Sally Squires and her husband John Wilhelm have done an interesting and touching documentary film "Triumph at Carville: A Tale of Leprosy in America" which can be seen at the Museum with a small exhibit on leprosy (aka Hansen's Disease). Today she had an article in the Post about how the disease is still around, but not as dangerous as it has been in the past. See "A Scary Diagnosis Hits Home When a Tiny Rash Turns Out to Be Leprosy, A Teen and Her Community Learn the Modern Reality of Living With the Biblical Disease," By Sally Squires, Washington Post Staff Writer, Tuesday, May 27, 2008; Page HE01. On June 19th, we'll have d a free lecture on Hansen's disease by Wayne M. Meyers of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology. Dr. Meyers is an expert on the disease, which used to be a major area of research in the AFIP, and we have an oral history with him. Drs. Meyers and Chapman Binford were the main doctors working on it. We have some of Dr. Binford's records:
OHA 114
* Binford Leprosy Material, 1922-1975
* .5 cubic foot, 1 box.
* No finding aid, arranged, inactive, unrestricted.
* Public Health Bulletins, reprints, manuscript articles, journals, and photographs related to leprosy. Includes articles and correspondence by Chapman H. Binford, chief of the AFIP Geographic Pathology department.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Museum mentioned on History News Network
See "Memorial Day, the Great War, and America’s Last Surviving World War I Veteran,"
By Jeffrey S. Reznick, a former curator at the museum. Jeff used a couple of photos from the archives, as you can too if you click on our Flickr links to the right.
By Jeffrey S. Reznick, a former curator at the museum. Jeff used a couple of photos from the archives, as you can too if you click on our Flickr links to the right.
London history of medicine conference includes military medicine
History of Medicine Research Student Conference
Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine at UCL
Thursday and Friday 19-20 June 2008
The conference will feature eighteen papers from research students in
four areas of the history of medicine:
- Understanding Medicine and the Body in History
- Medicine, Health and War in History
- Asian Medicine in History
- Healthcare in British History
There will also be panel discussions chaired by established academics including Professors Steven King and Paul Weindling of Oxford Brookes University and Professor Roger Cooter of UCL
The conference will close with a keynote address from Professor Anne Hardy of UCL, Editor of Medical History
Places are limited and will be assigned on a first come first served basis. There will be a small fee to cover registration and cateringcosts.
If you are interested in attending the conference, contact George Gosling at gcgosling@brookes.ac.uk by Friday 30 May 2008.
The full conference programme and poster can be accessed by following
this link: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/histmed/library/hmrs_conf
For information on this event and other opportunities see the 'History
of Medicine Research Students' group on facebook at
http://brookes.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6213918604
Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine at UCL
Thursday and Friday 19-20 June 2008
The conference will feature eighteen papers from research students in
four areas of the history of medicine:
- Understanding Medicine and the Body in History
- Medicine, Health and War in History
- Asian Medicine in History
- Healthcare in British History
There will also be panel discussions chaired by established academics including Professors Steven King and Paul Weindling of Oxford Brookes University and Professor Roger Cooter of UCL
The conference will close with a keynote address from Professor Anne Hardy of UCL, Editor of Medical History
Places are limited and will be assigned on a first come first served basis. There will be a small fee to cover registration and cateringcosts.
If you are interested in attending the conference, contact George Gosling at gcgosling@brookes.ac.uk by Friday 30 May 2008.
The full conference programme and poster can be accessed by following
this link: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/histmed/library/hmrs_conf
For information on this event and other opportunities see the 'History
of Medicine Research Students' group on facebook at
http://brookes.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6213918604
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Forensic identification of dead in China disaster
We're opening an exhibit later this year - Resolved - on forensic identification of military dead. This article has some interesting parallels to the difficulty of identifying people after time has elapsed.
China’s Rush to Dispose of Dead Compounds Agony
By EDWARD WONG
Published: May 24, 2008
Family members have not been able to identify relatives and traditional reverence for the deceased has been upset.
China’s Rush to Dispose of Dead Compounds Agony
By EDWARD WONG
Published: May 24, 2008
Family members have not been able to identify relatives and traditional reverence for the deceased has been upset.
Article on future of military museums
This article is mostly on the Navy museum, but could some of the same issues apply to the Medical Museum?
"Museums Look Into the Future of Military History," By Michael E. Ruane, Washington Post Staff Writer, Sunday, May 25, 2008; Page C01.
