminar this September 9 for those who are interested. http://www.smith.edu/history/fac_hhorowitz.htm

 

Thank you.

 

Patricia Tuohy

Head, Exhibition Program

National Library of Medicine

8600 Rockville Pike

Building 38/Room 1E-21

Bethesda MD 20894

t: 301.435.5240

f: 301.402.0872

 

 

 

New Adler Museum Bulletin received

One of the publications we get is the Adler Museum Bulletin. The Adler is a medical museum in South Africa. The current issue arrived today and has got a nice article on the therapeutic uses of arsenic in it. Agatha Christie would be fascinated.

 

War Surgery book

Mike wrote a couple of days ago about the War Surgery in Afghanistan and Iraq book. We were able to get a disc with all of the images used in the book. For the last several months, on and off, I've been assigning each digital version a number, tracking down the corresponding one in the book and cross-referencing the number there, and building a spreadsheet with the numbers, diagnoses, and captions as noted in the book. When, if, I ever finish, it will all be uploaded into our database.

Here are two images I numbered today.

Radiographs of hand fracture stabilization with Kirschner wires.

Wellcome Library Year in Review now available (PR)

The Wellcome is one of the great history of medicine collections -

The Wellcome Library Year In Review and vital stats are now online:

http://library.wellcome.ac.uk/assets/wtx055651.pdf
http://library.wellcome.ac.uk/assets/wtx055652.pdf

The Review covers our activities during 2008, specifically highlighting our digitisation programme. We also showcase some of our exciting  acquisitions from the year, including the casebooks of the 'father of modern forensics' Sir Bernard Spilsbury and the notebooks of double Nobel Prize winning geneticist Fred Sanger.

A limited number of print copies of the Year in Review will be available. If you would like to request a copy please contact t.tillotson@wellcome.ac.uk.

They link to a neat article about Spilsbury.

War Surgery book wins award

Dave Lounsbury one of the editors and authors wrote to me today saying:

I recv'd a letter today informing me that "War Surgery in Afghanistan & Iraq: A Series of Cases, 2003-2007" has won a national book award.

The American Medical Writers Association in Rockville, Maryland announces that "War Surgery": "is the winner of the distinguished 2009 AMWA Medical Book Award. AMWA's annual book awards "were established more than 30 years ago to recognize the very best in ... non-fictional medical writing." The textbook was "1 of 18 submitted ... and was evaluated by a panel of 4 judges."

The award will be formally presented in October in Dallas at the AMWA's 69th Annual Conference ... which may explain why notice of this award is not presently noted on its website www.amwa.org.

[For the record, the textbook was also nominated last spring for a Sidney Hillman Foundation Award, but in the end was not selected.]

The book has received uniformly favorable reviews from deployed medical officers (British & American) and in both lay (NYT, New York Review of Books, and The Economist) and peer-referenced (JAMA, NEJM, and Environmental & Wilderness Medicine, the journal of the Wilderness Medical Society) literature, as well as in the open media (BBC, NPR).

This is an excellent book, in the grand tradition of military medical publications, dating back to the Medical & Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion. You can download the whole thing for free at the link above, or order the book from the Government Printing Office.

Flickr picture statistics

I spoke to someone who's writing a paper on Flickr use by archives the other day, so here's our most recent stats:

View counts

So far today Yesterday All time
Photos and Videos 295 689 1,049,485
Photostream 205 461 843,269
Sets 41 192 66,807

Total 541 1,342 1,959,561

Walter Reed Army Institute of Research photographic collection

WRAIR~D1784Photo by HOCH, January 1977. BRAZIL~ANIMALS MARABA FISH.

In the 1960s and 70s (and possibly longer), doctors trained by the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR) were sent out to investigate tropical medicine while given cameras and film to document what they found. WRAIR had many photographs including film teams, all over the world including in Vietnam. The Vietnam still photos went to the National Archives when WRAIR moved into its current building, and the Medical Museum got 1/2 of the other still pictures that were left. We're now scanning WRAIR's third (thanks to their providing funding) and our third to create a digital collection that can be used by WRAIR and our researchers.


