Bits on medical museums on 2 continents

This is from a first-time visitor to the National Museum of Health and Medicine, who reflects on medical care during the Civil War and today:

 

C'est la guerre: plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose

by Donna McNeely Burke

February 21, 2013 · http://theboothintheback.wordpress.com/2013/02/21/cest-la-guerre-plus-ca-change-plus-cest-la-meme-chose/

 

In this article, a writer's favorite museum to revisit is the Welcome:

 

Literary City: Deborah Levy's London

Booker Prize–shortlisted author Deborah Levy takes us on a tour of her literary London. From her cozy garden shed to the medical museum she revisits to why you can wear a bikini on the bus and no one cares, she explores her city with Henry Krempels.

Feb 22, 2013

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/02/22/literary-city-deborah-levy-s-new-york.html

 

Why 'Lincoln' should win an Oscar for Best Picture...

...because there's a brief scene of General Daniel Sickles' leg on display at the Medical Museum. Sickles lost his leg at the battle of Gettysburg. The movie is inaccurate as it shows the leg still fully fleshed - which would have stunk amazingly as the flesh decayed off the bone. Instead Museum prepator Schafhirt would have cut and boiled the flesh off, and then wired the bones together so they looked like this picture.

Another scene of a pit of amputated limbs seems to have been influenced by RB Bontecou's photograph "Field Day." And here's the original label for Surgical Photograph 43, Sickle's "Right Tibia and Fibula comminuted by a Cannon Ball."

Upcoming lecture on Medical Museum in NY

The Living Specimen and 'The Museum of Horrors': Amputation, American Civil War Medicine, & the U.S. Army Medical Museummore

by Naomi Slipp

 

What is a sense of place in relation to corporeal subjectivity? If an amputee leaves limb in one place and occupies body in another, how do we define place as rooted by personal location? Likewise if a nation is divided in two by war, what does it mean for a medical museum to display fragments of the bodies of honorable combatants and amputees? How does a museum shape our sense of self, our ideas about nationhood and place, and aid in collective mourning? I argue that the U.S. Army Medical Museum, founded in 1862 during the American Civil War, represented parts of the human body through practices of institutional display and within the pages of sponsored medical publications as both aesthetic objects and medically educational tools. Through an engagement with representations of corporeal fracture in the writings of S. Weir Mitchell and in period photography, lithography, and the field sketches of Winslow Homer, this paper argues that corporeal fracture - made evident within the walls of the U.S. Army Medical Museum and its publications - complicates fixed notions about placement and displacement during and after the American Civil War making living specimens out of some and offering a location for mourning for a nation. 

 

Location: Binghamton University, Binghamton, NY

Event Date: Apr 26, 2013

Organization: Crossing the Boundaries: Dis/Place, the 21st Annual Art History Graduate Student Union Conference

American Registry of Pathology retains museum staff contract

The American Registry of Pathology has a long, convoluted history, but was regularized in 1976 with a Congressional charter to support the now-defunct Armed Forces Institute of Pathology. During the time I worked in the Museum, they supplied contract labor for about 2/3 of the staff of the Museum. With the awarding of an almost $6 million dollar contract last week, that role will apparently continue.

Index to "Photographs of Surgical Cases and Specimens" online now

 A PDF scan of the finding aid for the Civil War pictures taken at and published by the Army Medical Museum - Index to "Photographs of Surgical Cases and Specimens" and Surgical Photographs, 3rd edition (1994) has been put online at https://archive.org/details/IndexToPhotographsOfSurgicalCasesAndSpecimensAndSurgicalPhotographs

African-American Civil War Surgeons in the NLM Collections lecture

You are cordially invited to the next NLM History of Medicine lecture, to be held Tuesday, 12 February 2013 from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m., in the Lister Hill Auditorium, National Library of Medicine, Building 38A, Bethesda, MD.  In recognition of African-American History Month, we present:

 

"Oak Leaves on his Shoulders: Discovering African-American Civil War Surgeons in the NLM Collections."

 

Jill L. Newmark

Exhibition Registrar/Traveling Exhibition Service,

History of Medicine Division, National Library of Medicine

 

During the American Civil War, African American men and women served as medical personnel in hospitals and on the battlefield.  Histories of Civil War Medicine often overlook their participation and contributions, since few personal accounts of black surgeons and nurses exist and materials are often hidden amongst the thousands of Civil War records throughout the country including the National Library of Medicine.  This presentation explores one hospital in Washington, D.C. and follows the journey of discovery that uncovered several African American Civil War surgeons.  The presentation will highlight newly discovered materials from the History of Medicine Division and how they illuminate the story of these surgeons. 

