OTIS HISTORICAL ARCHIVES 2008 Annual Report
STAFF (A-Arrive; D-Depart):
Michael Rhode, Chief Archivist
Kathleen Stocker, Assistant Archivist
(D) Thomas Gaskins, Archives Technician
Donna Rose, IMC Supervisor Archivist
(D) Kirsten Strigel, IMC Contract Archivist
Amanda Montgomery, IMC Contract Archivist
LaFonda Burwell, IMC Contract Archives Technician
(A) Karen West, IMC Contract Archives Technician
(A) Anna Korosec, IMC Contract Archives Technician
(D)Shanika Queen, IMC Contract Archives Technician
(D) Natasha Lyles, IMC Contract Archives Technician
(A/D) Lauren Clark, student volunteer
January 2009 marks Rhode’s twentieth year as the Museum’s archivist. In that time the Archives has grown immensely and has been far better catalogued. A 1988 guide to archives listed it as having 200 linear feet of collections, but that number is in the thousands now. Users and researchers have increased tremendously as well, as have the ways the collection is used. In 1989, there was one computer, with one database of a few photographs on its 24-megabyte hard drive; in 2009, the Archives is approaching one terabyte of digitized information. Photographs are no longer sent to a photography department for reproduction with a lag of months, but are scanned and sent to the requestor almost immediately. However, some once-common media such as ¾” videotape fill the Archives, but are now impossible for us to access. Technology has changed the way we do business and will continue to do so at an increasing pace, but we hope to continue adding to the collection and making the medical history of America available to our constituency.
Substantial requests for information were handled, frequently regarding sensitive topics. Of the requests that we tracked, we had at least 183 substantial reference requests this year, including 93 from people representing institutions and 9 countries outside the US. The museum’s photography collections received notice from the fine arts world: the Smithsonian American Art Museum borrowed eight of William Bell’s Civil War photographs of soldiers for an exhibit, the Metropolitan Museum of Art called for help in cataloguing their copies, and in January 2009 the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston began reviewing photographs for a loan. The Vorwald Collection continues to be used for research for asbestosis lawsuits in spite of being open to the public for two decades. Interest in the 1918 influenza epidemic has not yet peaked, and many requests were received to use images from the Archives, all of which are viewable on the website to facilitate research. Rhode was interviewed by Bill Koslosky for “The National Museum of Health & Medicine: archival images on Flickr,” was an invited participant for the “Archival Research” panel of the Graduate Student Symposium for historians of medicine at the National Library of Medicine, and spoke on “Genealogical Possibilities in the National Museum of Health and Medicine,” for the National Capital Region of Association of Professional Genealogists at the National Archives. Rhode wrote “Book Review: Rehabilitating Bodies: Health, History and the American Civil War by Lisa A. Long,” for the Journal of Southern History; “Foundations: E.R. Squibb, 1854,” and “Foundations: Photomicroscopy, circa 1876,” for The Scientist. He submitted a paper on the Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion for publication in the Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences, and is currently implementing reviewer comments on it. Rhode has had a paper on the Museum in World War I accepted for the American Association of the History of Medicine’s annual meeting in April. Tours were given to National History Day students (June), the DC Public Health Department (June) and the Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference, aka MARAC (November).
Stocker and Rhode have been assisting the Borden Institute with a photographic history of WRAMC for the 2009 anniversary. In addition to providing scans of photographs of the base and personnel, they are also writing captions while contributing to the layout and editing of the publication. The book should appear in the spring, and features many photographs from the Archives.
Friday, January 16, 2009
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Save the Date 4/18-19/2009: Symposium on Lincoln's Health at National Museum of Health and Medicine
SAVE THE DATE: APRIL 18-19, 2009 – SYMPOSIUM ON LINCOLN’S HEALTH AT NATIONAL MUSEUM OF HEALTH AND MEDICINE
To commemorate the 200th anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln’s Birth, the National Museum of Health and Medicine Presents “A Symposium on President Lincoln’s Health”
**Endorsed by the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission**
Saturday, April 18, 2009, 1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
* Ronald S. Fishman, M.D. and Adriana Da Silveira, D.D.S., M.S., Ph.D., Lincoln’s Craniofacial Microsmia
* Laura P. W. Ranum, Ph.D., Molecular Genetics with an Historical Twist: Spectrin Mutation Causes Spinocerebellar Ataxia Type 5 in President Lincoln’s Pedigree
* Todd J. Janus, Ph.D., M.D. The Neurologic Death of Abraham Lincoln
* Thomas M. Scalea, M.D., Could Lincoln Have Been Saved?
6:30 p.m.: Keynote Address by Frank J. Williams, noted Lincoln scholar and former chief justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court
Sunday, April 19, 2009, 1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
* Adrianne Noe, Ph.D., The Lincoln Exhibit at the National Museum of Health and Medicine
* Thomas M. Scalea, M.D. and Todd J. Janus, Ph.D., M.D., The Neurologic Death and Possible Rescue of Abraham Lincoln
* Kenneth Leetz, M.D., Abraham Lincoln, Psychotherapist to the Nation: Lincoln’s Depression and Its Transformative Effects on Empathy and Therapeutic Communication Through Metaphors
* Armond S. Goldman, M.D., Lincoln’s Gettysburg Illness
**Speakers, topics and schedule subject to change.
SYMPOSIUM IS FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. LIMITED SEATING—RESERVATIONS ARE REQUIRED! For more information and reservations, call (202) 782-2673 or email nmhminfo@afip.osd.mil
ALSO NOTE:
NMHM is proud to announce an upcoming exhibit, "Abraham Lincoln: Final Casualty of the War" (opens February 12, 2009), featuring artifacts related to the assassination of President Lincoln, including the bullet that killed the president.
