http://culture.wnyc.org/articles/features/2011/apr/13/merchants-house-di
splay-photos-new-york-civil-war-regiment-soldiers/ and slideshow
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Burns Archive's Civil War Exhibit on WNYC with online article
From: The Burns Archive
Letter of the Day: April 14
Curatorial Records: Numbered Correspondence 09429
War Department,
Office of the Surgeon General,
Army Medical Museum and Library,
Washington.
April 14, 1906.
To the Surgeon General,
U.S. Army.
Sir:
I have the honor to request authority to purchase for deposit in the Army Medical Museum the following busts of Medical and other Scientific men:
Aesculapius, est cost...$5.00
Agassiz""...5.00
Darwin, Chas""...5.00
Galen""...7.00
Huxley""...7.50
Holmes, Oliver W. est. cost 8.00
Linnaeus, est. cost...5.00
to be paid for from the Museum appropriation.
Very respectfully,
C.L. Heizmann
Col. Asst. Surgeon General, U.S.A.
In charge of Museum & Library Division.
War Department,
Office of the Surgeon General,
Army Medical Museum and Library,
Washington.
April 14, 1906.
To the Surgeon General,
U.S. Army.
Sir:
I have the honor to request authority to purchase for deposit in the Army Medical Museum the following busts of Medical and other Scientific men:
Aesculapius, est cost...$5.00
Agassiz""...5.00
Darwin, Chas""...5.00
Galen""...7.00
Huxley""...7.50
Holmes, Oliver W. est. cost 8.00
Linnaeus, est. cost...5.00
to be paid for from the Museum appropriation.
Very respectfully,
C.L. Heizmann
Col. Asst. Surgeon General, U.S.A.
In charge of Museum & Library Division.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
UMBC- Memorial photography exhibit opens tomorrow
Stanley Burns will be speaking tomorrow at 4 PM at Catonsville- Albin O
Kuhn Gallery and Library University of Maryland Baltimore County at the
opening of his memorial photography exhibit.
Kuhn Gallery and Library University of Maryland Baltimore County at the
opening of his memorial photography exhibit.
Sleeping Beauties: Memorial Photographs from the Burns Collection
One of the defining images in this exhibition is the tintype of a father
lovingly holding an uncomfortable looking child. The father is
well-dressed and has an air of invincibility that is undermined only by
outsized, swollen fingers. His one hand rests demonstratively on his
knee and the other in a claw-like position distended beyond his son's
clothing rather than affectionately clasping the child. The image does
not cry out that either father or son is deceased, but the father's
fingers are so unnatural that one soon realizes that he is dead. This
portrait, likely the only one ever made of the two together, emphasizes
familial relationship and love as motivations behind the image. In
varying degrees, love, relationships, and grieving more than death, are
the central characteristics of this exhibition.
Another characteristic of the show, also as represented by the portrait
of the father and son, is the changing technology of photography. The
portrait is a tintype, a relatively affordable process in 1875 when the
image was made. Represented in the exhibition are various tintypes, but
also a whole spectrum of photographic processes from the 1840s to the
2000s, including daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, albumen prints, cartes de
visite, cabinet cards, silver gelatin prints, and digitally generated
permanent pigment prints. The exhibition is a veritable history of
photography as seen through memorial photographs. Revealed is that the
look of death has not changed over time, only the way that it is
represented.
The show is organized by themes, including "Adults," "Children,"
"Sleep," "Family and Rituals," "Remembrances," "Images with Images,"
"Eyes Open," and "Decorative Displays." Each section is sequenced
historically to tell a story about the topic from the earliest to the
latest images. The father and son portrait, for example, is in the
section labeled "Adults," because it is the father who is deceased. The
section on "Children" tugs at one's heartstrings so much perhaps because
the images show cute, vulnerable little ones full of human potential not
to be realized. The "Sleep" section shows attempts to make the dead
look like they just happen to be napping. (In the nineteenth century,
death was frequently described as "the long last sleep.") Images of the
spent bodies of children with their eyes closed promote the illusion of
sleep as the children are laid out so naturally in carriages or on beds.
