An unofficial blog about the National Museum of Health and Medicine (nee the Army Medical Museum) in Silver Spring, MD. Visit for news about the museum, new projects, musing on the history of medicine and neat pictures.
Wednesday, May 24, 2017
Gallaudet University's aviation medicine exhibit
My photographs of a tour with historian Jean Bergey and original volunteer Harry Larson (and Navy Medicine historian Andre Sobocinski) can be seen here - https://www.flickr.com/photos/42072348@N00/albums/72157684118530696
Thursday, April 27, 2017
Budapest's ‘Hospital in the Rock’ medical museum
Thursday, April 20, 2017
Pharmacy museums featured on Atlas Obscura
What Ho, Apothecary! 18 Intriguing Pharmacy Museums
Take a calmative and visit one of these preserved drug preparers.
http://www.atlasobscura.com/lists/pharmacy-museums-world
Sunday, April 16, 2017
WWI material at Rose Melnick Medical Museum
Wednesday, April 5, 2017
April 6: Stephen Greenberg on WWI medical photography
World War I Centenary Forum: The Frances Dupuy Fletcher Photo Album
by Circulating Now on April 5, 2017
Stephen J. Greenberg, will speak at 2 PM ET on April 6 in the NLM Lister Hill Auditorium on "The Frances Dupuy Fletcher Photo Album" as part of the Library's World War I Centenary Forum. Circulating Now interviewed him about his work.
The 2017 Spurgeon Neel Award
Named in honor of Major General (Retired) Spurgeon H. Neel, first Commanding General of Health Services Command (now U.S. Army Medical Command), the award competition is open to all federal employees, military and civilian, as well as non-governmental civilian authors who submit manuscripts for publishing consideration.
The AMEDD Museum Foundation will present a special medallion award and a $1000 monetary prize to the winner, who will be notified in advance, at a Foundation-sponsored event early in 2018.
All manuscripts must be submitted to the AMEDD Museum Foundation, amedd.foundation@att.net, by 30 September 2017. At the time of submission, a manuscript must be original work and not pending publication in any other periodical. It must conform to the Writing and Submission Guidance of the AMEDD Journal, and must relate to the history, legacy and/or traditions of the Army Medical Department. Manuscripts will be reviewed and evaluated by a six-member committee appointed by the President of the AMEDD Museum Foundation. The winning manuscript will be selected no later than December 2017.
Additional detail concerning the Spurgeon Neel Annual Award may be obtained by contacting Mrs. Sue McMasters at the AMEDD Museum Foundation, 210-226-0265.
Tuesday, April 4, 2017
April 6: Sarah Eilers speaks on WWI facial reconstruction
World War I Centenary Forum: Masking Devastation
by Circulating NowSarah Eilers, will speak at 2 PM ET on April 6 in the NLM Lister Hill Auditorium on "Masking Devastation: Inside Anna Ladd's Paris Studio" as part of the Library's World War I Centenary Forum. Circulating Now interviewed her about her work.
Circulating Now: Please tell us a little about yourself. Where are you from? What do you do? What is your typical workday like?
The original film she discusses is at the National Museum of Health and Medicine, since the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology no longer exists. See the rest of the interview at https://circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov/2017/04/04/world-war-i-centenary-forum-masking-devastation/
Monday, March 27, 2017
Mobile Medical Museum featured on tv
Mobile Medical Museum full of interesting artifacts
Mar 24, 2017By Lee Peck, FOX10 News Reporter
http://www.fox10tv.com/story/34994918/mobile-medical-museum-full-of-interesting-artifacts
Thursday, March 23, 2017
Major exhibit on St. Elizabeths mental hospital opens in DC
When we thought mental illness could be cured with architecture
Express March 232017
https://www.washingtonpost.com/express/wp/2017/03/23/when-we-thought-mental-illness-could-be-cured-with-architecture/
Thursday, March 16, 2017
New York Academy of Medicine archivist featured online
Rebecca Pou | Movers & Shakers 2017 – Digital Developers
St. Elizabeths hospital exhibit at National Building Museum
MARCH 25, 2017–JANUARY 15, 2018
http://nbm.org/exhibition/architecture-asylum-st-elizabeths-1852-2017/
I'm sure this will be a good exhibit and I plan to go see it. The hospital treated mentally-ill soldiers for much of the nineteenth century and there's a Civil War graveyard on the site.