Links:
* NMHM news release: http://www.nmhm.washingtondc.museum/news/symposium_on_lincoln_health.html
* Details about the Lincoln Symposium: http://nmhm.washingtondc.museum/events/lincoln_2009.html
* NMHM Lincoln artifacts: http://www.nmhm.washingtondc.museum/exhibits/nationswounds/lincoln.html
* Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission: http://www.abrahamlincoln200.org/
* Lincoln Bicentennial Celebration in Washington, D.C.: http://www.lincolnindc.com
Location:
National Museum of Health and Medicine
On the campus at Walter Reed Army Medical Center 6900 Georgia Ave., N.W. (enter at Elder Street)
Washington, D.C. 20307
Free Parking – Free Admission
NMHM is open daily (exc. Dec. 25 and Jan. 20) 10:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.
To commemorate the 200th anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln’s Birth, the National Museum of Health and Medicine Presents “A Symposium on President Lincoln’s Health”
**Endorsed by the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission**
Saturday, April 18, 2009, 1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
* Ronald S. Fishman, M.D. and Adriana Da Silveira, D.D.S., M.S., Ph.D., Lincoln’s Craniofacial Microsmia
* Laura P. W. Ranum, Ph.D., Molecular Genetics with an Historical Twist: Spectrin Mutation Causes Spinocerebellar Ataxia Type 5 in President Lincoln’s Pedigree
* Todd J. Janus, Ph.D., M.D. The Neurologic Death of Abraham Lincoln
* Thomas M. Scalea, M.D., Could Lincoln Have Been Saved?
6:30 p.m.: Keynote Address by Frank J. Williams, noted Lincoln scholar and former chief justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court
Sunday, April 19, 2009, 1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
* Adrianne Noe, Ph.D., The Lincoln Exhibit at the National Museum of Health and Medicine
* Thomas M. Scalea, M.D. and Todd J. Janus, Ph.D., M.D., The Neurologic Death and Possible Rescue of Abraham Lincoln
* Kenneth Leetz, M.D., Abraham Lincoln, Psychotherapist to the Nation: Lincoln’s Depression and Its Transformative Effects on Empathy and Therapeutic Communication Through Metaphors
* Armond S. Goldman, M.D., Lincoln’s Gettysburg Illness
**Speakers, topics and schedule subject to change.
SYMPOSIUM IS FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. LIMITED SEATING—RESERVATIONS ARE REQUIRED! For more information and reservations, call (202) 782-2673 or email nmhminfo@afip.osd.mil
ALSO NOTE:
NMHM is proud to announce an upcoming exhibit, "Abraham Lincoln: Final Casualty of the War" (opens February 12, 2009), featuring artifacts related to the assassination of President Lincoln, including the bullet that killed the president.
Links:
* NMHM news release: http://www.nmhm.washingtondc.museum/news/symposium_on_lincoln_health.html
* Details about the Lincoln Symposium: http://nmhm.washingtondc.museum/events/lincoln_2009.html
* NMHM Lincoln artifacts: http://www.nmhm.washingtondc.museum/exhibits/nationswounds/lincoln.html
* Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission: http://www.abrahamlincoln200.org/
* Lincoln Bicentennial Celebration in Washington, D.C.: http://www.lincolnindc.com
Location:
National Museum of Health and Medicine
On the campus at Walter Reed Army Medical Center 6900 Georgia Ave., N.W. (enter at Elder Street)
Washington, D.C. 20307
Free Parking – Free Admission
NMHM is open daily (exc. Dec. 25 and Jan. 20) 10:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.
"Health, Illness and the Presidency" Lecture with former White House Physician, 2/4/2009 at NMHM
National Museum of Health and Medicine
Walter Reed Centennial Year Lecture Series
Wednesday, February 4, 2009, 12:00 p.m.
"Health, Illness and the Presidency"
Join NMHM as we celebrate the centennial year at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Lawrence C. Mohr, Jr., MD will discuss his experiences as White House Physician to three presidents – Reagan, Bush and Clinton – and his career at Walter Reed.
Where: Russell Auditorium, National Museum of Health and Medicine (AFIP, Bldg. 54) , on the campus at Walter Reed Army Medical Center (further location details are below)
Cost: Free
NOTE: The next major public program offering from the National Museum of Health and Medicine will be “Sex, Sin, and Science: A History of Syphilis in America,” Saturday, February 14, 2009, 11:00 a.m. Did syphilis travel from the New World to Europe on Columbus’ ships? What remedies did Lewis and Clark use to treat the disease on their expedition? What impact did the introduction of penicillin have on the spread of venereal disease? Join NMHM for this Valentine’s Day talk with noted medical historian John Parascandola as he discusses his book, "Sex, Sin, and Science: A History of Syphilis in America." A book signing will follow the presentation. Cost: Free
Location:
National Museum of Health and Medicine
On the campus at Walter Reed Army Medical Center
6900 Georgia Ave., N.W. (enter at Elder Street)
Washington, D.C. 20307
Free Parking – Free Admission
NMHM is open daily (exc. Dec. 25 and Jan. 20) 10:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.