Additional sequences include the "Family and Rituals" section which
shows immediate and extended family members posed with the deceased,
usually in their coffins. These images, of course, would be the last
photographs of the family all together. The "Remembrances" section
includes memorial poem cabinet cards (sometimes with photographs on
them) and memorial ceramic photographs often used on memorial markers.
The Images with Images" section shows photographs with images of a
deceased one in them, or photographs with images associated with someone
who is deceased. This section will fascinate iconologist's, because the
images surrounding those of the dead often comment on and have
especially telling relationships to the dead. The "Eyes Open" section
highlights images that attempt to make the dead look natural and
somewhat as they did in life. Finally, there is the "Decorative
Displays" section which shows photographs of memorial centerpieces that
represent a way of setting off an image or expressing a reverence for
the deceased. Some decorative displays images are commercial, such as
the one for Abraham Lincoln. The imagery was intended for public
consumption for viewing in one's parlor. Others, such as "Tower of
Silence," were intended to be sold to tourists as they visited monuments
to the dead. Finally there were those with the words "Pater," or
"Sister" which were for personal and family purposes.
Photographs have three lives. The first life is the immediate purpose
for which the image was made. In the case of memorial photographs, the
image provides a record of the deceased, a way to express love and
relationship for that person, and to serve as part of the grieving
process. The second life of a photograph is as recent past nostalgia.
Friends and family can look back over time and remember the deceased as
well as good times that were had together. The third (and perhaps the
most important life) is as a communication over the generations. Long
after there is no one alive who remembers the deceased, memorial images
communicate to viewers that the person lived and was regarded highly
enough in life that people wished to remember them after death. Also
memorial images teach succeeding generations that all humanity is
related to each other and are the same in death. Perhaps most of all,
memorial photographs confer upon the dead a kind of immortality. Long
after they are gone, the deceased continue to live on in images. This
exhibition is about all of these things.
Tom Beck
Chief Curator
Walt Whitman's Civil War Soldiers at the NMHM
Walt Whitman
Image Courtesy of the Library of Congress
On April 12th, the 150th anniversay of the start of the Civil War, the National Archives announced the discovery of almost 3,000 pieces written by the poet Walt Whiman. Whitman, "a journalist, poet and essayist...[was]...perhaps best known for capturing the haunted pageantry of the Civil War in his work 'Drum-Taps'." You can read news of the discovery online at the Washington Post.
But what became of Whitman's wounded boys, the young soldiers he captured in Specimen Days? For some, their stories are documented online at: "Walt Whitman’s Soldiers: A National Museum of Health and Medicine Online Exhibit." Anatomical specimens and medical documentation of patients that Whitman immortalized remain in the collection of the NMHM, such as that of Private Oscar Cunningham:
“…the noblest specimen of a young western man…” On May 2nd, 1863, during the battle of Chancellorsville, Private Cunningham, 82nd Ohio, received a gunshot wound to the right thigh that resulted in a compound fracture of the thigh. The bullet was extracted at Armory Square Hospital on June 15th. Extensive abscesses formed following the procedure, and on May 2nd, 1864, Cunningham’s leg was amputated. Although Bliss had hope for a successful outcome when he submitted the specimen to the Army Medical Museum on May 5th, Cunningham died on June 5th, 1864. Whitman, who cared for Cunningham, described the young man in a letter to his mother. "I have just left Oscar Cunningham, the Ohio boy—he is in a dying condition—there is no hope for him—it would draw tears from the hardest heart to look at him--his is all wasted away to a skeleton, & looks like some one fifty years old—you remember I told you a year ago, when he was first brought in, I thought him the noblest specimen of a young western man I had seen, a real giant in size, & always with a smile on his face—O what a change, he has long been very irritable, to every one but me, & his frame is all wasted away." Cunningham died on June 4, 1864, one month after Bliss had hoped that Cunningham might survive his amputation. Cunningham was one of the first soldiers to be buried in the new Arlington National Cemetery."
Letter of the Day: April 13
Curatorial Records: Numbered Correspondence 09427
War Department
Office of the Surgeon General,
Army Medical Museum and Library,
Washington.
April 13, 1906
Dr. D. J. Healy, Anatomist,
Army Medical Museum.