WRAIR D1783. Photo by HOCH, January 1977. BRAZIL - HIGHWAYS MARABA T-AM GOSLOS BRIDGE CONSTRUCTION.

I put these samples of the first test batch of scans on Flickr. The captions are limited because they're being taken from a printout of an early computerized catalogue. As you can see, not all of the pictures deal directly with medicine.


WRAIR D1762. January 1977. BRAZIL~UPPER TORSO MARABA BLACK FLY BITES CPT HOCH.

I'm in IMDB?

Well, this was weird - I'm especially disappointed at being down 48%.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2657374/

Michael Rhode 

---

Overview

STARmeter:

Down 48% in popularity this week.

Filmography

Thanks:

1. "Nova" (special thanks) (1 episode, 2004)
       - Life and Death in the War Zone (2004) TV episode (special thanks)

 

Museum's scanning statistics

So far, the Museum's had about 722,000 pages scanned, which doesn't work out to quite that many images since some of these are books that are then compiled into pdfs. Others are case files which the average person won't be able to see due to medical privacy restrictions. Overall it's a pretty impressive number though, and is still due to grow by 111,000 before the end of fiscal year 2009.

AFIP's online continuing medical education

I was in a meeting today on the digitization via scanning of the AFIP's records, and one part of that project is AskAFIP which provides courses for Continuing Medical Education credits. Doctors need CMEs to maintain their license. In June, AFIP provided about 2500 hours online at http://www.askafip.org

You can also buy some of the Museum's photographs there - notably the McGee Russo-Japanese War collection which we haven't gotten online anywhere else yet.

Embryo Models Found

Jim Curley has been in contact with an anatomy professor at Johns Hopkins Medical School. It seems they are moving to new digs and a closet full of anatomical models had been found. Would the museum like them? Jim got some pics of the contents and were we excited. Not only were there what looked to be some Zeigler wax models, but there was a model that had originally been part of the Carnegie Collection. Beth, Jim and I went up today for a look and there were lots of Zeigler and Carnegie models! This is the kind of fun treasure hunt I expect most museum people live for, finding beautiful things thought the be lost.

Bert Hansen on why we should celebrate today

See his blog post at http://medhum.med.nyu.edu/blog/?p=195

By popular demand: second Medical Illustration class added at NMHM, July 25th.

“An Introduction to Techniques in Medical Illustration”

When: Saturday, July 25, 2009 (1:00 – 4:00 p.m.)

**Note: The July 11^th class has been filled to capacity. Spots for the July 25^th class are filling quickly (only 9 left)—register today!

 

Where: National Museum of Health and Medicine

 

What: This workshop will explore the delicate beauty of traditional carbon dust illustration. While working from real specimens, participants will learn about the careful observation and drawing techniques required to create beautiful and accurate drawings using carbon dust, colored pencil, and ink. Ages 13 to adult. All levels welcome.

 

Course leader: Elizabeth Lockett, Scientific Illustrator and Collections Manager of the Museum’s Human Developmental Anatomy Center

 

Pre-registration is required by July 8, 2009: nmhminfo@afip.osd.mil or (202) 782-2673. Class limited to 15 students.

 

Cost: FREE!

 

Photo ID required.

 

Information: nmhminfo@afip.osd.mil or (202) 782-2673

 

www.nmhm.washingtondc.museum

Are you up for some weirdness?

In one of those strange, how-did-I-get-here moments on the internet, I came across the abcnews website that shows some oddball x-rays. As they say, Viewer Discretion is Advised.

New collection available in Archives

Guide # OHA 227.05 - Personal papers - [McGrath Notebooks]

Two notebooks from Thomas  McGrath with course notes on Experimental Physiology and Physiological Chemistry from classes at Albany Medical College, 1906-1907.

NY Times on cancer research

Today's Times has a very interesting article on how cancer research grants now go to the cautious - quite a change from the way Bert Hansen described late 19th and early 20th century medical research in his book.