Phone: (202) 782-2200
Public Affairs: (202) 782-2672
Public Programs: (202) 782-2673
Walter Reed Centennial Year Lecture Series
Wednesday, February 4, 2009, 12:00 p.m.
"Health, Illness and the Presidency"
Join NMHM as we celebrate the centennial year at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Lawrence C. Mohr, Jr., MD will discuss his experiences as White House Physician to three presidents – Reagan, Bush and Clinton – and his career at Walter Reed.
Where: Russell Auditorium, National Museum of Health and Medicine (AFIP, Bldg. 54) , on the campus at Walter Reed Army Medical Center (further location details are below)
Cost: Free
NOTE: The next major public program offering from the National Museum of Health and Medicine will be “Sex, Sin, and Science: A History of Syphilis in America,” Saturday, February 14, 2009, 11:00 a.m. Did syphilis travel from the New World to Europe on Columbus’ ships? What remedies did Lewis and Clark use to treat the disease on their expedition? What impact did the introduction of penicillin have on the spread of venereal disease? Join NMHM for this Valentine’s Day talk with noted medical historian John Parascandola as he discusses his book, "Sex, Sin, and Science: A History of Syphilis in America." A book signing will follow the presentation. Cost: Free
Location:
National Museum of Health and Medicine
On the campus at Walter Reed Army Medical Center
6900 Georgia Ave., N.W. (enter at Elder Street)
Washington, D.C. 20307
Free Parking – Free Admission
NMHM is open daily (exc. Dec. 25 and Jan. 20) 10:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.
Phone: (202) 782-2200
Public Affairs: (202) 782-2672
Public Programs: (202) 782-2673
Medical Museum CLOSED on Inauguration Day, January 20th
The Medical Museum is CLOSED on Inauguration Day, January 20th, because all of Walter Reed Medical Center is closed.
AFIP Recognized by U.S. and Canadian Academy of Pathology
This showed up at work yesterday. USCAP grew out of the International Association of Medical Museums that the Army Medical Museum helped to found. AFIP is slated to be closed by 2011 due to BRAC, and replaced with a Joint Pathology Center, which is still undefined.
UNITED STATES AND CANADIAN ACADEMY OF PATHOLOGY, INC.
The United States-Canadian Division of The International Academy of Pathology
FRED G. SILVA, M .D .
Executive Vice President
January 6, 2009
TO:
Dr. Florabel Garcia Mullick
Armed Forces Institute of Pathology
FROM: Fred Silva, M .D .
Executive Vice-President and Secretary-Treasurer
USCAP Scientific Abstracts from your Institution
According to our records, this year your institution was in the top twenty in number of first authored scientific abstracts accepted for presentation at the USCAP 2009 Annual Meeting in Boston. There was an all time record of almost 2,800 scientific abstracts submitted from over 430 different medical school programs and academic institutions (over 230 in the US and Canada and 200 from around the rest of the world) . This represented the highest ever percentage increase (16%) over the previous record year . All abstracts are subject to blinded peer review, and the cutoff score was quite high . Well over 3,000 pathologists are expected to attend the 2009 meeting where the accepted scientific abstracts will be presented . These scientific offerings are also published in the January issues of both of our Academy's journals, two of the "top five general pathology journals" by impact factor in the world - Modern Pathology and Laboratory Investigation -which reach well
over 10,000 subscribers, both individuals as well as institutions throughout the world . As you know we have partnered with the most outstanding medical publisher in the world-Nature Publishing Group (NPG). These journals are also online with NPG with its 60,000 monthly eTOC subscribers and on our international USCAP Website (the latter of which now receives up to five million hits/month internationally from up to 22,000 individual pathologists/month from 129 countries) . The USCAP,which is one of the oldest pathology societies in North America, is generally viewed as the premier academic society of anatomic, surgical pathology, and diagnostic molecular pathology and the attendance at our annual meeting is the largest gathering of physician-pathologists in the world by far. Thank you for your efforts on behalf of the future of pathology and medicine and all those patients, physicians and students we serve. It is obvious that your institution has worked hard to support and generate these important studies which will help advance the specialty of pathology as well as medicine in general. On behalf of the United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology I want to extend our congratulations to you and express my personal appreciation for all that you and your faculty have done to enhance the scientific program of our Academy and our discipline.
UNITED STATES AND CANADIAN ACADEMY OF PATHOLOGY, INC.
The United States-Canadian Division of The International Academy of Pathology
FRED G. SILVA, M .D .
Executive Vice President
January 6, 2009
TO:
Dr. Florabel Garcia Mullick
Armed Forces Institute of Pathology
FROM: Fred Silva, M .D .
Executive Vice-President and Secretary-Treasurer
USCAP Scientific Abstracts from your Institution
According to our records, this year your institution was in the top twenty in number of first authored scientific abstracts accepted for presentation at the USCAP 2009 Annual Meeting in Boston. There was an all time record of almost 2,800 scientific abstracts submitted from over 430 different medical school programs and academic institutions (over 230 in the US and Canada and 200 from around the rest of the world) . This represented the highest ever percentage increase (16%) over the previous record year . All abstracts are subject to blinded peer review, and the cutoff score was quite high . Well over 3,000 pathologists are expected to attend the 2009 meeting where the accepted scientific abstracts will be presented . These scientific offerings are also published in the January issues of both of our Academy's journals, two of the "top five general pathology journals" by impact factor in the world - Modern Pathology and Laboratory Investigation -which reach well
over 10,000 subscribers, both individuals as well as institutions throughout the world . As you know we have partnered with the most outstanding medical publisher in the world-Nature Publishing Group (NPG). These journals are also online with NPG with its 60,000 monthly eTOC subscribers and on our international USCAP Website (the latter of which now receives up to five million hits/month internationally from up to 22,000 individual pathologists/month from 129 countries) . The USCAP,which is one of the oldest pathology societies in North America, is generally viewed as the premier academic society of anatomic, surgical pathology, and diagnostic molecular pathology and the attendance at our annual meeting is the largest gathering of physician-pathologists in the world by far. Thank you for your efforts on behalf of the future of pathology and medicine and all those patients, physicians and students we serve. It is obvious that your institution has worked hard to support and generate these important studies which will help advance the specialty of pathology as well as medicine in general. On behalf of the United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology I want to extend our congratulations to you and express my personal appreciation for all that you and your faculty have done to enhance the scientific program of our Academy and our discipline.