Sir:
Referring to your verbal report of this afternoon that Landsberg was observed sleeping in the Museum Hall, you are requested to submit a report in writing, stating the time at which the observation was made, how long the sleeping continued, and any circumstances bearing upon it.
Very respectfully,
James Carroll
1st Lieut., Asst. Surgeon, U.S.A.
Curator, Army Medical Museum.
War Department
Office of the Surgeon General,
Army Medical Museum and Library,
Washington.
April 13, 1906
Dr. D. J. Healy, Anatomist,
Army Medical Museum.
Sir:
Referring to your verbal report of this afternoon that Landsberg was observed sleeping in the Museum Hall, you are requested to submit a report in writing, stating the time at which the observation was made, how long the sleeping continued, and any circumstances bearing upon it.
Very respectfully,
James Carroll
1st Lieut., Asst. Surgeon, U.S.A.
Curator, Army Medical Museum.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Letter of the Day: April 12
Curatorial Records: Numbered Correspondence 05157
War Department,
Surgeon General's Office,
U.S.Army Medical Museum and Library,
Corner of 7th and B Streets.,
Washington, April 12, 1901
Dr. Cecil French,
718 12th Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C.
Sir:
I am directed by the Surgeon General to express his thanks for the portions of the left side of the pelvis, of the small intestine and of the internal genitals, showing an inguinal hernia, received from you on the 11th inst. The specimen has been added to the collection with a properly inscribed card.
Respectfully,
AF Woodhull
Col. Asst. Surg.
War Department,
Surgeon General's Office,
U.S.Army Medical Museum and Library,
Corner of 7th and B Streets.,
Washington, April 12, 1901
Dr. Cecil French,
718 12th Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C.
Sir:
I am directed by the Surgeon General to express his thanks for the portions of the left side of the pelvis, of the small intestine and of the internal genitals, showing an inguinal hernia, received from you on the 11th inst. The specimen has been added to the collection with a properly inscribed card.
Respectfully,
AF Woodhull
Col. Asst. Surg.
Monday, April 11, 2011
Luke Jerrem, Artist
http://www.lukejerram.com/projects/glass_microbiology
I have seen alot of these now as models, paintings, drawings, all ugly evoking only disgust, certainly none as beautiful to look at as these.
click the link for more.
I have seen alot of these now as models, paintings, drawings, all ugly evoking only disgust, certainly none as beautiful to look at as these.
Letter of the Day: April 11
Curatorial Records: Numbered Correspondence 05863
Repair of Skylight
Surgeon General's Office,
U.S.Army Medical Museum and Library,
Corner of 7th and B Streets SW.,
Washington, April 11, 1902
To the Surgeon General,
U.S. Army
General:
I have the honor to report that two panes of glass of the skylight of the photograph gallery of this building, need replacing . The panes, not being perfectly straight (always more or less concave), seem to rest on the four corners with result, that with every heavy windstorm the corners break off. Thus it has been necessary to have the glass repaired every year since the occupation of this building. I would therefore recommend that the glass of the entire skylight (18 x 12 ft.) be replaced with straight heavy ribbed glass, a sample of which, furnished by C.E. Hodgkin, 918 Seventh St., N.W. is herewith submitted. I understand that the cost of this change would not exceed $40.00.
Very respectfully,
Calvin DeWitt
Col. & Asst. Surgeon General, U.S.A.
In charge of Museum & Library Division
Repair of Skylight
Surgeon General's Office,
U.S.Army Medical Museum and Library,
Corner of 7th and B Streets SW.,
Washington, April 11, 1902
To the Surgeon General,
U.S. Army
General:
I have the honor to report that two panes of glass of the skylight of the photograph gallery of this building, need replacing . The panes, not being perfectly straight (always more or less concave), seem to rest on the four corners with result, that with every heavy windstorm the corners break off. Thus it has been necessary to have the glass repaired every year since the occupation of this building. I would therefore recommend that the glass of the entire skylight (18 x 12 ft.) be replaced with straight heavy ribbed glass, a sample of which, furnished by C.E. Hodgkin, 918 Seventh St., N.W. is herewith submitted. I understand that the cost of this change would not exceed $40.00.
Very respectfully,
Calvin DeWitt
Col. & Asst. Surgeon General, U.S.A.