 

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

 

Sponsored by

NLM's History of Medicine Division

Jeffrey S. Reznick, PhD, Chief

 

Event contact:

Stephen J. Greenberg, MSLS, PhD

Coordinator of Public Services

History of Medicine Division

National Library of Medicine, NIH

301-435-4995

greenbes@mail.nih.gov

 

 

 

Newspaper profile of the Mutter Museum

See Albert Einstein's brain and other matters of medical history ... Allentown Morning Call The nation's finest and oldest medical museum — celebrating its 150th anniversary March 4 — bills itself as "disturbingly informative" and that is ...

Medical Museum in Lincoln movie

I'm told that Sickles' leg and the medical museum briefly feature in the hit movie Lincoln.

Staff departures, catching up again

Anatomical collections curator Franklin Damann is leaving in February to set up a lab.

Apparently the exhibit designer position left by Navjeet Singh has been filled.

Medical illustration and history of medicine at Belskie Museum

The Belskie Museum of Art & Science in northern New Jersey has medical illustration and history of medicine sculptures done by Abram Belskie. I recently visited it and took some photos of his works.

It appears as though they may hold his papers which might make an interesting research project. Belskie worked on a Birth Atlas in 1940. The museum publishes a small booklet about him that's available at the information desk.

New Zealand medical museum opens

Medical 'house of horrors' for Northland New Zealand Herald By Hannah Norton Dr John Swinney, left, and Kiwi North director Stewart Bowden seated in a couple of wheelchairs that feature in the new medical museum.

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The Post interviews Brad Meltzer

Brad Meltzer on his new novel, 'The Fifth Assassin,' and presidential killers

 By Carole Burns,

 Washington Post January 16 2013

 http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/brad-meltzer-on-his-new-novel-the-fifth-assassin-and-presidential-killers/2013/01/15/01baf6dc-5915-11e2-9fa9-5fbdc9530eb9_story.html

Another Brad Meltzer interview on mysterious medical museums

Brad Meltzer Hunts "The Fifth Assassin"
Kiel Phegley,
Comic Book Resources January 15 2013
http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=43191

Medical museum spurs thriller idea

Brad Meltzer's new thriller gets Oval Office insight

Mon, Jan 14 2013

By Kurt Anthony Krug

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/14/entertainment-us-books-bradmeltzer-idUSBRE90D15P20130114

"Meltzer explained that the idea for the book came during a visit to the little-known U.S. Army-run National Museum of Health and Medicine near Washington."

Who's buried in John Wilkes Booth's grave?

A deathbed claim Enid News & Eagle Elements of the 16th New York Cavalry tracked Booth and an accomplice to a .... and since have been preserved at the National Museum of Health and Medicine.

Staff departures, catching up

Exhibit designer Navjeet Chhina departed the medical museum in the late summer of 2011. He'd like BM's readers to know that.

Another departure is imminent, I'm told.

History of drugs - article of interest

Ancient pills found in shipwreck offer rare insight into early ... KGWN The results offer a peek into the complexity and sophistication of ancient ...

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NLM History of Medicine Lecture

 

You are cordially invited to the next NLM History of Medicine lecture, to be held Wednesday, 16 January 2013 from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m., in the Lister Hill Auditorium, National Library of Medicine, Building 38A, Bethesda, MD:

 

"Calculating with Mortalities in Restoration London:  John Graunt and his Natural and Political Observations.

 

Kristin Heitman, PhD

Assistant Professor, Department of Medical History

Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD

 

The paper will discuss Graunt's ground-breaking epidemiological and statistical work with plague and other diseases in 17^th century England. Drawing upon NLM's extensive holdings of Graunt's published works, this lecture will examine the development, evolution, distribution, and reception of Graunt's book through its five editions.

 

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

 

Sponsored by

NLM's History of Medicine Division

Jeffrey S. Reznick, PhD, Chief

 

Event contact:

Stephen J. Greenberg, MSLS, PhD

Coordinator of Public Services

History of Medicine Division

National Library of Medicine, NIH

301-435-4995

greenbes@mail.nih.gov

 

 

 

Jan 16: Comic book & thriller writer Brad Meltzer at Politics & Prose

Why should you care? On his website, Meltzer writes:

 In this case, it began with a government employee who told me that I needed to come to a secret museum that almost no one knew about.  Naturally, I was suspicious, so I asked him what they had at this so-called museum.  Then he told me:  We have pieces of Abraham Lincoln's skull, the bullet that killed him, and even the bones of John Wilkes Booth, if you want to see them.