A simple checklist
The Washington Post reports on an article published in today's New England Journal of Medicine that says verbal checklists used before, during, and after surgery can cut death rates “by nearly half, to 0.8 percent from 1.5 percent, and other complications falling to 7 percent from 11 percent.” This reminded me of an article we read a while ago about how a checklist used at Johns Hopkins for patients with I.V. lines dramatically cut infection rates. Of course there are those who are skeptical of the recent study with all the “yeah, but” comments, but what does it cost, how much effort does it take, and where is the harm in running through a checklist? If it was me under the knife, my choice would be to checklist away.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Emu editing complete; WRAMC book editing not quite
Kathleen and I got through editing the archives data for our new online Emu database today. At some point in 2009, all five collection divisions should be included and anyone will be able to search our data. We've been striving for this for years now.
Tomorrow, we'll be back to working on a photo history of Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The book, which will be from the Borden Institute, will cover 100 years of the campus in photographs. More information to come in the future.
And we'll be writing the Archives annual report this week too. You'll see it here when we finish it.
Tomorrow, we'll be back to working on a photo history of Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The book, which will be from the Borden Institute, will cover 100 years of the campus in photographs. More information to come in the future.
And we'll be writing the Archives annual report this week too. You'll see it here when we finish it.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Technology changing healthcare articles
One on the problems of epidemiology in the cell phone age - "Cellphones' Growth Does a Number on Health Research," By David Brown, Washington Post Staff Writer, Monday, January 12, 2009; Page A04.
And one on rethinking care in the ICU - "A Tactic to Cut I.C.U. Trauma: Get Patients Up," By GINA KOLATA, New York Times January 12, 2009. Doctors are experimenting with radical solutions to ward off the effects of prolonged stays in intensive care units. This article talks about several debilitating effects including that of sedation, which I can believe. Recent dental anesthesia, which was really very mild, really messed with my mind.
And one on rethinking care in the ICU - "A Tactic to Cut I.C.U. Trauma: Get Patients Up," By GINA KOLATA, New York Times January 12, 2009. Doctors are experimenting with radical solutions to ward off the effects of prolonged stays in intensive care units. This article talks about several debilitating effects including that of sedation, which I can believe. Recent dental anesthesia, which was really very mild, really messed with my mind.
A Day in the Life
Wow, what a day.
First thing this morning I finished scanning hi-res versions of flu images from the 1918 and 1957 outbreaks for a request from someone at the UN. This is a big time of year for flu photo requests. We have a folder called “Flu” that held a mix of tiffs and jpegs but not all jpegs had corresponding tiffs; hence the scanning. I burned 5 copies of the disc so the next time we won’t be scrambling to put one together (seems like something we should have done long ago, but noooo), and then FedExed the patron’s copy.
When Mike came in he and I went over what documentation is still needed for images that are being used in the 100th anniversary of Walter Reed book, and what images are needed in higher resolution. I had to use a tiny laptop computer that’s not on the network to access our external drives, where 99% of our images are, in order to look for that information. As we’ve mentioned before, the USB drives on our networked computers no longer function, so we have to go through these gyrations to get work done. Even if our external drives could still be used on the networked computers, we’re blocked from file-sharing sites, a great service I’ve used in the past to upload images. So once I finish looking those things up I’ll have to burn whatever I come up with to a disc to give to the guy doing the layout.
The Anatomical Collections manager came into the archives with a folder of negatives of the first documented military aircraft fatality, in 1908. He wanted to scan them and doesn’t have a working scanner, so we got him going on an ancient scanner and computer. I’ll get some of those images posted here, but not today.
Andrea came into the archives to measure artifacts that will be used in the Lincoln exhibit going up next month. She needs the measurements to plan the exhibit case layouts.
The museum director said there is a book in the works about the AFIP. We will likely be called on to find photos and documents for the person putting it together.
I emailed one of the archivists at Catholic University in DC to let her know that we wouldn’t be bringing them some clippings we promised them until the week after the inauguration. If you don’t live in this area, you wouldn’t believe how packed the roads are predicted to be; that is, those roads that are being allowed to stay open. I think my commute through town, and Mike’s similar commute, will be all the inauguration traffic we’ll be able to take. Come to think of it, we live here and can’t believe what’s happening to the roads, like a ban on “personal vehicles from all Potomac River bridge crossings from Virginia into the District and from interstates 395 and 66 inside the Capital Beltway on Inauguration Day.” Off-topic, but this is our life.