St. Elizabeths had a historic collection, or museum, that was broken up in the 1990s with material going to the National Archives, the National Museum of Health and Medicine, Howard University, and at least two other places.
Here's the Medical Museum's description of its holdings:
SAINT ELIZABETH'S HOSPITAL COLLECTION, 1861-1990
No finding aid,21 boxes, unarranged, inactive, unrestricted.
Material transferred when Saint Elizabeth's closed its museum due to being transferred from the federal government to the District of Columbia. Includes books, photographs,paintings, patient art, certificates, and pamphlets. Most photographs and paintings are portraits of staff. Objects also in Historical Collections.
.
Additional material transferred to the National Portrait Gallery, National Museum of American History, Howard University,Department of the Interior Museum, Department of Health and Human Services' SAMSUS, Smithsonian Institution Castle, National Archives, and the Octagon House.
Wednesday, March 15, 2017
March 21: Shelley McKellar speaks on artificial hearts at NLM
Thursday, February 16, 2017
Wednesday, February 15, 2017
Search for new Director - Florence Nightingale Museum in London
https://jobs.theguardian.com/
The Florence Nightingale Museum
Museum: 020 7188 4400
Direct line: 020 7188 2830
Follow us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
FOR MORE DETAILS:
www.florence-nightingale.co.uk
Tuesday, February 7, 2017
Edward Jenner Museum in financial trouble
Jan 31, 2017
Sunday, February 5, 2017
Medical illustration blog at National Museum of Civil War Medicine
Military Medical Illustration: A Civil War Invention?
by JTH Connor and Michael Rhode
Tuesday, January 31, 2017
Ukranian pharmacy museum profiled
Under the Black Eagle Pharmacy Museum
Ukraine's oldest operating pharmacy now offers guests a fascinating walk through apothecary history.
http://www.atlasobscura.com/
Monday, January 23, 2017
Michael Sappol on medical photography
Anatomy's Photography: Objectivity, showmanship and the reinvention of the anatomical image 1860-1950
https://remedianetwork.net/2017/01/23/anatomys-photography-objectivity-showmanship-and-the-reinvention-of-the-anatomical-image-1860-1950/
Thursday, January 19, 2017
Alexandria's real Civil War hospital featured on NLM blog
Mercy Street's Mansion House Hospital
By Stephen J. Greenberg
January 19, 2017
https://circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov/2017/01/19/mercy-streets-mansion-house-hospital/#like-10817
Tuesday, November 8, 2016
Wednesday, October 5, 2016
Dittrick Museum featured
Thursday, August 11, 2016
Aug 20: Stanley Burns speaks at new Gettysburg PA medical museum
Tuesday, August 2, 2016
National Museum of Civil War Medicine criticized for logo
D.C. tourism guide rejects Frederick museum's ad containing Confederate Flag
July 22nd 2016
http://foxbaltimore.com/news/local/ad-doesnt-fly-in-dc
Wednesday, June 15, 2016
A somewhat skewed article on the Army Medical Museum
Four More Heads for the Indian Trophy Room
Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2016/06/15/four-more-heads-indian-trophy-room-164780
Tuesday, June 14, 2016
June 22: NLM James H. Cassedy History of Medicine Lecture
Dear Colleagues,
You are cordially invited to the next NLM History of Medicine lecture, to be held on Wednesday, June 22, from 2 pm to 3pm in the NLM Lister Hill Auditorium, Building 38A, National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, MD. For this year's James H. Cassedy Memorial Lecture, W. Bruce Fye, MD, MA, Emeritus Professor of Medicine and the History of Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, will speak on "The Origins and Evolution of the Mayo Clinic from 1864 to 1939: A Minnesota Family Practice Becomes an International 'Medical Mecca'"
This presentation will describe the origins and international impact of the Mayo Clinic through 1939, the year that William J. and Charles H. Mayo died. Multispecialty group practice was invented at Mayo at the beginning of the twentieth century. A visiting Canadian surgeon wrote in 1906, "Specialization and cooperation, with the best that can be had in each department, is here the motto. Cannot these principles be tried elsewhere?" Dr. Fye will address the Mayo Clinic's major (and underappreciated) role in the development of rigorous postgraduate (specialty) training. Unlike traditional academic medical centers that emphasize research, Mayo's main mission has always been patient care. This patient-centered activity has been undertaken in an environment enriched by extensive programs devoted to specialty training and clinical research. The clinic's long-standing culture of collaboration is cited as one of the key ingredients of its success.
This lecture will be live-streamed globally, and subsequently archived, by NIH VideoCasting:
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).
