My favorite day of the year is coming around again! Monday, April 27 is National Hairball Awareness Day! The NMHM has 27 veterinary and 3 human bezoars in the collection. From April 27-May 3 the Museum will have several of them on display, in addition to the human trichobezoar that is out all the time. We have 3 human hairballs--from 12-year-old girls who spent at least 6 years pulling and eating their hair. My favorite is a hairball removed from the gullet of a chicken. Usually humans and ruminant animals develop hairballs. The one from the chicken is kinda special. The chicken used to hang out with a pet dog and would pick at its fur. The owner of the chicken realized it was having a "problem," so he cut out what turned out to be a hairball and gave it to us. Come on April 27 and you'll learn why bezoars develop--you'll see bezoars from a steer, a cow, a horse, a human, and a chicken!! And, we'll even let you hold one!
Visit http://www.nmhm.washingtondc.museum/exhibits/virtual/hairball.html to see our virtual exhibit about bezoars. Enjoy!
(Did you know that there have been medical reports of bezoars consisting of gummy bears, polystyrene, foam pulled from the backseat of a car.....)
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.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
WW1 speech by nurse
The blog slipped open so here's a quick post. Historical collections had a request for info on Helen McClelland, a World War I nurse. They're not finding anything, but the archives has 2 pictures of her at an opening of a 1972 exhibit on nursing and a folder of clippings. The folder of clippings at first glance was just photocopies of articles about her, but it turns out there's also a talk in there that she gave about her WW1 service. Pretty neat!
Monday, April 20, 2009
News of other medical museums
Here's one about the Southern California Medical Museum's 12th Annual Open House - "Riverside museum hosts CSI symposium," Michael J. Sorba, Staff Writer, 04/19/2009.
The Rochester Medical Museum and Archives is featured in "History on Display: Local medical archives in fantastic health," April 20, 2009.
The Rochester Medical Museum and Archives is featured in "History on Display: Local medical archives in fantastic health," April 20, 2009.
The "New" Tom
As the newest member of the Museum, I am attempting to learn the ins and outs of this wonderful institution. After a week of "hazing" from the higher ups, (a.k.a. running around Walter Reed pleading for signatures and looking for offices,) I am now finally learning my duties as the Archives Technician. Thus far, my favorite thing has been admiring all of the old stuff. I realize that this seems a bit obvious, as I work in a museum, but I truly am constantly amazed by the images, documents and artifacts that I see around me. Sitting with Kathleen last week, I found myself in awe of the fact that the document in my hands had been written by someone in the late 19th century. Apologizing for feeling so giddy, Kathleen assured me that she still has similar thoughts when viewing older materials. I realize that this child-like sense of amazement is likely to fade the longer I work with the collection, but for now, my awe-inspired excitement is the driving force behind me getting in to work at 6:30am to ensure a parking space:) I feel compelled to give a shout out to all the staff members here at the Museum. I have greatly enjoyed meeting everyone and they have all been so kind and helpful. A special thanks to Brian and Jim for the "backstage" tours of the historical and anatomical collections last week; I am happy to admit that not a single nightmare came out of Brian's tour!
Feast or famine on these posts
We hit a dry spell over the weekend on posting to this blog, and if you were anywhere near the DC area you would know why - we hit that sweet, sweet spot of weather with blue skies and temps in the high 60s and had, sorry to say, better things to occupy us. Wait! Not yesterday, but Friday and Saturday - oh, yeah.
However, our faithful over at Flickr put us over 775,000 views last night, so maybe their weather wasn't nearly as nice as ours.
Many thanks to all of you who keep those numbers going.
However, our faithful over at Flickr put us over 775,000 views last night, so maybe their weather wasn't nearly as nice as ours.
Many thanks to all of you who keep those numbers going.
I think I missed the ice cream
Received this email today, and I think I should have read it a little more closely:
We will be acknowledging the National Medical Laboratory Professionals Week (NMLPW) here at the Armed Force Institute of Pathology. NMLPW will be April 19-25, 2009.
What is NMLPW? NMLPW is an annual celebration of the medical laboratory professionals and pathologists who play a vital role in every aspect of health care. NMLPW is a chance for medical laboratory personnel to celebrate their professionalism and be recognized for their efforts. Often, they use this time to inform and educate medical colleagues and the public about the medical laboratory. Since laboratorians often work behind the scenes, few people know much about the critical testing they perform every day.
The theme will be "Laboratory Professionals Get Results." Due to OPTEMPO we will take the special time to formally thank everyone for their contribution with getting results at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology. Our special thank you will commence on Monday at 1100-1300HRS with an ice-cream and cake social held in the foyers of our Main and Rockville facilities.