"Museums Look Into the Future of Military History," By Michael E. Ruane, Washington Post Staff Writer, Sunday, May 25, 2008; Page C01.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
A medical museum reopens in UK
See "The history of medicine," By Natalie Slater, 19/5/2008 on 'the newly refurbished medical museum at the Royal Berkshire Hospital.' The difference between a national museum like ours which was built by the federal government and the more common university or hospital museum needs to be examined more, I think.
A day in the life...
An interesting research request came in through the Radiology department today. Someone's looking for fluoroscope burns. So far I haven't turned up exactly what they want, which is modern color shots, but check out this photo of a wax model that I did find:
The caption reads: Breast. Burn, X-Ray. Wax model. No. 92 X-ray burn involving right breast and axilla. Necrosis of tissue producing sloughing ulceration, the bottom of which includes pleura and lung tissue. X-ray treatment was applied for carcinoma of the breast. Colored, woman, age 35 years. Army Medical Museum model prepared by Dr. J.F. Wallis.
Wallis means that it was done during World War 1, because that's when he was on the staff. We might still have this model in historical collections, but that department was working at the warehouse today, and thus missed the coffee and cake that we had to celebrate the Museum's birthday.
So how does one find something in the Archives? We've got an internal database (or fifty) that you can access a derivative of at our Guide to Collections. With the help of contract Archivists from the Information Manufacturing Company, we're scanning tens of thousands of images per year and uploading them into an internal database, only available to our staff now, but eventually we'll open it to a wider audience. And some of the finding something is me or one of the other archivists knowing where something is because we put it away a decade ago or so.
The caption reads: Breast. Burn, X-Ray. Wax model. No. 92 X-ray burn involving right breast and axilla. Necrosis of tissue producing sloughing ulceration, the bottom of which includes pleura and lung tissue. X-ray treatment was applied for carcinoma of the breast. Colored, woman, age 35 years. Army Medical Museum model prepared by Dr. J.F. Wallis.
Wallis means that it was done during World War 1, because that's when he was on the staff. We might still have this model in historical collections, but that department was working at the warehouse today, and thus missed the coffee and cake that we had to celebrate the Museum's birthday.
So how does one find something in the Archives? We've got an internal database (or fifty) that you can access a derivative of at our Guide to Collections. With the help of contract Archivists from the Information Manufacturing Company, we're scanning tens of thousands of images per year and uploading them into an internal database, only available to our staff now, but eventually we'll open it to a wider audience. And some of the finding something is me or one of the other archivists knowing where something is because we put it away a decade ago or so.
Today is our birthday
So far the Museum's survived four name changes, at least 8 moves, several shutdowns for moves or wars, and is 146 years old today.
Surgeon General Hammond
In Circular No. 2, issued on May 21, 1862, Army Surgeon General William Hammond specifically stated "Medical Directors will furnish one copy of this circular to every medical officer in the department in which they are serving." (Henry p. 12) This circular established the Museum, stating:
As it is proposed to establish in Washington, an Army Medical Museum, Medical officers are directed diligently to collect, and to forward to the office of the Surgeon General, all specimens of morbid anatomy, surgical or medical, which may be regarded as valuable; together with projectiles and foreign bodies removed, and such other matters as may prove of interest in the study of military medicine or surgery.
These objects should be accompanied by short explanatory notes.
Each specimen in the collection will have appended the name of the medical officer by whom it was prepared.
Shortly after the initial circular letter was issued, Hammond recalled John Hill Brinton from duty on the western battlefields. Brinton arrived hoping to receive one of the newly-created medical inspectorships, a job for which he felt well-qualified. Instead, he was assigned to the examining board for surgeons, placed in charge of the Museum, and told to prepare the surgical history of the war. Brinton's colleague, Joseph Javier Woodward, had been assigned to the Surgeon General's Office on May 19, and was responsible for the medical (ie caused by disease) collections and history of the war.
Surgeon General HammondIn Circular No. 2, issued on May 21, 1862, Army Surgeon General William Hammond specifically stated "Medical Directors will furnish one copy of this circular to every medical officer in the department in which they are serving." (Henry p. 12) This circular established the Museum, stating:
As it is proposed to establish in Washington, an Army Medical Museum, Medical officers are directed diligently to collect, and to forward to the office of the Surgeon General, all specimens of morbid anatomy, surgical or medical, which may be regarded as valuable; together with projectiles and foreign bodies removed, and such other matters as may prove of interest in the study of military medicine or surgery.