Grant System Leads Cancer Researchers to Play It Safe
By GINA KOLATA
Published: June 28, 2009
A major impediment in the fight against cancer is that most research grants go to projects unlikely to break much ground.

Bert's book has quite a bit on antitoxins, serums and therapies derived from attenuated germs in animals. So much so that I was planning on writing to him and asking if he knew why nobody was using these types of methods anymore, in favor of relying on vaccination and antibiotics. At one point he noted that there were over 70 different tuberculosis serums - if drug-resistant TB continues to evolve, and by definition it will, one would think this earlier cure holds new promise.

However, this article from tomorrow's paper harks back to the future, and again, Bert's book can shed light on these historical techniques being rediscovered.

New Treatment for Cancer Shows Promise in Testing
By NICHOLAS WADE
Published: June 29, 2009
A new method of attacking cancer cells, developed by researchers in Australia, has proved surprisingly effective in animal tests.

Medical exhibit at Smithsonian Folklife Festival

The Smithsonian Folklife Festival is going on this week, and in the Wales section is a small exhibit on the history of medicine.



Wales turns out to be a major source for medicinal leeches, sold by Biopharma.

There is also a small display of historical pharmaceuticals.



Pill rollers aren't all that uncommon even now, but that's a nice ledger and some good ephemera in the labels.



The largest section was a medical garden.







The exhibit is up through July 5th

I hate flies

Liz was in the archives today, looking at some of our original medical illustrations in preparation for her class on doing, um, medical illustrations. You might think we know every scrap of paper we have in the archives but that's just not the case. I know for a fact that even Mike doesn't know everything. That's just so refreshing to say.

Anyway, she found two pen-and-ink drawings made by the Medical Illustration Service for disease prevention that I'd never seen before. The originals are much better than what's reproduced here, but they're a great example of one kind of work the Medical Museum illustrators did.

Typhoid Mary prepares food

From the barnyard to your plate

PICTURING MEDICAL PROGRESS FROM PASTEUR TO POLIO draws on Otis Archives

My friend Bert Hansen's got an excellent new book out, PICTURING MEDICAL PROGRESS FROM PASTEUR TO POLIO: A History of Mass Media Images and Popular Attitudes in America that includes a minuscule amount of research from the Medical Museum (and cites me in the acknowledgments, but don't buy it just because of that). I'm about 1/3 of the way through and learning about the history of both medicine and cartoons.

I'm really enjoying his look at the graphic history (including editorial cartoons and comic books) of medicine. Bert's explanations of the shifting cultural view of medicine resulting from mass media, especially regarding both the transmittal of knowledge to a wider audience than ever before, and, as he points out most convincingly in this book, for the public support of science and medicine, is wildly overlooked in the field at large. His website has reproductions of some of the cartoons and he's planning on adding to it.

Here's the official PR:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PICTURING MEDICAL PROGRESS FROM PASTEUR TO POLIO
A History of Mass Media Images and Popular Attitudes in America
Bert Hansen

“Bert Hansen’s rich exploration of the intersection of popular culture and the history of medicine opens wide a window on a time between the 1880s and the 1950s when physicians, nurses, and scientists were highly regarded warriors against disease and human suffering. It is a major contribution to our understanding of how medicine’s cultural authority was established and expanded in the United States, vital to scholars and valuable to those who hope to spark a renewed enthusiasm among Americans for the study of science and medicine.”
—Alan Kraut, professor of history, American University

Today, pharmaceutical companies, HMOs, insurance carriers, and the health care system in general may often puzzle and frustrate the general public—and even physicians and researchers. By contrast, from the 1880s through the 1950s Americans enthusiastically embraced medicine and its practitioners. PICTURING MEDICAL PROGRESS FROM PASTEUR TO POLIO (Paper $37.95, ISBN: 978-0-8135-4576-9, July 2009), by Bert Hansen, offers a refreshing portrait of an era when the public excitedly anticipated medical progress and research breakthroughs.