I take issue with the 'so-called' and 'secret' - the Medical Museum's been open to visitors since the 1860s.

Brad Meltzer - The Fifth Assassin

Start: Jan 16 2013 7:00 pm

End: Jan 16 2013 8:00 pm

Meltzer's latest D.C. thriller features Beecher White, hero of The Inner Circle, as he untangles a plot to kill the president—a plot that goes back to the very first presidential assassination. Researching the four successful attempts on the lives of chief executives, White discovers a long-running conspiracy.

The Fifth Assassin (Hardcover)

By Brad Meltzer

$27.99

ISBN-13: 9780446553971
Availability: Coming Soon - Available for Pre-Order Now
Published: Grand Central Publishing, 1/2013

Staff departures at NMHM

Jim Curley of Historical Collections and Emily Wilson of HDAC will be departing the Museum with the turn of the year. Wilson's contractor position has been advertised.

Einstein's brain samples

Einstein's brain: Even on the surface, extraordinary - latimes.com Los Angeles Times One hundred sixty of the slides, made from 240 "blocks" of Einstein's brain, are at Princeton's University Medical Center, and an additional 560 slides are housed at the National Museum of Health and Medicine, until recently on the grounds of Walter ...

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Voice of America visits medical museum

Visit to a Medical Museum; Plastic Surgeon Makes Healing Trips to ... Voice of America The museum also has anatomical collections of bones and preserved human organs. The National Museum of Health and Medicine opened as the Army Medical Museum ...

Einstein's brain app

An app lets users study Einstein's brain; magazine explores longevity research

By Aaron Leitko, October 1, 2012

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/an-app-lets-users-study-einsteins-brain-magazine-explores-longevity-research/2012/09/28/147cd106-695a-11e1-acc6-32fefc7ccd67_story.html

Museum Archivist Eric Boyle has a book coming out this fall

Quack Medicine: A History of Combating Health Fraud in Twentieth-Century America (Healing Society: Disease, Medicine, and History) [Hardcover]

 

Eric W. Boyle

VOA on National Museum of Health and Medicine

US Museum Showcases National Medical Collection Voice of America The National Museum of Health and Medicine originally opened as the Army Medical Museum during the Civil War. It's celebrating its 150th anniversary with a ...

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Google Alert - "National Museum of Health and Medicine"

Web 2 new results for "National Museum of Health and Medicine"

The National Museum of Health and Medicine: America's hidden ... The National Museum of Health and Medicine. It's not large like Mount Rushmore , iconic like the Statue of Liberty, or symbolic like The White House. It's small ... www.timetravelturtle.com/.../national-museum-health-medicin...

DCMilitary.com: NMHM Holds 25th Annual Forensic Anthropology ... bySubmitted by: National Museum of Health and Medicine. Franklin Damann, Anatomical Collections Curator at the National Museum of Health and Medicine ... www.dcmilitaryed.com/.../nmhm-holds-25th-annual-forensic-...

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Museum-related publication is notable.

The Government Printing Office has put up a blog post at http://govbooktalk.gpo.gov/2012/07/03/notable-federal-books-2012/ noting that the Library Journal has listed its 2011-2012 Notable Government Documents at http://lj.libraryjournal.com/2012/05/publishing/past-as-prologue-we-didnt-have-a-deck-last-year/

 

Included is Legacy of Excellence: The Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, 1862–2011 which the Museum archives significantly contributed to. You can read the book here - http://www.bordeninstitute.army.mil/other_pub/loe.html