In charge of Museum & Library Division
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Letter of the Day: April 10
Curatorial Records: Numbered Correspondence 02183
Fort Barrancas Fla.
April 10th 1897.
Major Walter Reed
Surgeon U.S.A.
Dear Doctor,
I forward by todays mail [a] piece of a small warty tumor from tongue of Tucker[?] Clifford. It is situated in center of dorsum of anterior surface of tongue + not not raised above [the] surface. It looks to me suspicious.
Will you be kind enought to examine + give me your opinion.
Very truly yours,
W.C. Gorgas.
Fort Barrancas Fla.
April 10th 1897.
Major Walter Reed
Surgeon U.S.A.
Dear Doctor,
I forward by todays mail [a] piece of a small warty tumor from tongue of Tucker[?] Clifford. It is situated in center of dorsum of anterior surface of tongue + not not raised above [the] surface. It looks to me suspicious.
Will you be kind enought to examine + give me your opinion.
Very truly yours,
W.C. Gorgas.
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Letter of the Day: April 9
JWS/caw
9 April 1962
Mr. W.O. Miller
Exhibit Manager
The Upjohn Company
Kalamazoo, Michigan
Dear Mr. Miller:
Last year the Medical Museum had approximately 700,000 visitors and it is anticipated that the figure will reach the million mark by 1963.
We would like to have the opportunity of exhibiting The Cell during 1963. Do you have a photograph and descriptive material on this exhibit?
It is regretted that The “Brain” is too complicated to exhibit here.
Sincerely yours,
John W. Sheridan
Colonel MSC
Curator, Medical Museum
9 April 1962
Mr. W.O. Miller
Exhibit Manager
The Upjohn Company
Kalamazoo, Michigan
Dear Mr. Miller:
Last year the Medical Museum had approximately 700,000 visitors and it is anticipated that the figure will reach the million mark by 1963.
We would like to have the opportunity of exhibiting The Cell during 1963. Do you have a photograph and descriptive material on this exhibit?
It is regretted that The “Brain” is too complicated to exhibit here.
Sincerely yours,
John W. Sheridan
Colonel MSC
Curator, Medical Museum
Friday, April 8, 2011
CANCELLED: Medical Museum's Poetry Month Program: Sat., 4/9, 12:30-1:30pm
CANCELLED! Due to unforeseen circumstances, this program is cancelled!
Program will be rescheduled – stay tuned for details!
Questions? Call (202) 782-2673
Medical Museum’s Poetry Month Celebration!
Animal_Magnetism.jpg
CANCELLED -- When: Saturday, April 9, 2011, 12:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.
What: Join the Museum and poet/author Kim Roberts in celebration of National Poetry Month. Roberts will read from her new book of poetry, "Animal Magnetism," which features three poems about the Museum’s collections. After the reading, James Curley, Historical Collections Specialist, will provide a special glimpse of the Museum’s collections. (Museum exhibits are closed, as of 4/3/2011.) A book signing will follow the program. Copies of “Animal Magnetism” will be available for purchase.
Questions? Call (202) 782-2673 or email nmhminfo@afip.osd.mil.
National Museum of Health and Medicine
6900 Georgia Avenue, NW, Building 54, Washington, D.C. 20307
http://www.nmhm.washingtondc.museum --(202) 782-2672 – nmhminfo@afip.osd.mil
NMHM on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/MedicalMuseum
NMHM on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/MedicalMuseum
Letter of the Day: April 8
Curatorial Records: Numbered Correspondence 03041
April 8, 1898
Mr. Richard Sylvester
Chief Clerk, Met. Police Dept.
Washington, D.C.
Dear Sir:
I have the pleasure of acknowledging the receipt, through Dr. D.S. Lamb, of the bullet extracted from the body of Taulces [?] and other bullets removed from the bodies of suicides, and to thank you for these contributions to the museum collections.
Very respectfully,
Walter Reed
Surgeon, U.S. Army,
Curator
April 8, 1898
Mr. Richard Sylvester
Chief Clerk, Met. Police Dept.
Washington, D.C.