PICTURING MEDICAL PROGRESS FROM PASTEUR TO POLIO is a unique study with 130 archival illustrations drawn from newspaper sketches, caricatures, comic books, Hollywood films, and LIFE magazine photography. This book analyzes the relationship between mass media images and popular attitudes. Bert Hansen considers the impact these representations had on public attitudes and shows how media portrayal and popular support for medical research grew together and reinforced each other.

“This book is analytical, nostalgic, sensitive, and just plain fun. Bert Hansen's meticulous privileging of the visual is a pathbreaking achievement for methods in the social and cultural history of medicine. You can be rewarded simply by looking at the wonderful pictures, but you will ‘see’ so much more in his lively prose.”
—Jacalyn Duffin, Hannah Professor, Queen's University, and former
president of the American Association for the History of Medicine

“Even as a long-time collector of medical prints, I learned a lot from this extraordinary book. Hansen's digging has turned up many discoveries, providing a new perspective on graphic art in popular culture. The images are wonderful, but this is not just a picture book; it's a great read as well, filled with remarkable insights.”
—William Helfand, trustee of the Philadelphia Museum of Art

“PICTURING MEDICAL PROGRESS FROM PASTEUR TO POLIO is an authoritative, well-written account that will be a significant contribution not only to the history of American medicine, but to the history of American popular culture.”
—Elizabeth Toon, Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine, University of Manchester


BERT HANSEN, a professor of history at Baruch College, has published a book on medieval science and many articles on the history of modern medicine and public health.

PICTURING MEDICAL PROGRESS FROM PASTEUR TO POLIO
A History of Mass Media Images and Popular Attitudes in America
Bert Hansen

Paper $37.95 | ISBN 978-0-8135-4576-9
Cloth $75.00 | ISBN 978-0-8135-4526-4 | 350 pages | 7 x 10

Publication Date: July 2009

AFIP: Supplemental Appropriation Bill signed by President with moratorium language

Office of the Press Secretary

_______________________________________________________________________

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                 June 24, 2009

 

The President released a statement after signing HR 2346 in the Oval Office:

 

"I want to thank the Members of Congress who put politics aside and stood up to support a bill that will provide for the safety of our troops and the American people. This legislation will make available the funding necessary to bring the war in Iraq to a responsible end, defeat terrorist networks in Afghanistan, and further prepare our nation in the event of a continued outbreak of the H1N1 pandemic flu."

 

Final Moratorium Language for Public Law No: 111-32

 

“Sec. 1001. None of the funds appropriated in this or any other Act may be used to disestablish, reorganize, or relocate the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology , except for the Armed Forces Medical Examiner and the National Museum of Health and Medicine, until the President has established, as required by section 722 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 (Public Law 110-181; 122 Stat. 199; 10 U.S.C. 176 note), a Joint Pathology Center , and the Joint Pathology Center is demonstrably performing the minimum requirements set forth in section 722 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008.”

 

The President signed the supplemental yesterday afternoon, with the moratorium language in it.

 

Florabel G. Mullick, MD, ScD, FCAP

Senior Executive Service

The Director

 

AFIP's Armed Forces Medical Examiner featured on Fresh Air

Slain Soldiers Offer Clues To Protect The Living

Fresh Air from WHYY, June 24, 2009 · In previous wars, fallen soldiers rarely received post-mortem examinations, but that changed in 2001, when the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology began conducting autopsies on all slain service men and women. In 2004, the examinations were expanded to include CT scans.

CT Scans help show the pathway of wounds caused by bullets or shrapnel so that a less invasive autopsy can be conducted. While this improves the work of doctors, the data has a grim upside.

Captain Craig T. Mallak, a pathologist and lawyer who is also the chief of the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System, describes how the physical and sometimes virtual autopsies of soldiers who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan have not only assisted in the design of body armor, helmets and vehicle shields, but medical equipment as well.

One specific example is the recent improvement of chest tubes used buy combat medics. By examining 100 Ct Scans and measuring wounds, doctors found that because soldiers were in better shape than civilians, they needed longer tubes and needles to penetrate the chest wall and reach the collapsed lung.

Combat medics now carry the improved equipment on the battlefield.

Brush your teeth

Here's a pretty neat super-zoom of the surface of a tooth.