These objects should be accompanied by short explanatory notes.
Each specimen in the collection will have appended the name of the medical officer by whom it was prepared.
Shortly after the initial circular letter was issued, Hammond recalled John Hill Brinton from duty on the western battlefields. Brinton arrived hoping to receive one of the newly-created medical inspectorships, a job for which he felt well-qualified. Instead, he was assigned to the examining board for surgeons, placed in charge of the Museum, and told to prepare the surgical history of the war. Brinton's colleague, Joseph Javier Woodward, had been assigned to the Surgeon General's Office on May 19, and was responsible for the medical (ie caused by disease) collections and history of the war.
Monday, May 19, 2008
2 articles on military medicine
Steven Solomon sent in these two links:
"Military medical advancements benefit civilian health care," by Navy Lt. Jennifer Cragg, American Forces Press Service - which is always nice of course, but here's the takeaway quote, "In today's war, in the combat theater, 97 percent of those people who
were wounded in theater survived those wounds because of the medical care," Dr. Kilpatrick said. "That's just a phenomenal number, and it's because that care is so immediate.
and
"AFMC surgeon general: joint medical teams saving lives," by Chuck Paone,66th Air Base Wing Public Affairs, and the quote to note is: But what's more, follow-on studies are now showing that military trauma care professionals are achieving identically dramatic fatality reductions at home. "That means they're bringing these skills back with them and getting the same results for people who suffer non-combat-related traumas," he said.
"Military medical advancements benefit civilian health care," by Navy Lt. Jennifer Cragg, American Forces Press Service - which is always nice of course, but here's the takeaway quote, "In today's war, in the combat theater, 97 percent of those people who
were wounded in theater survived those wounds because of the medical care," Dr. Kilpatrick said. "That's just a phenomenal number, and it's because that care is so immediate.
and
"AFMC surgeon general: joint medical teams saving lives," by Chuck Paone,66th Air Base Wing Public Affairs, and the quote to note is: But what's more, follow-on studies are now showing that military trauma care professionals are achieving identically dramatic fatality reductions at home. "That means they're bringing these skills back with them and getting the same results for people who suffer non-combat-related traumas," he said.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Prosthetics ruled equal, not better
A South African who races on two prosthetic legs, designed to mimic a cheetah's hind legs, can compete in the Olympics if he can qualify. The decision was made after testing his oxygen consumption to determine that he was in fact, working as hard as someone with two natural legs would be. I'll spare you my editorial comment on that and for more details, see "Double-Amputee Allowed To Compete for Olympic Bid: Appeals Court: No Edge Gained From Blades," By Craig Timberg, Washington Post Foreign Service, Saturday, May 17, 2008; Page A01.
Friday, May 16, 2008
And what about the future of Walter Reed (and thus the Museum?)
Beats me, but an article from the Post today had some interesting sentences, including "The 2009 defense authorization bill that emerged from a House committee late Wednesday would halt construction of replacement hospitals for Walter Reed Army Medical Center until the Defense Department demonstrates that it can deliver world-class health services." and "Murtha's concerns include his view that there has been insufficient oversight of the design of the new hospitals, as well as the fact that estimated costs for the expansion in Bethesda, which will be renamed Walter Reed, have increased to $940 million today from $201 million in May 2005."
See "House Panel to Delay Work on Two Projects: Bill Seeks Better Military Health Care," by Amy Gardner, Washington Post Staff Writer, Friday, May 16, 2008; Page B01.
See "House Panel to Delay Work on Two Projects: Bill Seeks Better Military Health Care," by Amy Gardner, Washington Post Staff Writer, Friday, May 16, 2008; Page B01.
A day in the life...
I've been realizing this blog is drifting towards aiming squarely at history of medicine types, so I'm going to try to wrench it in a slightly different direction. Here's how I spent part of my day as an archivist today.
I was walking through the exhibit floor this morning and heard voices coming out of our Human Body, Human Being exhibit. The exhibit flooded over the weekend when Washington got 5-7 inches of rain. That side of the museum is built into a hill and has been flooding off and on for about a decade now. On the past Monday, the exhibits and collection staff had dismantled the exhibits against the wall - on the urinary system and bones - and moved them out of the way so the building engineers could look up and say, "yup, it's leaking water."