AFIP swan song book picked as notable

New post on Government Book Talk Librarians Pick Notable Federal Books- 2012 Edition by GPOBookstore It's that exciting time of year again if you're a publisher of Federal publications. It's the equivalent of the Academy Awards, the Emmy Awards or the Grammy Awards… Well, maybe that's pushing it, but when the American Library Association's (ALA) Government Documents Round Table or GODORT convenes the Notable Documents Panel of its Publications Committee to choose the top government-produced publications of the previous year, we can't help but get caught up in the excitement. Each year, this ALA GODORT's Notable Documents Panel selects what it considers to be the most "Notable Government Documents" published during the previous year by Federal, state, and local governments and includes the list of winners in its prestigious Library Journal (LJ). According to its website, Library Journal is "the most trusted and respected publication for the library community. LJ provides groundbreaking features and analytical news reports covering technology, management, policy and other professional concerns to public, academic and institutional libraries. Its hefty reviews sections evaluate 8000+ reviews annually of books, ebooks, audiobooks, videos/DVDs, databases, systems and websites." This year, as usual, many of the Federal publications the panel selected are available through the Government Printing Office's Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) libraries and GPO's Sales Program. Out of all of the Federal Government documents LJ looked at in the past year, here are some of those it found most notable:   Keeping America Informed: The United States Government Printing Office 150 Years of Service to the NationPublisher: Government Printing Office (GPO)GPO's own role in producing excellent Government publications in its 150 years of history gained it a place on the GODORT list for the past year: "Liberally illustrated with historical photographs and facsimiles of famous government documents, this volume will appeal to a wider audience than depository librarians. Historians and history buffs who have an interest in government and how it interacts with both the private sector and public employee unions will find a compelling story that focuses on the federal government's obligation to keep citizens informed about its activities." - LJ   Statistical Abstract of the United States 2012 (Hardcover)Statistical Abstract of the United States 2012 (Paperback) Publisher: Commerce Department, U.S. Census Bureau The Statistical Abstract of the United States, published since 1878, is the standard summary of statistics on the social, political, and economic organization of the United States. It is designed to serve as a convenient volume for statistical reference and as a guide to other statistical publications and sources. The latter function is served by the introductory text to each section, the source note appearing below each table, and Appendix I, which comprises the Guide to Sources of Statistics, the Guide to State Statistical Abstracts, and the Guide to Foreign Statistical Abstracts. The Library Journal adds an important update about this: "In addition to being the quintessential statistical resource of all time, Statistical Abstract is a Notable Document for 2011 simply because this edition will be the last produced by the Census Bureau and distributed through FDLP. Future editions will be published commercially, so librarians will still have options for maintaining the continuity of their print collections. A classic reference tool." - LJ   Macondo: The Gulf Oil Disaster. Chief Counsel's Report 2011Publisher: National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling "The National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill was created by President Obama and charged with investigating the root causes of the largest accidental marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry. The committee concluded that the cause of the blowout was not mechanical. Instead, a number of poor management decisions, combined with an inadequate regulatory structure and an indifferent regulatory agency, overwhelmed the safeguards designed to prevent such disasters. Plenty of illustrations and photographs offer a glimpse into the technology of offshore oil rigs." - LJ   Then Came the Fire: Personal Accounts From the Pentagon, 11 September 2001Publisher: Defense Dept., Army, Center of Military History "In 2011, there were many publications designed to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the attacks of September 11, 2001. In addition to the 59 people aboard the flight that struck the Pentagon, 125 people in the Pentagon were killed. The editors of this memorial volume have collected the stories of eyewitnesses, including the military and civilian personnel who escaped the burning building and first responders and reporters at the scene. It also includes hundreds of photographs."- LJ   Freedom by the Sword: The U.S. Colored Troops, 1862-1867Publisher: Defense Dept., Army, Center of Military History" In what may be the definitive operational history of black troops in action during the Civil War, [author] Dobak describes the differences in how freedmen and runaway slaves were recruited, how they lived, and how they were trained. Most important, it considers how gallantly these men performed in combat at a time when many of their own leaders questioned whether they would be willing to fight for their own freedom and for that of their families. Much of the documentation comes from the 'War of the Rebellion' series." - LJ   Legacy of Excellence: The Armed Forces Institute of Pathology 1862-2011 Publisher: Defense Dept., Army, US Army Medical Department Center and Schoo1, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Public Affairs Office, Borden Institute "In 1862, shortly after the Battle of Antietam, army surgeon general Brigadier Gen. William Hammond ordered the establishment of the Army Medical Museum. Surgeons working on Civil War battlefields were encouraged to preserve anatomical specimens, such as severed limbs and diseased organs, and send them to the museum for further research. From the start, the museum made its displays of specimens and instruments, as well as its medical library, available to the general public. Under the leadership of later curators, such as John Billings and Walter Reed, the museum evolved into the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology. Readers interested in the history of science, especially medical science or in the devastating effects of Civil War weaponry on the human body, will be fascinated by the hundreds of graphic photographs." - LJ How can you get these publications from this year's Federal Notable Government Documents collection? Buy any of these publications online 24/7 by shopping the Notable Government Documents 2012 collection at GPO's Online Bookstore. Buy them at GPO's retail bookstore at 710 North Capitol Street NW, Washington, DC 20401, open Monday-Friday, 9am to 4pm, except Federal holidays, (202) 512-0132. Find these publications in a library near you. About the Author:  Michele Bartram is Promotions Manager for GPO's Publication and Information Sales Division and is responsible for online and offline marketing of the US Government Online Bookstore (http://bookstore.gpo.gov) and promoting Federal government content to the public. GPOBookstore | July 3, 2012 at 1:41 pm | Tags: african american history, ala, american library association, award winning books, black history, BP oil spill, British Petroleum, Deep water, deep water oil commission, deepwater, deepwater oil commission, federal librarians, gulf oil disaster, Gulf oil spill, history of pathology, librarians, Library Journal, Macondo, Notable Government Documents, Pentagon | Categories: 9/11, African Americans, Award Winning Books, Census Bureau, Center of Military History, Civil War, Department of Commerce, Department of Defense, Emergency Response, Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP), Government Printing Office (GPO), Gulf Coast, Libraries, Military History, U.S. Army, U.S. Army Medical Department | URL: http://wp.me/pRdY5-Bo Comment    See all comments Trouble clicking? Copy and paste this URL into your browser: http://govbooktalk.gpo.gov/2012/07/03/notable-federal-books-2012/ Thanks for flying with WordPress.com