In addition, we warmly welcome you to visit our blog, "Circulating Now," where you can learn more about the collections and related programs of the History of Medicine Division of the NLM:
http://circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov/
Here also you can read interviews with previous lecturers:
http://circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov/tag/lecture/
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
301-827-4577
Friday, June 10, 2016
Job opening at NMHM
There is a rare opening at the National Museum of Health and Medicine (NMHM) for someone with the right combination of skills (osteology, anatomy, museum collections management.) Application period closes June 22.
MUSEUM SPECIALIST (ANATOMICAL)
Defense Health Agency
https://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/441147300/Tuesday, June 7, 2016
Mountain Meadows Massacre skull subject to Congressional scrutiny at NMHM
In Senate, Arkansans request new life for a child's burial
Boozman: Get skull out of museum
http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2016/jun/07/in-senate-new-life-for-a-child-s-burial/Sunday, May 22, 2016
Ebenstein on her new wax Venuses book
The Strangest Book of 2016 is 'The Anatomical Venus'
Monday, May 16, 2016
Edinburgh University's Anatomical Museum has an app
Grisly medical museum opens to virtual world for first time
The Macabre artefacts from Scotland's medical history will be virtually on show for the first time.
http://stv.tv/news/east-central/1354232-grisly-medical-museum-opens-to-virtual-world-for-first-time/
Thursday, May 5, 2016
The 2016 Spurgeon Neel Award open for submissions
Named in honor of Major General (Retired) Spurgeon H. Neel, first Commanding General of Health Services Command (now U.S. Army Medical Command), the award competition is open to all federal employees, military and civilian, as well as nongovernmental civilian authors. More information about MG (Ret) Neel can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spurgeon_Neel.
The AMEDD Museum Foundation will present a special medallion award and a $500 monetary prize to the winner at a Foundation-sponsored event early in 2017. The winning submission will be published in the AMEDD Journal during 2017.
All manuscripts must be submitted to the AMEDD Museum Foundation by September 30, 2016. At the time of submission, a manuscript must be original work and not pending publication in any other periodical. It must conform to the Writing and Submission Guidance of the AMEDD Journal, and must relate to the history, legacy, and/or traditions of the Army Medical Department. Manuscripts will be reviewed and evaluated by a six-member board with representatives from the AMEDD Museum Foundation, the AMEDD Center of History and Heritage, and the AMEDD Journal. The winning manuscript will be selected and announced in December 2016.
Submit manuscripts to amedd.foundation@att.net. Additional details concerning the Spurgeon Neel Annual Award may be obtained by contacting Mrs. Sue McMasters at the AMEDD Museum Foundation, 210-226-0265.
Friday, April 8, 2016
An article about exhibiting human bodies
http://theconversation.com/reconsidering-body-worlds-why-do-we-still-flock-to-exhibits-of-dead-human-beings-57024
Thursday, March 10, 2016
Archivist and curator jobs open at NMHM
Job Title: ARCHIVIST
Department: Department of Defense
Agency: Defense Health Agency
Silver Spring, MD View Map
https://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/431610700/
Department: Department of Defense
Agency: Defense Health Agency
Hiring Organization: DEFENSE HEALTH AGENCY
Silver Spring, MD View Map
Tuesday, March 8, 2016
St. Elizabeths brains at NMHM
Monday, March 7, 2016
New book on museums and human remains out
Wednesday, March 2, 2016
The Grog, A Journal of Navy Medical History and Culture--Issue 44
It is with great pleasure that we offer you the latest ration of The Grog, A Journal of Navy Medical History and Culture. In this edition we look back at the Navy's fight against tuberculosis in the decades before antibiotics. Partly inspired by the work of a tubercular physician in the Adirondacks and a new method of treatment he popularized, in 1906 the Navy established a
special hospital in a landlocked state that served only tubercular Sailors and Marines. In our cover story we revisit this vanguard institution and look at the innovative methods for treating the so-called "incurables." We follow this story with an eclectic line-up of articles including our latest installment of our "year in review" series, as well as first-hand accounts of independent hospital corps duty in the South Pole and the curious, but true tale of how a Navy physician used a sigmoidoscope to save (USS) America.
As always, we hope you enjoy this tour of the high seas of Navy Medicine's past!