The whole hall (the Anatifacts area in this map), which is about 1/4 of the exhibit floor, was closed all week, but this morning Steve Hill, head of our exhibits staff, Tim Clarke Jr, our public relations guy and Beth Eubanks, our registrar, were muscling some of the exhibit cases into a new configuration about 10 feet from the wall. I lent a hand and helped and a little after opening the cases were in place. Brian Spatola, collections manager of anatomical collections, brought the specimens back from storage and the four of them put the display back together. Meanwhile...
...I was leading a tour of people who had bought a silent auction benefit behind-the-scenes tour. Our former PR guy Steven Solomon had started these a few years back. We started in historical collections where collections manager Alan Hawk pulled out a bunch of surgical kits dating from the Civil War until World War II, and then showed them wax and plaster models of facial reconstruction surgery from the same time period. Anatomical curator Franklin Damann was giving a tour of his own in anatomical collections, so we swapped groups and he showed my group Civil War amputated femurs, Ham the space chimp, plastinated organs and a quick glance into the wet tissue room where specimens are stored in bottles of formalin.
We combined the two groups and neuroanatomical collections manager Archie Fobbs displayed some of our brain slides. Instead of making a microscope slide, his predecessors sectioned and mounted slices of whole brains and you can see stroke or tumor damage. I think the high point for the group was when Archie opened up his demo tub of a brain preserved in alcohol and let people handle it. Nobody was in the Human Developmental Anatomy Center, so I did a quick riff on scanning slides of embryos which had been collected 100 years ago to make first wax or plaster models of organ systems. These are now being scanned with the models made in the computer. Finally I gave my standard tour of the archives, including a letter signed by Walter Reed, a 1917 doctor's diary, a revised confidential asbestosis report for Johns Manville from 1949, a lantern slide photograph of a survivor from Hiroshima, an album of the museum's Civil War Surgical Photographs and some of our trade lit advertising material.
So there's a good bit of a typical day. If there's interest in more posts like this, comment below please.
I was walking through the exhibit floor this morning and heard voices coming out of our Human Body, Human Being exhibit. The exhibit flooded over the weekend when Washington got 5-7 inches of rain. That side of the museum is built into a hill and has been flooding off and on for about a decade now. On the past Monday, the exhibits and collection staff had dismantled the exhibits against the wall - on the urinary system and bones - and moved them out of the way so the building engineers could look up and say, "yup, it's leaking water."
The whole hall (the Anatifacts area in this map), which is about 1/4 of the exhibit floor, was closed all week, but this morning Steve Hill, head of our exhibits staff, Tim Clarke Jr, our public relations guy and Beth Eubanks, our registrar, were muscling some of the exhibit cases into a new configuration about 10 feet from the wall. I lent a hand and helped and a little after opening the cases were in place. Brian Spatola, collections manager of anatomical collections, brought the specimens back from storage and the four of them put the display back together. Meanwhile...
...I was leading a tour of people who had bought a silent auction benefit behind-the-scenes tour. Our former PR guy Steven Solomon had started these a few years back. We started in historical collections where collections manager Alan Hawk pulled out a bunch of surgical kits dating from the Civil War until World War II, and then showed them wax and plaster models of facial reconstruction surgery from the same time period. Anatomical curator Franklin Damann was giving a tour of his own in anatomical collections, so we swapped groups and he showed my group Civil War amputated femurs, Ham the space chimp, plastinated organs and a quick glance into the wet tissue room where specimens are stored in bottles of formalin.
We combined the two groups and neuroanatomical collections manager Archie Fobbs displayed some of our brain slides. Instead of making a microscope slide, his predecessors sectioned and mounted slices of whole brains and you can see stroke or tumor damage. I think the high point for the group was when Archie opened up his demo tub of a brain preserved in alcohol and let people handle it. Nobody was in the Human Developmental Anatomy Center, so I did a quick riff on scanning slides of embryos which had been collected 100 years ago to make first wax or plaster models of organ systems. These are now being scanned with the models made in the computer. Finally I gave my standard tour of the archives, including a letter signed by Walter Reed, a 1917 doctor's diary, a revised confidential asbestosis report for Johns Manville from 1949, a lantern slide photograph of a survivor from Hiroshima, an album of the museum's Civil War Surgical Photographs and some of our trade lit advertising material.