The tragic death of President James Garfield

 CBS News' Sunday Morning July 1 2012

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7413480n

In 1881 James A. Garfield became the second U.S. President to be assassinated. As Mo Rocca learns, however, his death could have been avoided.

[Book author Candace Millard did research in the Museum, and former Museum curator Jeff Reznick appears]

Google Alert - "National Museum of Health and Medicine"

Artifact History: Nélaton probe « BoothieBarn The collection of the National Museum of Health and Medicine (NMHM) contains several objects relating to Presidential health and care. In regards to the ... boothiebarn.wordpress.com/.../artifact-history-nelaton-probe/

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What Would Sickles Do?

When I worked in the Museum for about 25 years, many times we found ourselves asking, "What Would Sickles Do?"* Sickles was a man of action, and took action when he perceived a need. I've noticed that many of the sites for sharing information about the Museum, including this one, are not being maintained, and some (as noted in the rest of the post) are actively being ruined, so I've decided to step back in.

The NMHM's public affairs office has moved the Museum's website and taken down a lot of material the Guide to the Collections (which listed over 500 large groupings of material for researchers), any articles written by staff, all the transcripts of the AFIP Oral histories, the Archives annual reports and probably more.

They did take the time to go through the Archives annual reports, cull all the users of the Archives over 20 years, and put it in one big list. They converted all the finding aids to pdfs, which probably makes them less visible to search engines. The also broke all the links in the History of Medicine Finding Aids Consortium search engine hosted by the National Library of Medicine.

You can still find the Guide to the Collections at the Internet Archive or buy a print copy at cost from Lulu. Fortunately Internet Archive had crawled the site and you can find all the useful missing material here. However, search engines will no longer pull this up for you apparently, based on a quick test for the Foreword to Photographic Atlas of Civil War Injuries (which you can still read here).


*Actually we didn't because he was a bit of a loon - see Gettysburg, battle of or, Key, Philip Barton, murder of.

Bruce Guthrie's NMHM opening pics

Pictures of the opening "crowd" -- http://www.bguthriephotos.com/graphlib.nsf/keys/2012_05_21B_NMHAMO

Some of the exhibits at -- http://www.bguthriephotos.com/graphlib.nsf/keys/2012_05_21A_NMHAM

Walt Whitman in the Civil War article online

Here's an article by my former colleagues about Whitman and the Army Medical Museum:

Remains of War : Walt Whitman, Civil War Soldiers, and the Legacy of Medical Collections
Lenore Barbian, Paul S. Sledzik, Jeffrey S. Reznick
http://lcoastpress.metapress.com/content/2hp4847807u83752/fulltext.pdf

Fredericksburg medical museum featured in paper

Bleeding-Edge Technologies

Dr. Hugh Mercer used only the best leeches, bone saws and lancets

By Holly J. Morris on December 01, 2011

 

http://www.expressnightout.com/2011/12/bleeding-edge-technologies/

RB Bontecou's Civil War photos on exhibit

http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2011/nov/28/someone-elses-children/

Nov 10: Cancer Education Film at the National Academy of Sciences

This is presented by friends of mine who really know their stuff and should be excellent. I'm planning on seeing it.