See? I think the ice cream was today, and I missed it.
We will be acknowledging the National Medical Laboratory Professionals Week (NMLPW) here at the Armed Force Institute of Pathology. NMLPW will be April 19-25, 2009.
What is NMLPW? NMLPW is an annual celebration of the medical laboratory professionals and pathologists who play a vital role in every aspect of health care. NMLPW is a chance for medical laboratory personnel to celebrate their professionalism and be recognized for their efforts. Often, they use this time to inform and educate medical colleagues and the public about the medical laboratory. Since laboratorians often work behind the scenes, few people know much about the critical testing they perform every day.
The theme will be "Laboratory Professionals Get Results." Due to OPTEMPO we will take the special time to formally thank everyone for their contribution with getting results at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology. Our special thank you will commence on Monday at 1100-1300HRS with an ice-cream and cake social held in the foyers of our Main and Rockville facilities.
See? I think the ice cream was today, and I missed it.
Labels:
AFIP,
laboratorians,
Laboratory Professionals Week
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Macauley exhibit opens on Monday
Our exhibit of the original art from David Macauley's latest book on the human body opens on Monday. It was looking good on Friday as about 1/2 the art was hung.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Have we mentioned our new archives staff member?
I think not. Jasmine High has joined us in the archives, fairly freshly out of GWU's museum studies program. She'll be managing the MIS Library photo collection of 2000 boxes or so, and doing quality control on the scanning project for them. We'll try to get her to stop in and post here. So far this week she's been running the paper and electronic sign-in marathon, but we put her to work today on processing a small collection of awards and certificates from former AFIP director James Hansen.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Army.mil
I was cruising through Flickr and came across an account called Army.mil, with just short of 4000 images. Surely they're not posting from home, not 4000 images! So I emailed them and asked. No, they have privileges because they're the "Web team" and have access to sites others might not have. I want to be a Web team. How do I go about that?
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Botox moves beyond cosmetic uses
Good article in the Times today - it's in the business section, but could easily have been in Tuesday's science section -
So Botox Isn’t Just Skin Deep
By NATASHA SINGER
Published: April 12, 2009
Botox has become a wrinkle-removal gold mine for the drug maker Allergan, but some doctors are also now using it to treat ailments like migraines and oily skin.
So Botox Isn’t Just Skin Deep
By NATASHA SINGER
Published: April 12, 2009
Botox has become a wrinkle-removal gold mine for the drug maker Allergan, but some doctors are also now using it to treat ailments like migraines and oily skin.
Friday, April 10, 2009
We got yer tractors!
Amphibious and farming and train and fogging - over at Flickr.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
The theme of the day is Latrines
You will not believe how hard it is to look for pictures to upload to Flickr. Today I was looking for something else when a picture of a latrine caught my eye and I had an "aha!" moment. Peruse at your leisure.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
"Face cases"
I just posted some facial wound/reconstruction pictures on Flickr, a small part of a pretty extensive series. For me, this ties in very nicely with the Otken Collection that I've been working on for a while. Captain Otken, as I've written before, was a World War 1 American Expeditionary Forces surgeon in France. He wrote often to his family about his "face cases," in particular one boy who was pretty shot up but through a series of surgeries Captain Otken kept him from being too disfigured. I'm sure that he saw the kinds of wounds that I just put up.
Labels:
facial reconstruction,
plastic surgery,
World War 1
Not for the squeamish
Today we bring you a couple of autopsy photos, so if you're a wee squeamish, skip this one. For the braver among you, this finally settles the question of where Easter eggs come from. From CraftyHedgehog at etsy. And sure, if you squint your eyes, it's somewhat medical-related.
Library of Congress to launch World Digital Library
This sounds like a worthy endeavor, doesn't it? As regular readers know, we've been digitizing a lot of photographs and a few books (available at the Internet Archive). Somehave had concernes that Google Books is too big - see "Google & the Future of Books," By Robert Darnton, New York Review of Books Volume 56, Number 2, February 12, 2009 and the Library's project seems like a good alternative. Here's the PR:
Library of Congress, UNESCO and Partners To Launch World Digital Library
The Library of Congress, UNESCO and 32 partner institutions on April 21 will launch the World Digital Library, a website that features unique cultural materials from libraries and archives from around the world.
The site will include manuscripts, maps, rare books, films, sound recordings, and prints and photographs – available unrestricted to the public and free of charge. The browseable, searchable site will function in seven languages and offer content in dozens of languages.