Just ignore the flat-stomach ad off to the right of the video - they're not talking to you.

Seminary tours

The Seminary at Forest Glenn, the former’s girl school turned Army base, turned condos, has a tour this weekend:

 

http://www.saveourseminary.org/schedules.html

 

Visitors to the Museum can see a mural by Jack McMillen of how the Seminary appeared during World War 2.

 

NYTimes on traumatic brain injury research

The Museum has an extremely large collection of brains and slices thereof that can be used in this type of research. For information on current research in other places, see A Chance for Clues to Brain Injury in Combat Blasts
By ALAN SCHWARZ
Published: June 23, 2009
Twenty members of the military have donated their brain tissue upon death to help scientists determine the effects of blast injuries on the brain.

FW: Interested in medical illustration? Register today for NMHM's FREE medical illustration class, July 11th.

 

 

“An Introduction to Techniques in Medical Illustration”

When: Saturday, July 11, 2009 (1:00 – 4:00 p.m.)

 

Where: National Museum of Health and Medicine

 

What: This workshop will explore the delicate beauty of traditional carbon dust illustration. While working from real specimens, participants will learn about the careful observation and drawing techniques required to create beautiful and accurate drawings using carbon dust, colored pencil, and ink. Ages 13 to adult. All levels welcome.

 

Course leader: Elizabeth Lockett, Scientific Illustrator and Collections Manager of the Museum’s Human Developmental Anatomy Center

 

Pre-registration is required by July 1, 2009: (202) 782-2673. Class limited to 15 students.

 

Cost: FREE!

 

Photo ID required.

 

Information: nmhminfo@afip.osd.mil or (202) 782-2673

 

www.nmhm.washingtondc.museum

And here I thought no one read us

Mike sent this email around today. I don't know why he didn't post it here already - I know he's not shy so that can't be the reason.

The Medical Museion blog mentioned their blog rank and put a link to a blog ranking site - so I checked it out.

We’re #6, right above them, and higher than any art museums whom I expected would fill the top tier.

To be honest, I have no idea how they figure this out and looking at individual stats further down makes our whole ranking look fishy, but it was neat to see.

National Dental Museum in Baltimore seeks director

Here’s the announcement –

 

Director - National Museum of Dentistry - Baltimore, MD

http://www.museumprofessionals.org/forum/administrators/4551-director-national-museum-dentistry-baltimore-md.html

 

User-friendly syringes

From Core77, a design blog, comes news of a disposable syringe designed by the kitchen-tool people, OXO, for people with rheumatoid arthritis. I love ideas like this. The top of the picture shows the 5 newly-designed areas, plus they added easy-open packaging.

NMHM staff member attending cadaver prosection course

This local Indiana online news network talks about the cadaver prosection course that an NMHM staff member attended last year, and another is planning to attend this year.  

 

http://www.valpolife.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2883:iun-announces-2009-participants-in-international-human-cadaver-prosection-program&catid=160:education&Itemid=169

 

Smithsonian anthropologist profiled in Post

Doug Owsley is profiled in "Old West Mystery, Solved in D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Forensic Anthropologists Unravel Buffalo Soldier's Story," By Michael E. Ruane, Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, June 16, 2009 .

Eadweard Muybridge - an anniversary

Wired.com reports that on this day in 1878, Eadweard Muybridge used "high-speed stop-motion photography to capture a horse's motion." It just so happens we have a few samples of Muybridge's work. Here's (a scan of a photocopy of a copy print) of one of them from our collection.

David Macaulay at Medical Museum

David Macaulay spoke for 50 minutes at the Medical Museum today. He covered a few sections of his new book on the human body (of which originals are on display), showed some artwork and sketches that didn't go into the book, and it was a very good talk. He's speaking again twice on Saturday, June 13th so cruise 16th St and check it out.