The Reward of Courage
Thursday, Nov. 10, 6 p.m. (doors open at 5:30 p.m.)
Keck Center, 500 Fifth St., N.W., Room 100

Join us for a screening of The Reward of Courage , the first public education film about cancer. Released 90 years ago this fall, the film introduced many ideas about cancer that are familiar today. A copy of this hitherto lost silent film was recently discovered, and in excellent
condition. A specially commissioned musical score, performed live by the
Snark Ensemble, will accompany the film.

More Information & RSVP
<http://click.newsletters.nas.edu/?ju=fe2e157376660074761676&ls=fdf017787767
0479741c797c&m=feef12737c620c&l=fe951573766c057973&s=fe1c10757562067a7c1d79&
jb=ffcf14&t=>



*********************

David Cantor PhD
Deputy Director
Office of History
National Institutes of Health
Bldg 45, Room 3AN38, MSC 6330
Bethesda, MD 20892-6330
U.S.A.
Phone: 301-402-8915 (Direct)
301-496-6610 (Office)
Fax: 301-402-1434
http://history.nih.gov/about/Cantor.html

Dr. William Gardner's death notice

Today's Post ran a death notice for Dr. William Gardner, the head of the American Registry of Pathology which supported the AFIP's missions and thus the Museum as well.

Dr. Gardener was the ultimate supervisor of over 200 people, and a busy man. I personally got along well with him, and enjoyed it when we talked history together. My condolences to his family.

It's the end of the world as we know it...

...and I feel fine. -REM, who also ended this year.

New Navy history of medicine blog sneak peak

It's not quite ready for prime time (as they used to say), but stop by and check out it - http://usstranquillity.blogspot.com/

Tranquillity, Solace & Mercy

The history of US Navy medicine

Museum reopens to public

since nobody who still works there posted this...

NATIONAL MEDICAL MUSEUM OPENS IN SILVER SPRING ON SEPT. 15, 2011

Exhibits will focus on human anatomy/pathology, Civil War medicine

September 15, 2011, Silver Spring, Md.: After more than 30 years at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in the District of Columbia, the National Museum of Health and Medicine has completed its relocation to its new home at the Fort Detrick -- Forest Glen Annex in Silver Spring, Md. The Museum will open its initial temporary exhibitions to the public on September 15, 2011.

Initial exhibits available to the public at the Museum's new location will feature artifacts and specimens related to Civil War medicine and human anatomy/pathology. "To Bind Up the Nation's Wounds" offers an in-depth view of military medicine at the time of the Civil War, and features the amputated leg of Union Maj. General Daniel E. Sickles. "Visibly Human: Health and Disease in the Human Body" features natural human specimens as well as plastinated artifacts, displaying normal and abnormal body functions. "Visibly Human" includes specimens such as a leg affected by a parasitic infection known as elephantiasis, a human trichobezoar, and more—including some of the "most requested" items from the collections.

The new building, located at 2500 Linden Lane in the Forest Glen section of Silver Spring, features a state-of-the-art collections management facility to house NMHM's 25-million-object National Historic Landmark collection.

The Forest Glen Annex is overseen by Fort Detrick in Frederick, Md. The new Museum was built under a design-build contract awarded to Costello Construction of Columbia, Md. and managed by the Baltimore District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The new NMHM offers a designated visitor parking lot and visitors will need to present photo identification upon entry to the Museum.

Exhibits available this fall are the first step in an ongoing exhibition development program that will culminate on May 21, 2012, on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the founding of the Army Medical Museum (today's NMHM). Stay tuned in coming months for a more revealing look at what is yet to come.

Visit the Museum's website, www.nmhm.washingtondc.museum, and Facebook page www.facebook.com/MedicalMuseum, for details.

About the National Museum of Health and Medicine

The National Museum of Health and Medicine, established in 1862, inspires interest in and promotes the understanding of medicine -- past, present, and future -- with a special emphasis on tri-service American military medicine. As a National Historic Landmark recognized for its ongoing value to the health of the military and to the nation, the Museum identifies, collects, and preserves important and unique resources to support a broad agenda of innovative exhibits, educational programs, and scientific, historical, and medical research. The Museum has relocated to 2500 Linden Lane, Silver Spring, Md., 20910. Visit the Museum website at www.nmhm.washingtondc.museum or call (301) 319-3300.