So there's a good bit of a typical day. If there's interest in more posts like this, comment below please.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
New Grog Ration from Navy's medical historian
André B. Sobocinski, the Deputy Historian/ Publications Manager of the Office of the Historian of the Navy's Bureau of Medicine and Surgery (BUMED) has a new issue of The Grog Ration newsletter about medical naval history out now.
The table of contents:
Page 1: Care Amidst the Shortage: The Relationship between the American Red Cross and the Navy Nurse Corps in World War I by Jennifer Telford, RN, PhD
When the United States declared war on 6 April 1917, the nation had but a nucleus of an army and a navy. The swift growth of the number of troops within a year from 100,000 to 4 million men presented a problem of enormous magnitude to the nursing profession; it was a shortage of epic proportions. The Army Nurse Corps had a mere 400 nurses on active duty, while the Navy had 160. The need for a rapid expansion of nursing in wartime to provide care both on the home-front and overseas brought about a controversy over who, in fact, was qualified to serve. The role of Katrina Hertzer, the liaison officer between the Red Cross Nursing Service and the Navy Nurse Corps, and who aided in the enrollment of nurses into the Corps, is of particular interest.
Nursing leaders during World War I debated about whether or not minimally trained nurses' aides should be recruited to help offset the professional nursing shortage. The result was the formation of an Army School of Nursing and the enrollment of volunteer nurses' aides into the Red Cross. The recruitment of nurses' aides to offset the nursing shortage of the World War I era was a logical solution to meeting the needs for nursing personnel. Whether or not this action compromised the status of nursing as a profession is still a matter of interest.
This article is adapted from lectures given at the Society for the History of Navy Medicine (SHNM) session in Rochester, NY, and as part of the Surgeon General's Speaker Series (SGSS) in Bethesda, MD, in April 2008. A PowerPoint of her SHNM lecture can be found at http://www.history-navy-med.org/home.html. A video of her SGSS lecture can be accessed at http://www.health.mil.
Page 7: Elvis Has Boarded the Ship
In 1958, LTJG Julia Pickering was one of two Navy nurses serving aboard the troop transport USS General Randall (AP-115) in port at Brooklyn, NY. Also on board this ship was a newly enlisted Army sergeant who had already established his name as an American pop icon. In a 2004 interview with the Office of the Historian, Pickering remembered this special passenger.
Page 8: The Surgeon's Log: Navy Medicine in Washington, DC
In 1908 a young hospital apprentice named Albert B. Montgomery reported for duty at the Naval Hospital, Washington, DC, then located on old "Observatory Hill" in Foggy Bottom. Years later he looked back upon his experiences-from racing horse-driven ambulances on cobblestone streets to obtaining study specimens at the city morgue for Naval Medical School students.
Page 11: Scuttlebutt
Find out about the upcoming Navy medical events (e.g., film premieres and lectures).
Page 12: Navy Medical Quiz
Good luck on this issue's quiz. As always, the first person to submit correct answers to all questions will receive a special prize. The answers from our previous quiz can be found on page 13.
The table of contents:
Page 1: Care Amidst the Shortage: The Relationship between the American Red Cross and the Navy Nurse Corps in World War I by Jennifer Telford, RN, PhD
When the United States declared war on 6 April 1917, the nation had but a nucleus of an army and a navy. The swift growth of the number of troops within a year from 100,000 to 4 million men presented a problem of enormous magnitude to the nursing profession; it was a shortage of epic proportions. The Army Nurse Corps had a mere 400 nurses on active duty, while the Navy had 160. The need for a rapid expansion of nursing in wartime to provide care both on the home-front and overseas brought about a controversy over who, in fact, was qualified to serve. The role of Katrina Hertzer, the liaison officer between the Red Cross Nursing Service and the Navy Nurse Corps, and who aided in the enrollment of nurses into the Corps, is of particular interest.
Nursing leaders during World War I debated about whether or not minimally trained nurses' aides should be recruited to help offset the professional nursing shortage. The result was the formation of an Army School of Nursing and the enrollment of volunteer nurses' aides into the Red Cross. The recruitment of nurses' aides to offset the nursing shortage of the World War I era was a logical solution to meeting the needs for nursing personnel. Whether or not this action compromised the status of nursing as a profession is still a matter of interest.