The launch will take place at a reception at UNESCO’s Paris headquarters co-hosted by UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura and the Librarian of Congress, James H. Billington. Directors of numerous partner institutions will also be on hand to present the project to ambassadors, ministers, delegates, and special guests attending the semi-annual meeting of UNESCO’s executive board.
Dr. Billington first proposed the creation of a World Digital Library (WDL) to UNESCO in 2005, remarking that such a project could “have the salutary effect of bringing people together by celebrating the depth and uniqueness of different cultures in a single global undertaking.” In addition to promoting international understanding, the project aims to expand the volume and variety of cultural content on the Internet, provide resources for educators, scholars, and general audiences, and narrow the digital divide within and between countries by building capacity in partner countries.
Founded in 1800, the Library of Congress is the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. It seeks to spark imagination and creativity and to further human understanding and wisdom by providing access to knowledge through its magnificent collections, programs and exhibitions. Many of the Library’s rich international resources will be available through the World Digital Library. Other resources can be found at the Library’s main website, loc.gov, and via interactive exhibitions on a new, personalized website at myLOC.gov.
###
PR 09-70
4/7/09
ISSN 0731-3527
Library of Congress, UNESCO and Partners To Launch World Digital Library
The Library of Congress, UNESCO and 32 partner institutions on April 21 will launch the World Digital Library, a website that features unique cultural materials from libraries and archives from around the world.
The site will include manuscripts, maps, rare books, films, sound recordings, and prints and photographs – available unrestricted to the public and free of charge. The browseable, searchable site will function in seven languages and offer content in dozens of languages.
The launch will take place at a reception at UNESCO’s Paris headquarters co-hosted by UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura and the Librarian of Congress, James H. Billington. Directors of numerous partner institutions will also be on hand to present the project to ambassadors, ministers, delegates, and special guests attending the semi-annual meeting of UNESCO’s executive board.
Dr. Billington first proposed the creation of a World Digital Library (WDL) to UNESCO in 2005, remarking that such a project could “have the salutary effect of bringing people together by celebrating the depth and uniqueness of different cultures in a single global undertaking.” In addition to promoting international understanding, the project aims to expand the volume and variety of cultural content on the Internet, provide resources for educators, scholars, and general audiences, and narrow the digital divide within and between countries by building capacity in partner countries.
Founded in 1800, the Library of Congress is the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. It seeks to spark imagination and creativity and to further human understanding and wisdom by providing access to knowledge through its magnificent collections, programs and exhibitions. Many of the Library’s rich international resources will be available through the World Digital Library. Other resources can be found at the Library’s main website, loc.gov, and via interactive exhibitions on a new, personalized website at myLOC.gov.
###
PR 09-70
4/7/09
ISSN 0731-3527
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Aussie military dogs are awarded medals
Our friend Mike Lemish sent me a link to an article about a medals ceremony in Australia last month that honored six working dogs, two of them posthumously. There's a nice video that goes with it.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Backtracking in the history of medicine for old techniques to reuse
Here's the article that Alexis originally contacted me for - "Old, Brutal Surgeries Inspire Elegant Modern Devices," By Alexis Madrigal, March 31, 2009. I didn't have any good suggestions for him, but he talked to Dave Lounsbury and Dale Smith whom I suggested. This is a neat idea, but I can't imagine you can take it too far since antibiotics, x-rays and asepsis make the biggest differences in treatment.
What would it take to make a Civil War veteran happy?
Money. But also an accordion "to drive away the dark clouds from my sickroom." I had a vague memory of this letter from twenty years ago, and as she was processing our accession records for scanning, Archivist Amanda Montgomery found it for me.
Here's a post-Civil War letter from veteran Alexander Rider to Dr. Reed Bontecou talking about the difficulties of having a photograph made when he can't leave the house, and asking for an accordion. From the Museum's accession records for SS 2030. Click on the photo to see it larger for reading. Rider was a Private, Company I, 76 Pennsylvania Volunteers, wounded at Pocotaligo, SC on October 22, 1862.
Here's a post-Civil War letter from veteran Alexander Rider to Dr. Reed Bontecou talking about the difficulties of having a photograph made when he can't leave the house, and asking for an accordion. From the Museum's accession records for SS 2030. Click on the photo to see it larger for reading. Rider was a Private, Company I, 76 Pennsylvania Volunteers, wounded at Pocotaligo, SC on October 22, 1862.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Arm and leg prosthetics in the making
A dozen photos of arm and leg prosthetics being created have just been posted to our Flickr account. These are some of those behind-the-scenes images I really like. We probably have all seen finished products, but don't usually see how they're made.
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