I'm done folks

After 22 and 1/2 years of being in charge of the Archives and working at the Museum, today was my last day. I wish the best to my former colleagues and the Museum. I'll probably post my new contact information here when I have it, but the work of this blog should fall to other hands now.

Mike Rhode

Well, sadly the Museum outlasted the AFIP

September sees the end of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology. It grew out of the Museum during World War II, and took the Museum over after the War, but due to BRAC it's been closed and some of its functions divided. Bits of the AFIP's tenure remain of course - lots of AFIP numbered specimens are in the Museum, and lots of former Museum specimens will be in the Joint Pathology Center. The numbering systems remain intertwined. And of course this blog is named for a remark by an AFIP head.

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."

National Public Radio's Walter Reed series

NPR writes in, "Thanks again for all of your help with this  As the different stories of the six-part series air this week, they will be added to this page: http://www.npr.org/series/139793002/closing-walter-reed"

Topics on the Pathology of Protozoan and Invasive Arthropod Diseases - last AFIP publication

Topics on the Pathology of Protozoan and Invasive Arthropod Diseases - the last AFIP publication - is available on the web for downloading for free.

 

Here's the description:

 

By: Wayne M. Meyers; Adolfo Firpo; Douglas J. Wear;

This e-book, Topics on the Pathology of Protozoan and Invasive Arthropod Diseases, was originally conceived as a companion volume of our earlier book, Pathology of Infectious Diseases, Helminthiases, published in the year 2000. During the production of the current volume, however, administrative circumstances were not conducive to its publication as a hardcover book. We are pleased nevertheless to be able to present this treatise on protozoan and invasive arthropod related diseases electronically. As such, a great advantage is that it will be available freely to a wider audience; not just to the so-called developed world, but to less affluent and more remote areas-- in fact to anyone with access to the internet worldwide. This publication comes at an appropriate time when there is ever increasing attention being given to the neglected tropical diseases of this world, and as world travel is increasing. Pathologists highly experienced in many of the diseases discussed here are often not locally available, increasing the likelihood that accurate diagnoses will be unduly delayed.

Direct download link

New article on medical museum move

Medical museum prepares move from Walter Reed campus

By Caitlin Fairchild
Government Executive August 26, 2011
http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=48630&dcn=todaysnews

Walter Reed Army Medical Center's end covered by Washington Post

Two military medical icons become one - an article about the closing, and, Final Walter Reed patients move- a photo gallery of images.

Build your own medical museum

The NY Times is reporting on the auction of a medical history collection.

THE GROG, Summer 2011-- A Journal of Navy Medical History and Culture

Dear Colleagues,

It is with great pleasure that we present the Summer 2011 edition of THE GROG.  In this edition we examine the Navy Medical Department's role in the Coal Medical Survey of 1947 and how it came about. We follow this with a spirited assortment of original articles including Dr. James Alsop's look at Navy hospital care in 1812, Jan Herman's  account of working in documentary films, Leanne Gradijan's statistical report of physicians in the Civil War and much more.  As always we hope you enjoy your humble tour of Navy medicine's past.

THE GROG is accessible through the link below.  If you prefer a PDF version to be sent directly to your inbox please let us know.  For all those who have already requested to be put on the PDF mailing list a  low resolution version will be sent  to you shortly.

Link to THE GROG, Summer 2011
http://issuu.com/thegrogration/docs/the_grog_summer_2011

Very Respectfully,

André

André B. Sobocinski
Deputy Historian and Publications Mgr.
Office of Medical History (M00H)
Dr. Benjamin Rush Education and Conference Ctr.
Navy Medicine Institute for the Medical Humanities  (NMI)
Bureau of Medicine and Surgery (BUMED)
Tel: 202.762.3244
Fax: 202.762.3380
E-Mail: andre.sobocinski@med.navy.mil

Got Grog?

Summer 2011
http://issuu.com/thegrogration/docs/the_grog_summer_2011

Spring 2011
 http://issuu.com/thegrogration/docs/the_grog_spring_2011

Museum public program photos online

 

They've been going to the Museum's website at http://www.nmhm.washingtondc.museum/events/recent_programs.html and are taken by new Museum photographer Matthew Breitbart.