Mike returned from a meeting with a request from someone in the AFIP’s legal office who wanted information on the history of AFIP, so I headed to a different part of the building to pull files for her. On the way I met Andrea who asked for a scan of an oversized image of Ford’s Theater. My large-format scanner hasn’t arrived yet so I’ll either have to take it to another office where there is one, or scan it at my desk and stitch it together in Photoshop, which I’m not at all good at. That request is still percolating.
After lunch Mike and I started another run-through of the data that’s been uploaded into this new relational database the museum is converting to. We both really, really, really hate this job. We work from a print-out that’s organized by collection, and then by field, to check that the data has mapped from our old database into the correct fields in the new one. This process has been done probably 6 times and the notes for each run-through are in a different color. We’re running out of pen colors. Today one of the modules kept freezing. Grrr. We did that as long as we could stand it.
Jim from Historical Collections came in trying to match an image of an artificial kidney to the one we have on display, for a researcher request he’s gotten. We pulled the original picture to take to the exhibit floor to make the comparison. It’s not the same machine. Very similar but not quite. Here's a photo, different from what Jim was looking at, to show you this machine.
NCP 4068 MARYLAND EXHIBIT AND DEMONSTRATION OF U.S. ARMY EQUIPMENT AT ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND. MAJ. M.E. MCDOWELL AND LT. COL. FRANK L. BAUER EXPLAIN THE OPERATION OF THE ARTIFICIAL KIDNEY AT THE ARMY MEDICAL SERVICE EXHIBIT. 4 MARCH 1953
First thing this morning I finished scanning hi-res versions of flu images from the 1918 and 1957 outbreaks for a request from someone at the UN. This is a big time of year for flu photo requests. We have a folder called “Flu” that held a mix of tiffs and jpegs but not all jpegs had corresponding tiffs; hence the scanning. I burned 5 copies of the disc so the next time we won’t be scrambling to put one together (seems like something we should have done long ago, but noooo), and then FedExed the patron’s copy.
When Mike came in he and I went over what documentation is still needed for images that are being used in the 100th anniversary of Walter Reed book, and what images are needed in higher resolution. I had to use a tiny laptop computer that’s not on the network to access our external drives, where 99% of our images are, in order to look for that information. As we’ve mentioned before, the USB drives on our networked computers no longer function, so we have to go through these gyrations to get work done. Even if our external drives could still be used on the networked computers, we’re blocked from file-sharing sites, a great service I’ve used in the past to upload images. So once I finish looking those things up I’ll have to burn whatever I come up with to a disc to give to the guy doing the layout.
The Anatomical Collections manager came into the archives with a folder of negatives of the first documented military aircraft fatality, in 1908. He wanted to scan them and doesn’t have a working scanner, so we got him going on an ancient scanner and computer. I’ll get some of those images posted here, but not today.
Andrea came into the archives to measure artifacts that will be used in the Lincoln exhibit going up next month. She needs the measurements to plan the exhibit case layouts.
The museum director said there is a book in the works about the AFIP. We will likely be called on to find photos and documents for the person putting it together.
I emailed one of the archivists at Catholic University in DC to let her know that we wouldn’t be bringing them some clippings we promised them until the week after the inauguration. If you don’t live in this area, you wouldn’t believe how packed the roads are predicted to be; that is, those roads that are being allowed to stay open. I think my commute through town, and Mike’s similar commute, will be all the inauguration traffic we’ll be able to take. Come to think of it, we live here and can’t believe what’s happening to the roads, like a ban on “personal vehicles from all Potomac River bridge crossings from Virginia into the District and from interstates 395 and 66 inside the Capital Beltway on Inauguration Day.” Off-topic, but this is our life.
Mike returned from a meeting with a request from someone in the AFIP’s legal office who wanted information on the history of AFIP, so I headed to a different part of the building to pull files for her. On the way I met Andrea who asked for a scan of an oversized image of Ford’s Theater. My large-format scanner hasn’t arrived yet so I’ll either have to take it to another office where there is one, or scan it at my desk and stitch it together in Photoshop, which I’m not at all good at. That request is still percolating.
After lunch Mike and I started another run-through of the data that’s been uploaded into this new relational database the museum is converting to. We both really, really, really hate this job. We work from a print-out that’s organized by collection, and then by field, to check that the data has mapped from our old database into the correct fields in the new one. This process has been done probably 6 times and the notes for each run-through are in a different color. We’re running out of pen colors. Today one of the modules kept freezing. Grrr. We did that as long as we could stand it.
Jim from Historical Collections came in trying to match an image of an artificial kidney to the one we have on display, for a researcher request he’s gotten. We pulled the original picture to take to the exhibit floor to make the comparison. It’s not the same machine. Very similar but not quite. Here's a photo, different from what Jim was looking at, to show you this machine.
NCP 4068 MARYLAND EXHIBIT AND DEMONSTRATION OF U.S. ARMY EQUIPMENT AT ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND. MAJ. M.E. MCDOWELL AND LT. COL. FRANK L. BAUER EXPLAIN THE OPERATION OF THE ARTIFICIAL KIDNEY AT THE ARMY MEDICAL SERVICE EXHIBIT. 4 MARCH 1953
Sunday, January 11, 2009
User-correcting eyeglasses and your own personal genome
A couple of interesting medical technology pieces from the newspapers:
My Genome, My Self
By STEVEN PINKER
New York Times Magazine January 11, 2009
In the coming era of consumer genetics, your DNA will have much to tell you about the biological bases of your health, your physique and even your personality. But will this knowledge really amount to self-knowledge?