The Grog is accessible through the link below. PDF versions are available upon request. Those currently on the PDF Mailing list will receive a separate e-mail.
http://issuu.com/thegrogration/docs/the_grog__issue_44
Very Respectfully,
André B. Sobocinski
Historian
Communications Directorate (M09B7)
Bureau of Medicine and Surgery (BUMED)
Tel: (703) 681-2473
Email: andre.b.sobocinski.civ@mail.mil
Got Navy Medical History?
http://www.med.navy.mil/bumed/nmhistory/
Friday, February 19, 2016
New Orleans' Pharmacy Museum profiled
Opium-soaked tampons, voodoo elixirs and leeches: welcome to New Orleans' Pharmacy Museum
Located in the townhouse of the US's first licensed pharmacist, this lively, macabre, cringe-inducing museum provides a refreshing re-contextualization of its many artifacts and an unflinching encounter with our mortality
Friday 16 January 2015
http://www.theguardian.com/travel/2015/jan/16/new-orleans-pharmacy-museum-opium-soaked-tampons-voodoo-elixirs
Coyle collection uploaded to Medical Heritage Library
Scanned and online here are instructions to medical officers upon joining the Haven, her letters home to her mother and her photographs.
72 items are available at this link - https://archive.org/details/SCN0024
Unfortunately the link was autogenerated, so doesn't make much sense in as a human term.
Only part of the collection was digitized and uploaded. Coyle's service record and her annotated copy of the Haven's cruise book have not been scanned. The originals of her letters remain with her family and BUMED was provided with digital copies.
Thursday, February 18, 2016
NMHM archivist Boyle featured on NLM blog
In the Belly of the Beast: A History of Alternative Medicine at the NIH
by Circulating NowDr. Eric Boyle spoke today at the National Library of Medicine on "In the Belly of the Beast: A History of Alternative Medicine at the National Institutes of Health." Dr. Boyle is Chief Archivist at the National Museum of Health and Medicine. Circulating Now interviewed him about his work.
Thursday, January 28, 2016
POSTPONED: NLM History of Medicine Lecture
Monday, January 25, 2016
Former NMHM museum curator leads ID lab
http://www.omaha.com/news/military/after-slow-start-offutt-lab-is-now-bustling-in-effort/article_932c36a6-0bf6-5eee-81bf-d6c58146f2d0.html
Thursday, January 21, 2016
NLM History of Medicine Lecture
Sunday, January 17, 2016
Mercy Street and Civil War medicine
Snyder: Have 'Mercy' on us all
New PBS drama goes inside Civil War hospital
COMMENTARY BY ELIZABETH SNYDER
http://www.kenoshanews.com/get_out/snyder_have_mercy_on_us_all_486160707.php
Tuesday, January 12, 2016
Wednesday, October 28, 2015
St. Elizabeth lantern slides from NMHM and NARA
St. Elizabeths Stories: Turning the Lights Back On With Long-Forgotten Images
Friday, October 16, 2015
NMHM's former location becomes lede to New Yorker story
Thursday, September 24, 2015
Barts Pathology Museum article
Body Snatchers And Abnormalities In Jars: A History Of Barts Pathology Museum
Friday, August 21, 2015
NMHM to move under Defense Health Agency
| ||||||||
3 US Organizations Set To Join Defense Health Agency NMHM was founded as the Army Medical Museum in 1862 and is home to a National Historic Landmark collection of more than 25 million objects. | ||||||||
Thursday, August 6, 2015
Robert Osborn-illustrated booklet online
Saturday, July 4, 2015
Lincoln conspirators skull's reburial, 20 years ago
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/the-exhumed-skull-of-a-would-be-assassin-and-its-long-journey-home/2015/07/03/cd2e7bd0-1ff2-11e5-84d5-eb37ee8eaa61_story.html
Thursday, June 25, 2015
National Library of Medicine historian Michael Sappol on WWII animation
The Inside Story
Circulating Now on June 25, 2015
By Michael Sappol
Inside Out, Pixar's latest hit animated feature, is mainly set on the inside of a young girl's brain. Riley, an eleven-year-old, is operated by a committee of characters, each representing an emotion, who collectively try to deal with her troubles at school and home. It seems like a very contemporary way to depict consciousness, and critical reaction from psychologists and neuroscientists has been largely favorable.
But, strangely, the film echoes an older and quite obscure piece of animated cartooning: a 1944 movie made during wartime for the U.S. Coast Guard, The Inside Story. That film, now preserved in the historical audiovisual collection of the National Library of Medicine, deals with the typical emotional problems suffered by men entering the military service and argues that psychotherapeutic approaches may help.