This article is adapted from lectures given at the Society for the History of Navy Medicine (SHNM) session in Rochester, NY, and as part of the Surgeon General's Speaker Series (SGSS) in Bethesda, MD, in April 2008. A PowerPoint of her SHNM lecture can be found at http://www.history-navy-med.org/home.html. A video of her SGSS lecture can be accessed at http://www.health.mil.
Page 7: Elvis Has Boarded the Ship
In 1958, LTJG Julia Pickering was one of two Navy nurses serving aboard the troop transport USS General Randall (AP-115) in port at Brooklyn, NY. Also on board this ship was a newly enlisted Army sergeant who had already established his name as an American pop icon. In a 2004 interview with the Office of the Historian, Pickering remembered this special passenger.
Page 8: The Surgeon's Log: Navy Medicine in Washington, DC
In 1908 a young hospital apprentice named Albert B. Montgomery reported for duty at the Naval Hospital, Washington, DC, then located on old "Observatory Hill" in Foggy Bottom. Years later he looked back upon his experiences-from racing horse-driven ambulances on cobblestone streets to obtaining study specimens at the city morgue for Naval Medical School students.
Page 11: Scuttlebutt
Find out about the upcoming Navy medical events (e.g., film premieres and lectures).
Page 12: Navy Medical Quiz
Good luck on this issue's quiz. As always, the first person to submit correct answers to all questions will receive a special prize. The answers from our previous quiz can be found on page 13.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Tried and True Always Works
Since I've been away from the blog for a while, I thought I would work back into the swing of things with a plethora of links, a panoply of bloggy goodness for you to behold. Enjoy.
- Two offerings from our awesome friend Joanna at Morbid Anatomy: A few photos from her visit to the Musée Dupuytren in Paris (France, not Texas) with links of her own to follow; and vintage photos of med students with their cadavers. Both posts - worth it.
- Street Anatomy points us toward the Skull-A-Day project. I love it when blog titles exactly capture what their posts feature.
- And from pathtalk, a blog about pathology, is a link to a video that is beautiful and cool, but beyond me technically. The blog post - Animated DNA - and this bit of description 'incredibly cool animation of the central dogma of molecular biology' - offer some more clues. I watched it, I liked it, and think you might, too.
- And how about these very pretty pictures of surgical instruments, demonstrating that artistry can be found in anything and anywhere. Check out the post from something called SurgeXperiences. Who knew there was a blog carnival about surgical stuff? (And could that be less technical? "Surgical stuff"?)
Wounded Warrior Project
The Wounded Warrior Project and the Wounded Warrior Disabled Sports Project are two initiatives to help injured soldiers from Irag, Afghanistan, and the Global War on Terrorism return to life stateside, to give them a place and the means to recover their bodies, minds, and spirits. Two of their vans were on campus recently.
My husband is a Vietnam vet who has told of the reception he and his fellows received on their return (and who hasn't?), and it does my heart good to see the support our newest vets are getting.
Welcome home, soldiers.
Save the Date! Leprosy documentary and talk at NMHM, Thurs., 5/22
Save the Date! Leprosy documentary and talk at NMHM, Thurs., 5/22, 11:30am-1:00 p.m.
Enjoy a special lunchtime screening of the documentary 'Triumph at Carville: A Tale of Leprosy in America' at the National Museum of Health and Medicine, featuring a brief introduction by the filmmakers John Wilhelm and Sally Squires. (Film running time: approximately 58 minutes.) While at the Museum, check out the temporary exhibition highlighting the story of the country's only national leprosarium and
learn more about leprosy (also called Hansen's disease) and the unique social and cultural life at Carville. More online at http://www.nmhm.washingtondc.museum/exhibits/triumphatcarville/index.html.
Date: Thursday, May 22, 2008
Time: 11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Where: Russell Auditorium at NMHM/AFIP (Bldg 54/Walter Reed Army Medical Center)
Cost: FREE! (Bring a bag lunch.)
Questions? Email nmhminfo@afip.osd.mil or visit the Museum online at http://www.nmhm.washingtondc.museum.
Enjoy a special lunchtime screening of the documentary 'Triumph at Carville: A Tale of Leprosy in America' at the National Museum of Health and Medicine, featuring a brief introduction by the filmmakers John Wilhelm and Sally Squires. (Film running time: approximately 58 minutes.) While at the Museum, check out the temporary exhibition highlighting the story of the country's only national leprosarium and
learn more about leprosy (also called Hansen's disease) and the unique social and cultural life at Carville. More online at http://www.nmhm.washingtondc.museum/exhibits/triumphatcarville/index.html.