From a Visionary English Physicist, Self-Adjusting Lenses for the Poor
By Mary Jordan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, January 10, 2009; Page A08
Joshua Silver models a pair of the self-adjusting glasses he developed for the poor. The glasses work on the principle that the more liquid pumped into a thin sac in the plastic lenses, the stronger the correction.
My Genome, My Self
By STEVEN PINKER
New York Times Magazine January 11, 2009
In the coming era of consumer genetics, your DNA will have much to tell you about the biological bases of your health, your physique and even your personality. But will this knowledge really amount to self-knowledge?
From a Visionary English Physicist, Self-Adjusting Lenses for the Poor
By Mary Jordan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, January 10, 2009; Page A08
Joshua Silver models a pair of the self-adjusting glasses he developed for the poor. The glasses work on the principle that the more liquid pumped into a thin sac in the plastic lenses, the stronger the correction.
Friday, January 9, 2009
Brains on our minds
One of us came across this great blog post today "100 Fascinating Facts You Never Knew About The Human Brain." Check that out. We know a few things about brains at the Museum.
Earlier today, we were oh-so-close to having the brain and spinal cord on display (part of the Blackburn collection, in the Human Body exhibit) featured on Brazilian TV. In the end, they chose a different background for the brief intro they were filming in the Museum. It's always fun (read that with a tinge of sarcasm) having film crews in for one purpose or another. But I do appreciate the brevity that news film crews bring to their work: quick, to the point, get it right the first time. The stories I could tell about documentary film crews, though...
One cool trick that the on-air reporter employed today: he recorded his script into a handheld digital audio recorder, then had that running into his ear via a very small earpiece, similar to an IFB system more often seen on newsroom sets. So, his delivery was umimpeded by looking down into a script, and he was able to focus on the camera. He said it was an old radio trick; I put it into the 'you learn something new each day' category.
Soldier's remains still surface at Antietam Civil War battlefield
See "Remains of Civil War soldier found at Antietam," By David Dishneau, Associated Press, January 8, 2009. Doug Owsley of the Smithsonian is consulting in the case.
Museum alum begins blogging
Jenn Heilman, formerly of our Public Affairs staff, was selected for an article on "DC's singles in Washingtonian magazine. The article will not run until August 2009, but until then, they will be chronicling my dating life in an online blog with 6 other DC daters called Dating Diaries. My "profile" went public today. Check back every week -- you'll start seeing details on my dating life next week, but remember, it's on a delay for privacy so what you read about next week actually happened a month ago! I'll also be writing some of the entries myself during "roundtables" where I weigh in with dating advice or thoughts."
Good luck, Jenn!
Good luck, Jenn!
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Gail Paster on Shakespeare at NLM
This will probably be an excellent talk, but I no longer go to the NLM due to NIH's ridiculous security measures.
NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE,
History of Medicine Division Seminar
Wednesday, January 14, 2009, 2-3:30pm
Lister Hill Auditorium, Bldg 38A, NLM
Bethesda, MD
"The Humor of It: Bodies, Fluids, and the History of Medicine in Shakespeare."
Dr. Gail Kern Paster,
Director, The Folger Shakespeare Library
Gail Kern Paster took office as Director of the Folger Shakespeare Library in 2002. She is the author of numerous scholarly articles and three books. Her latest book, "Humoring the Body: Emotions and the Shakespearean Stage" will form the core of her talk, which will examine how humoral theory, the central tenet of Renaissance medicine, affected how characters acted and reacted on the stage and in life.
Due to advance interest in this talk, the presentation will be held in the Lister Hill Auditorium.
All are Welcome
Note: The next history of medicine seminar will be held on Wednesday, February 11, 2009 at 2-3:30pm in the Lister Hill Auditorium. In a special program for African American History Month, Professor Kevin Mumford will speak on "Brother Redeemers: Black Gay History and the Impact of the Aids Crisis, 1974-1988."
Sign language interpretation is provided. Individuals with disabilities who need reasonable accommodation to participate may contact Stephen Greenberg at (301-435-4995), e-mail greenbes@mail.nih.gov, or the Federal Relay (1-800-877-8339).
Due to current security measures at NIH, off-campus visitors are advised to consult the NLM Visitors and Security website:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/about/visitor.html
Stephen J. Greenberg, MSLS, PhD
Coordinator of Public Services
History of Medicine Division
National Library of Medicine
National Institutes of Health
Department of Health and Human Services
301-435-4995
greenbes@mail.nih.gov
NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE,
History of Medicine Division Seminar
Wednesday, January 14, 2009, 2-3:30pm
Lister Hill Auditorium, Bldg 38A, NLM
Bethesda, MD
"The Humor of It: Bodies, Fluids, and the History of Medicine in Shakespeare."
Dr. Gail Kern Paster,
Director, The Folger Shakespeare Library
Gail Kern Paster took office as Director of the Folger Shakespeare Library in 2002. She is the author of numerous scholarly articles and three books. Her latest book, "Humoring the Body: Emotions and the Shakespearean Stage" will form the core of her talk, which will examine how humoral theory, the central tenet of Renaissance medicine, affected how characters acted and reacted on the stage and in life.
Due to advance interest in this talk, the presentation will be held in the Lister Hill Auditorium.
All are Welcome
Note: The next history of medicine seminar will be held on Wednesday, February 11, 2009 at 2-3:30pm in the Lister Hill Auditorium. In a special program for African American History Month, Professor Kevin Mumford will speak on "Brother Redeemers: Black Gay History and the Impact of the Aids Crisis, 1974-1988."