Rhode's new assignment details

I'll be at the Office of the Medical Historian which is described here, setting up their archives, describing records and making them more accessible to researchers including 12,000 BUMED images that were scanned by AFIP and the Museum, some of which can be seen on the Flickr page.

FW: Rhode leaving medical museum

Dear colleagues and friends,

It is with distinct melancholy that I will be resigning my post as chief archivist and leaving the National Museum of Health and Medicine on September 9, 2011 for a promotion as archivist in the US Navy Bureau of
Medicine's Office of Medical History (which is also in Washington, DC). It has been a pleasure and an honor to have built and led the Otis Historical Archives for the Museum and the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology over the past twenty-two years. I trust I have lived up to museum curator George Otis' inspiring example.

Michael Rhode, Archivist
Otis Historical Archives
National Museum of Health and Medicine
Washington, DC 20306-6000
202-782-2212
http://nmhm.washingtondc.museum
http://nmhm.washingtondc.museum/collections/archives/archives.html

Nature on 'Death of a pathology centre'

Death of a pathology centre: Shelved Nature.com It was the beginning of the Army Medical Museum ( see slideshow 'A diary of death & disease'). Hammond wanted to collect and catalogue the specimens that ... Nature.com

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Museum volunteer Regina Hunt photo featured in Fort Detrick story

Click here to see.

City Paper on Walter Reed's closing

Fast Times at Walter Reed

by Lydia DePillis on Aug. 4, 2011

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/housingcomplex/2011/08/04/fast-times-at-walter-reed/

 

Former Museum Assistant Director of Collections wins award

James TH Connor, the former Museum Assistant Director of Collections has won the Dr. Wallace Ingram award at Memorial University Newfoundland.

Creative use of Museum's Civil War photos at Flickr

Here's a nice research use of the Civil War pictures we've been putting online -

 

From: Brendan Hamilton

 

I've recently been looking through the fantastic gallery of Civil War medical photographs you and your colleagues have been putting up on Flickr, and I got the idea of writing up brief profiles of the soldiers in them and posting them on my blog: http://vanishedhand.blogspot.com/

As a Civil War geek and poet, I'm more interested in the human side than the clinical info., so I thought I'd dig through the muster rolls, census info, etc., to try to paint some picture of who these people are. A macabre effort but that's what grabs me. I've only written up one soldier so far but I intend to do more in the coming weeks.

- his one soldier is Frederick Bentley.

Medical Museum Science Café, featuring author Matthew Algeo

When: Tuesday, July 12, 2011, 6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.

Where: Silver Spring Civic Center, Fenton Room
One Veterans Place, Silver Spring, MD 20910
http://www.silverspringdowntown.com

What: In "The President Is a Sick Man," author and journalist Matthew Algeo offers the first full account of a monumental political scandal that shook the Gilded Age. In July 1893, President Grover Cleveland boarded a yacht somewhere off Long Island Sound and seemingly vanished for five days. What the American public did not know was that a dream team of surgeons had been assembled on the boat to remove a cancerous growth from Cleveland’s jaw (the Museum has histological slides with samples of the tumor). When a reporter attempted to expose the truth behind the president’s disappearance, he was immediately discredited by White House staff who had decided Americans could not know the truth.

Join this discussion about public perception and presidential health. Copies of the book will be available for purchase; a book signing will follow.

Presented by the National Museum of Health and Medicine

Cost: Free

July 13: NLM History of Medicine Seminar - Cassedy Memorial Lecture

NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE
History of Medicine Division Seminar
Fourth Annual James H. Cassedy Memorial Lecture
Wednesday, July 13, 2011, 2:00 - 3:30 p.m.
Lister Hill Auditorium
NLM Building 38A
Bethesda, MD

"The Image of Modern Medicine: Aesthetic Belonging and the American Doctor, 1880-1950."
John Harley Warner, Yale University
Distinguished scholar John Harley Warner, Avalon Professor and Chair, History of Medicine, and Professor of History, Yale University, has long studied the cultural and social history of medicine in 19th and 20th century America.  This presentation will examine clinical practice, orthodox and alternative healing, the multiple meanings of scientific medicine, and the interactions among identity, narrative, and aesthetic in the grounding of modern medicine.

All are welcome.

For future programs, consult the NLM History of Medicine Division Seminar webpage:

www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd/happening/seminars/index.html