TB Sanatorium records donated today

Charlotte Perry donated George Ellis Mills' records to the archives today. Mills, Charlotte's grandfather, was Director of the Boehne Tuberculosis Sanatorium in Evansville, Indiana, in the 1920s, until his untimely death in 1929. We received annual reports (no, no, not the boring, all-number kind; these have a lot of interesting narrative about the hospital with some great photos as illustrations), typewritten manuscripts about the rules and regulations there, more transcripts about tuberculosis, and 5 panoramic photos of staff and patients. I'll be making a finding aid next week, which will give me more time to read everything and scan some of the photos from the annual reports.

2057 new computer catalogue records added in Emu today

Catalogue records for 2057 files/folders from the Archives’ Medical Ephemera collection of clippings, brochures and pamphlets were imported as titles into our new computer catalogue EMU today. These are from 3 series – biographical, organizational and subject files. An example would read as: Ephemera - Trade Literature - folder - Barton, Clara (1821-1912) [Medical Ephemera] so when we eventually get the catalogue online you could search on *Barton in the titles, and you’ll get this file. In the meantime, you can still use this static (and sorry, out of date) finding aid at http://www.nmhm.washingtondc.museum/collections/archives/asearch/afinding_aids/ephemera/ephemera.html

Eye Prosthetics at Walter Reed

The Walter Reed Army Medical Center has a weekly newspaper, Stripe. This article is from last week's edition.

Interactive talk on human anatomy with David Macaulay at NMHM tomorrow, 6/12 & Sat., 6/13

 

 

©2008 David Macaulay

 

“The real beauty of the human body, as it turns out, has little to do with outward appearance. It is displayed in and beneath the skin in a remarkable demonstration of economy and efficiency.”

— David Macaulay from The Way We Work

 

 “David Macaulay: Author Talk & Book Signing”

When: Friday, June 12, 2009 (1:00-2:30 p.m.)

Saturday, June 13, 2009 (10:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m. & 1:00-2:30 p.m.)

 

Where: National Museum of Health and Medicine

 

What: Join David Macaulay for an interactive and lively discussion about his new book, “The Way We Work,” as he illuminates the most important machine of all -- the human body. Your body is made up of various complex systems, and Macaulay is a master at making the complex understandable. He shows how the parts of the body work together, from the mechanics of a hand, to the process by which the heart pumps blood, to the chemical exchanges necessary to sustain life. A book signing will follow the discussion.

 

Cost: FREE!

 

Bring your kids along! This is a great opportunity to teach children about the human body.

 

Photo ID required.

 

Information: nmhminfo@afip.osd.mil or (202) 782-2200

 

www.nmhm.washingtondc.museum

 

David Macaulay bio: Born on December 2, 1946, Macaulay was eleven when his family moved from England to the United States. An early fascination with simple technology and a love of model-making and drawing ultimately led him to study architecture at the Rhode Island School of Design. He received his degree in 1969 after spending his fifth year with RISD’s European Honors Program in Rome. Macaulay is probably best known for a very thick book called “The Way Things Work” (1988), an exhaustively researched compendium of the intricate workings involved in almost anything that functions. It was followed by “Black and White,” winner of the 1991 Caldecott Medal. Over the next decade, Macaulay published eight additional books, and in 2003 he began a volume about the workings of the human body—the results of which comprise this exhibition. In 2006, Macaulay was named a MacArthur fellow.

Andrea Seabrook of NPR is interested in us

Andrea Seabrook of NPR came by yesterday to look at our photograph collections and is planning on doing a story on the pictures.  More to come as we find out about it, but we talked for about 2 1/2 hours.

National Museum of Health and Medicine (NMHM), Forest Glen, Maryland presolicitation construction bid online

https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=b43052fd9f26a0270e9d70c957876ea0&tab=core&_cview=1

Y--National Museum of Health and Medicine (NMHM), Forest Glen, Maryland

Solicitation Number: W912DR-09-R-0070

Agency: Department of the Army
Office: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Location: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore

Solicitation Number:

W912DR-09-R-0070

Notice Type:

Presolicitation

Synopsis:

Added: May 27, 2009 4:40 pm Modified: May 28, 2009 11:08 amTrack Changes

This proposed procurement is 100% Set Aside for Small Business with NAICS category 236220 with small business standard $33,500,000.00.