Sign language interpretation is provided. Individuals with disabilities who need reasonable accommodation to participate may contact Stephen Greenberg at (301-435-4995), e-mail greenbes@mail.nih.gov, or the Federal Relay (1-800-877-8339).
Due to current security measures at NIH, off-campus visitors are advised to consult the NLM Visitors and Security website:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/about/visitor.html
Stephen J. Greenberg, MSLS, PhD
Coordinator of Public Services
History of Medicine Division
National Library of Medicine
National Institutes of Health
Department of Health and Human Services
301-435-4995
greenbes@mail.nih.gov
AUGUST 2009 NATIONAL HUMAN CADAVER PROSECTION PROGRAM
Anatomical collections manager Brian Spatola asked me to post this; he attended last year and thought it was good.
AUGUST 2009 NATIONAL HUMAN CADAVER PROSECTION PROGRAM
****** 10th ANNUAL SESSION ******
All interested parties are invited to apply for the
AUGUST 2009 NATIONAL HUMAN CADAVER PROSECTION PROGRAM
August 5 - 6
at the Indiana University School of Medicine - Northwest
Dunes Medical Professional Building
3400 Broadway
Gary, Indiana
APPLICATION DEADLINE: *** MAY 1, 2009 ***
PROGRAM SPONSORS: Rocco Prosthetics & Orthotic Center (Cincinnati, OH) and MORTECH Manufacturing (Azusa, CA).
Applications for the August 2009 NATIONAL Human Cadaver Prosection Program are now being accepted. All participants will learn human gross anatomy, radiology/medical imaging, and the art of skillful dissection of human cadavers. The CADAVER PROGRAM is an intensive experience of "hands-on" dissection. Participants who complete the
program will receive a certificate of completion, certification for work with biohazards & blood-borne pathogens, and honorarium (if available). SPECIAL Awards will be presented.
Representatives from Zimmer, Inc. (Zimmer Orthopedics) will conduct an on-site surgical, orthopedic workshop, and Rocco Prosthetics will present a special prosthetic session. [CME Credit is offered].
The Cadaver Prosection will be held on Wednesday, August 5 and Thursday, August 6, 2009, from 7:45 a.m. - 5:00 p.m., and will include 2 evenings of preparatory work in late June (out-of-state participants need not be present for the June sessions).
NEW for 2009, will be hands-on, interactive CT and MR imaging of human cadavers (for 10-12 selected participants) to take place in mid-July.
TO APPLY for this program, place the web address (below) into your browser, and then scroll down and click on the AUGUST 2009 NATIONAL HUMAN CADAVER PROSECTION PROGRAM link.
http://medicine.iu.edu/body.cfm?id=4951&oTopID=225
Please, follow the application instructions.
You need not be a medical professional or pre-medical student to participate. All are encouraged to apply. Prior participants have included pre-med and pre-vet, nursing, radiologic technology, mortuary science students, other undergraduate and graduate students, teachers, attorneys, lab technicians, etc. All application materials must be received no later than MAY 1, 2009. Accepted applicants will receive notification in early June.
For further information use the link above, or contact the program director:
Ernest F. Talarico, Jr., Ph.D.
Assistant Director of Medical Education & Assistant Professor of
Anatomy & Cell Biology
Course Director, Human Gross Anatomy & Embryology
Director, NATIONAL Human Cadaver Prosection Program
Indiana University School of Medicine - Northwest Campus
Room 3028A (office); 3028 (lab); 2032 (anatomy lab)
3400 Broadway
Gary, Indiana 46408-1197
TEL: (219) 981-4356; FAX: (219) 980-6566
Email: cadaver@iun.edu (Prosection Program); etalaric@iun.edu (IUSM-NW)
AUGUST 2009 NATIONAL HUMAN CADAVER PROSECTION PROGRAM
****** 10th ANNUAL SESSION ******
All interested parties are invited to apply for the
AUGUST 2009 NATIONAL HUMAN CADAVER PROSECTION PROGRAM
August 5 - 6
at the Indiana University School of Medicine - Northwest
Dunes Medical Professional Building
3400 Broadway
Gary, Indiana
APPLICATION DEADLINE: *** MAY 1, 2009 ***
PROGRAM SPONSORS: Rocco Prosthetics & Orthotic Center (Cincinnati, OH) and MORTECH Manufacturing (Azusa, CA).
Applications for the August 2009 NATIONAL Human Cadaver Prosection Program are now being accepted. All participants will learn human gross anatomy, radiology/medical imaging, and the art of skillful dissection of human cadavers. The CADAVER PROGRAM is an intensive experience of "hands-on" dissection. Participants who complete the
program will receive a certificate of completion, certification for work with biohazards & blood-borne pathogens, and honorarium (if available). SPECIAL Awards will be presented.
Representatives from Zimmer, Inc. (Zimmer Orthopedics) will conduct an on-site surgical, orthopedic workshop, and Rocco Prosthetics will present a special prosthetic session. [CME Credit is offered].
The Cadaver Prosection will be held on Wednesday, August 5 and Thursday, August 6, 2009, from 7:45 a.m. - 5:00 p.m., and will include 2 evenings of preparatory work in late June (out-of-state participants need not be present for the June sessions).
NEW for 2009, will be hands-on, interactive CT and MR imaging of human cadavers (for 10-12 selected participants) to take place in mid-July.