Continued at http://circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov/2015/06/25/the-inside-story/
Sunday, June 21, 2015
Civil War medicine by National Library of Medicine historians
Six Ways the Civil War Changed American Medicine
150 years ago, the historic conflict forced doctors to get creative and to reframe the way they thought about medicine
Wednesday, June 3, 2015
Buffalo medical museum featured on tv
Fascinating, strange collection to discover at UB's Medical Museum
June 3: Civil War medicine presentation at National Archives
William G. McGowan Theater & YouTube
Civil War Medicine & Surgery
Archives specialist Rebecca Sharp will discuss The Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion, 1861-1865. This published source contains information about Civil War medical and surgical procedures as well as case studies. Video | Captioning | Presentation slides | Handout 1 | Handout 2.
Thursday, May 14, 2015
Fwd: [caduceus-l] CFP: A Medical History of the Vietnam War
Presentations on all facets of medicine and healthcare related to the Vietnam War are welcome to include historical understandings of military medicine as practiced by all participants and in all geographic regions, the repercussions of the war on the practice of medicine, medicine in various campaigns, medical care outside of Vietnam, effects on the home front, postwar medical issues, mental health issues, and related topics.
Conference organizers welcome both individual presentation proposals as well as preorganized panel proposals that include two to three presentations. Conference sessions will
follow the standard 90 minute format to include one hour for presentations and 30 minutes for questions and discussion. Presentations by veterans are especially encouraged as are presentations by graduate students. All of the conference organizers are partners with the Department of Defense's Vietnam War Commemoration. In keeping with that partnership, there will be a dignified event to thank veterans for their service.
Proposal submission deadline is October 31, 2015. Please send a 250 word abstract and separate two-page CV/resume to steve.maxner@ttu.edu. If submitting a panel proposal, please include separate abstracts for each proposed presentation and CVs/resumes for each speaker.
Thank you for your interest in participating in this conference.
Wednesday, April 22, 2015
Dick Mulvaney's polio vaccination campaign remembered
A '50s children's crusade, aka Amid debate about vaccines, polio remembered as a scourge defeated
Washington Post April 22 2015
Monday, April 20, 2015
Morton's Medical Bibliography, Fifth Edition (Garrison-Morton), is now freely available online
HistoryofScience.com
HistoryofInformation.com
BookHistory.net
Jeremy Norman & Co., Inc.
Mail: P.O. Box 867
Novato, CA 94948
UPS, FedEx, DHL:
936-B Seventh St., PMB 238
Novato, CA 94945-3010
Friday, April 17, 2015
Florabel Mullick, AFIP's last director, has passed away
A 1994 oral history with Dr. Mullick can be found on the Medical Heritage Library.
Thursday, April 16, 2015
AMEDD Historian #10 out now
Welcome to the another issue of the "AMEDD Historian;" an electronic
history journal designed to bring you articles and pictures on Army Medicine
history. We want your contributions so if you have an idea for an Army
Medicine historical article, please write it up and submit it to us in the
electronic address in the "AMEDD Historian."
The "AMEDD Historian" will be published 4 times per year (quarterly),
so we'll need your input NLT 1 Mar, 7 Jun, 6 Sep. This journal will be
success with your contributions and I look forward to receiving your
articles on our proud heritage.
Here is the link:
http://history.amedd.army.mil/newsletters/AMEDD_history_newsletterNo10.pdf.
ROBERT S. DRISCOLL
Command Historian and
Chief, AMEDD Center of History and Heritage
US Army Medical Command
2748 Worth Road, Ste 48
Fort Sam Houston, TX 78234-6003
Wednesday, April 15, 2015
Thursday, April 2, 2015
"Doctoring the Civil War" lecture April 8 in North Carolina
The Health Sciences Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill invites you to a lecture by Shauna Devine, Ph.D., of the University of Western Ontario, who will examine the ways the American Civil War transformed medicine through a series of never before published medical photographs from Civil War hospitals and laboratories.
The lecture will be held April 8 at 5:30 p.m. in the open event space on the second floor of the Health Sciences Library.
Learn more about the lecture and speaker. RSVP to Anne Dudley at dudleyac@email.unc.edu.
Sunday, March 29, 2015
New Lincoln exhibit at NMHM press release online
Medical Care During President Lincoln's Final Hours Commemorated in New Exhibit
http://www.medicalmuseum.mil/index.cfm?p=media.news.article.2015.03262015