This two-step procurement is being advertised as a Request for Proposal (RFP). Phase I consists solely of qualifications of contractors. Phase II requires the government to evaluate separate technical and cost proposals. This RFP requires the government to perform separate concurrent evaluations based on the best value award of the project.

In phase I the prequalification phase offerors will submit their technical proposal as directed in the solicitation. The government will competitively evaluate the proposals based on the evaluation criteria set forth in the solicitation package issued on or about 12 June 2009. There will be a site visit at 0100 EST local time, on or about 22 June 2009. Qualifications of contractors are due on or about 13 July 2009.

In phase II, those offerors who pre-qualified under the Phase I qualification stage will be issued an amendment for Phase II ON OR ABOUT 11 September 2009. There will be a site visit on or about 16 September 2009. Proposals will be due on or about 16 October 2009, and will include the specification package and associated plans or drawings.

Estimated cost of construction is between $10,000,000.00 and $25,000,000.00. Completion of work required no longer than 450 days.

Project Description:
This is a Best Value 2 phase procurements Small Business Set-Aside, FAR 19.502 (a) & (b). Rule 2 applies, DFARS 219.1502-2.

This is a BRAC 05 Medical MILCON project consist of design and construction of a new 20,000 + or GSF museum. The primary facility includes a building, special foundations, building information systems, fire protection and alarm systems and connection to Energy Monitoring and Control Systems (EMCS). Comprehensive interior design is required. Anti-terrorist Force Protection (ATFP) measures and intrusion detection system (IDS) are required. ADA compliance and LEED silver rating is to be provided. Heating, air conditioning and moisture control will be self contained system. Commissioning is required.

Supporting facilities to include utilities, external lighting, signage, ATFP features, paving, curbs, walks, storm water management and site improvement features.

EVALUATION CRITERIA WILL BE PART OF THE SOLICITATION.

Submission Requirements:
After issuance of solicitation:
Submit responses in person to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, City Crescent Building, ATTN: Mary Tully, Room 7000, 10 South Howard Street, Baltimore, MD 21201; or by mail to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, ATTN: Mary Tully CENAB-CT, P.O. Box 1715, Baltimore, MD 21203-1715. Facsimile transmissions will not be accepted. All deliveries, packages, etc. of more than one box or container must be bound together by tape or other means.

All responsible sources may submit a proposal which shall be considered by the agency. You must be registered in the (CCR) Central Contractor Registration to be considered for award of a Federal contract. Registration can be found at Website: http:/ccr.gov. Or call CCR at 1-888-227-2423. A paper form for registration may be obtained from the DOD Electronic Commerce Information Center at 1-800-334-3414.

The solicitation will be provided in an electronic format, free of charge, to all registered plan holders. The media through which the Government chooses to issue this solicitation will be the Internet only, or CD to pre-qualified offerors. This solicitation will not be issued in paper. No phone or fax request for copy of Request For Proposal will be accepted. Contractors requests for this solicitation will be performed through Federal Business Opportunities (FBO) System.

Project Manager: Alexandra Crawford (410) 962-2830
DTL: Joan Pamperien (410) 962-2616
Contracting P.O.C.: Mary Tully (410) 779-7542

Contracting Office Address:

US Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore, 10 South Howard Street, Baltimore, MD 21203

Place of Performance:

US Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore 10 South Howard Street, Baltimore MD
21203
US

Point of Contact(s):

Mary Tully, 410-779-7542

US Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore

Influenza photo used by New York Times

Our most published photograph, influenza cases at Camp Funston during WW1 (NCP 1603) was published again yesterday in the New York Times. You can see the story at

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/09/health/09docs.html

The Doctor's World

Is This a Pandemic? Define 'Pandemic'

By LAWRENCE K. ALTMAN, M.D.

Published: June 9, 2009

After decades of warnings about another influenza pandemic, health officials have failed to make clear to the public what they mean by that word.

New Posts of Old Daguerrotypes

Not a history of medicine thing, but here's a very nice online collection of daguerreotypes from the American Antiquarian Society.