TO APPLY for this program, place the web address (below) into your browser, and then scroll down and click on the AUGUST 2009 NATIONAL HUMAN CADAVER PROSECTION PROGRAM link.
http://medicine.iu.edu/body.cfm?id=4951&oTopID=225
Please, follow the application instructions.
You need not be a medical professional or pre-medical student to participate. All are encouraged to apply. Prior participants have included pre-med and pre-vet, nursing, radiologic technology, mortuary science students, other undergraduate and graduate students, teachers, attorneys, lab technicians, etc. All application materials must be received no later than MAY 1, 2009. Accepted applicants will receive notification in early June.
For further information use the link above, or contact the program director:
Ernest F. Talarico, Jr., Ph.D.
Assistant Director of Medical Education & Assistant Professor of
Anatomy & Cell Biology
Course Director, Human Gross Anatomy & Embryology
Director, NATIONAL Human Cadaver Prosection Program
Indiana University School of Medicine - Northwest Campus
Room 3028A (office); 3028 (lab); 2032 (anatomy lab)
3400 Broadway
Gary, Indiana 46408-1197
TEL: (219) 981-4356; FAX: (219) 980-6566
Email: cadaver@iun.edu (Prosection Program); etalaric@iun.edu (IUSM-NW)
Abraham Lincoln Exhibit Coming up at NMHM, exhibit poster by Navjeet Singh Chhina
I think this came out really well, I want to thank Kathleen Stocker,
who was very generous with her
time and scanned these for me
as well as photographed
the litho of Lincoln.
Thanks also to Mike Rhode,
for his time as well. Because
content is so important, and
the right content is all important
they made it very easy for me
to just do my job and design.
I did this in Photoshop
and Indesign. What I think
museum visitors will find interesting
is that with the exception of the Harpers
drawing, all of the other components in
this exhibit poster came from actual
artifacts in the Otis Archives from NMHM. Including the very rare
signature of Lincoln, which includes his full first name instead of the
A. Lincoln signature.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
A few more from Ball
I didn't have time to even open a box from the Ball Collection today, so these are left over from yesterday. They're all from “Miniatur-Abbildungen der wichtigsten Akiurgischen Operationen,” a book illustrating Dieffenbach's operations, by Dr. H. E. Fritze. (1838) The descriptions are transcribed and I don't have a translation. It's a fairly delicate book, which is why you can see shadows at the gutter.
Table 1: venaescetio (obviously not ophthalmic, but I liked it anyway)
Table 5: Suturae cruentae; Staphyloraphe; Operatio labii leporini
Table 10: Paracentesis sacci lacrymalis oper. Catar. Et trichiasis; Operatio blepharoptosis et pterygii
Table 1: venaescetio (obviously not ophthalmic, but I liked it anyway)
Table 5: Suturae cruentae; Staphyloraphe; Operatio labii leporini
Table 10: Paracentesis sacci lacrymalis oper. Catar. Et trichiasis; Operatio blepharoptosis et pterygii
Cochlear implants evolving
The Washington Post had an interesting article on cochlear implants - "One Implant Made an Impact. Might Two Do Even More? For Family, Second Cochlear Surgery Was a Difficult Decision," By Anne Dooley, Special to The Washington Post, Tuesday, January 6, 2009; Page HE05. The article discussed how the use of the implants and the number used is changing (from one to two for various reasons) after the requisite fights with insurance companies.
If anyone has one of these to donate to the museum, even non-working, please let us know.
If anyone has one of these to donate to the museum, even non-working, please let us know.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Wellcome War & Medicine exhibit open through February
War and Medicine (22 November 2008-15 February 2009) is on display in London. I imagine this is a good exhibit. Be sure to check out the image galleries which in particular have a couple of nice shell shock images. You can see this one of ours on our flickr site as well as some mustard gas images. We recently put some facial reconstruction models on display very similar to the one seen in the photos on the Wellcome site, except ours are colored.
Monday, January 5, 2009
Jan 7: Museum exhibit manager Steve Hill speaking on Resolved exhibit design
This is one of AFIP's professional education lectures, but I imagine if one wanted to attend, one could.
The following lecture is presented by the National Museum of Health and Medicine
Date/Time: 07 Jan 09/1100am
Location: Dart Auditorium
Speaker(s): Steven Hill
Exhibits Manager
National Museum of Health and Medicine
Title:
“RESOLVED: Turning a good idea, clinical expertise, and field experience into a museum exhibit”
Objectives:
To explain how a scientific/health museum exhibit is created from the ground up
Description:
Talk will cover all aspects of turning an idea—in this case the United States’ commitment to individual identification of its war dead—into an museum exhibit. Subtopics will include differences between museum exhibit and other forms of communication/education, how concepts are refined and broken down into topics that can be visually presented in a museum setting, selection and security of artifacts, exhibit design and visitor flow, construction and installation.
The following lecture is presented by the National Museum of Health and Medicine
Date/Time: 07 Jan 09/1100am
Location: Dart Auditorium
Speaker(s): Steven Hill
Exhibits Manager
National Museum of Health and Medicine
Title:
“RESOLVED: Turning a good idea, clinical expertise, and field experience into a museum exhibit”
Objectives:
To explain how a scientific/health museum exhibit is created from the ground up
Description:
Talk will cover all aspects of turning an idea—in this case the United States’ commitment to individual identification of its war dead—into an museum exhibit. Subtopics will include differences between museum exhibit and other forms of communication/education, how concepts are refined and broken down into topics that can be visually presented in a museum setting, selection and security of artifacts, exhibit design and visitor flow, construction and installation.
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