Date: Thursday, May 22, 2008
Time: 11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Where: Russell Auditorium at NMHM/AFIP (Bldg 54/Walter Reed Army Medical Center)
Cost: FREE! (Bring a bag lunch.)
Questions? Email nmhminfo@afip.osd.mil or visit the Museum online at http://www.nmhm.washingtondc.museum.
Armed Forces signs at Walter Reed
I spent a few lunch times last fall walking around Walter Reed, taking pictures of bumper stickers and other means of making statements. This is one of my favorites, if you can call it that. I think this is a touching tribute to a man who was obviously much loved and missed.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
New National Library of Medicine exhibit
Manon Parry sent out an email about her new exhibit:
The National Library of Medicine (NLM), the world's largest medical library and a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), recently launched a new exhibition, "Against the Odds: Making a Difference in Global Health." The exhibition will be on display at the NLM on the outskirts of Washington DC until 2010, and can be viewed online at: http://apps.nlm.nih.gov/againsttheodds//index.cfm
The exhibition explores aspects of the history of global health as well as current issues, highlighting the shared concerns of communities around the world. Materials from the History of Medicine Division of the National Library of Medicine are on display alongside artifacts and images gathered from across the globe and video interviews. Featured stories include the early years of the AIDS epidemic in the United States and the work of ACT UP (the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power), the
Chinese barefoot doctor movement, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, and the smallpox eradication program led by the World Health Organization.
Alongside scientific discoveries and ongoing challenges, the stories illustrate the importance of clean water, safe housing, nutritious food, affordable healthcare, and protection from violence in fostering health and wellbeing. Visitors to the exhibition web site are invited to share their perspectives on these issues and GET INVOLVED: http://apps.nlm.nih.gov/againsttheodds/get_involved/index.cfm
The National Library of Medicine (NLM), the world's largest medical library and a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), recently launched a new exhibition, "Against the Odds: Making a Difference in Global Health." The exhibition will be on display at the NLM on the outskirts of Washington DC until 2010, and can be viewed online at: http://apps.nlm.nih.gov/againsttheodds//index.cfm
The exhibition explores aspects of the history of global health as well as current issues, highlighting the shared concerns of communities around the world. Materials from the History of Medicine Division of the National Library of Medicine are on display alongside artifacts and images gathered from across the globe and video interviews. Featured stories include the early years of the AIDS epidemic in the United States and the work of ACT UP (the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power), the
Chinese barefoot doctor movement, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, and the smallpox eradication program led by the World Health Organization.
Alongside scientific discoveries and ongoing challenges, the stories illustrate the importance of clean water, safe housing, nutritious food, affordable healthcare, and protection from violence in fostering health and wellbeing. Visitors to the exhibition web site are invited to share their perspectives on these issues and GET INVOLVED: http://apps.nlm.nih.gov/againsttheodds/get_involved/index.cfm
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Hirschhorn v. Army Medical Museum
Forty years ago, the Army Medical Museum was sent off the National Mall and its red brick building torn down to make space for the Hirschhorn Museum of modern art. Today's NY Times has an article, "An Identity Crisis? Hirshhorn Embraces It," By RANDY KENNEDY, May 10, 2008, which says, "...of the Hirshhorn’s 750,000 or so annual visitors, 58 percent reported being there for the first time. Sixty-four percent said they were at the museum as part of an adult group tour, following an itinerary that probably reflected little individual choice and low interest in contemporary art."
What's particular of interest in that statement is that in 1963, the Army Medical Museum had a similar number of visitors, while interest in museums and visitors to them has grown exponentially in Washington since then. Naturally our numbers on a guarded Army base five miles north of the Mall and a mile from a subway are in no way compatible. One does wonder how many people a National Museum of Health & Medicine on the Mall would be bringing in; I'm positive it would be more than the number we did in 1963 and that the Hirshhorn is doing now.
What's particular of interest in that statement is that in 1963, the Army Medical Museum had a similar number of visitors, while interest in museums and visitors to them has grown exponentially in Washington since then. Naturally our numbers on a guarded Army base five miles north of the Mall and a mile from a subway are in no way compatible. One does wonder how many people a National Museum of Health & Medicine on the Mall would be bringing in; I'm positive it would be more than the number we did in 1963 and that the Hirshhorn is doing now.
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