Dear Sir:
I have the pleasure of acknowledging the receipt, through Dr. D.S. Lamb, of the bullet extracted from the body of Taulces [?] and other bullets removed from the bodies of suicides, and to thank you for these contributions to the museum collections.
Very respectfully,
Walter Reed
Surgeon, U.S. Army,
Curator
Thursday, April 7, 2011
April 9th Poetry event cancelled
CANCELLED! An Afternoon of Poetry ...
Saturday, April 9 · 12:30pm - 1:30pm
Saturday, April 9 · 12:30pm - 1:30pm
CANCELLED DUE TO UNFORESEEN CIRCUMSTANCES! We apologize for the
inconvenience and regret that we have to make this change in our
programming. Please stay tuned for a future date when this program may
be held.
Letter of the Day: April 7
Faria, Macias & Co.
Commisionn [sic] Merchants,
58, 60 & 62 Broadway & 21 New St.
New York April 7, 1897.
Librarian
Surgeon General's Office, U.S. Army,
Washington, D.C.
Dear Sir:
Having been requested by my friend Mr. Faria owner of an anthopological [sic] collections of South American Indian objects, about 200000 articles, to negotiate with influential parties to dispose of the same under certain conditions; the specimens cannot be duplicated being all provided with certificate of authority, believing therefore it would be a great acquisition for any of the scientific Institutions of this country. The owners purpose is to make a donation of the same with the sole condition that he would be appointed Director, with a small yearly compensation; he has the capacity and knowledge, having devoted some years to the study of anthropology. If you believe something could be done I beg of you to let me have your valuable advice. Thanking you in advance I remain
Yours respectfully,
(Signed) A Macias.
Please address your answer to
Mr. A.J. Macias
102 West 90th Street
New York.
Commisionn [sic] Merchants,
58, 60 & 62 Broadway & 21 New St.
New York April 7, 1897.
Librarian
Surgeon General's Office, U.S. Army,
Washington, D.C.
Dear Sir:
Having been requested by my friend Mr. Faria owner of an anthopological [sic] collections of South American Indian objects, about 200000 articles, to negotiate with influential parties to dispose of the same under certain conditions; the specimens cannot be duplicated being all provided with certificate of authority, believing therefore it would be a great acquisition for any of the scientific Institutions of this country. The owners purpose is to make a donation of the same with the sole condition that he would be appointed Director, with a small yearly compensation; he has the capacity and knowledge, having devoted some years to the study of anthropology. If you believe something could be done I beg of you to let me have your valuable advice. Thanking you in advance I remain
Yours respectfully,
(Signed) A Macias.
Please address your answer to
Mr. A.J. Macias
102 West 90th Street
New York.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Letter of the Day: April 6
Curatorial Records: Numbered Correspondence 02181
Fort Riley, Kansas,
April 6th., 1897
Major Walter Reed, U.S.A.,
Washington, D.C.
Dear Doctor:
I send you today, by express, a pathological specimen, which I would be very glad to have examined microscopically. It is from the wife of Capt. Anderson, and Artillery Officer of this garrison - She reached this Post from Ft. Adams, Rhode Island about the middle of December last, and I was called to see her. I found a very much enlarged Spleen, reaching almost, if not quite, down to the crest of the Ilium. I learned, that the case had been diagnosed and treated as one of Malarial disease, "Ague-cake", but an examination of the blood made here, at no time showed the presence of the parasite in any of it's forms - There were, however, a large number of Eosinophile cells present - I turned the case over to one of my Assistants, who resided close by her, and did not see her again until about 20th. of March last, when I found the abdomen greatly enlarged, the patient markedly emaciated, and confined to bed. An examination of the blood at this time showed an entire absence of the Eosinophiles, and a great excess of polynuclear leucocytes.
Mrs Anderson was 48 years of age.- Day before yesterday a laparotomy was done with no satisfactory results, and this morning she died.-
I give you the forgoing brief narrative of facts, for what they may be worth, in assisting you to arrived at a satisfactory conclusion, as to the nature of the neoplastic growth.
Very truly yours
J.L. Powell
Capt. etc.
Fort Riley, Kansas,
April 6th., 1897
Major Walter Reed, U.S.A.,
Washington, D.C.
Dear Doctor:
I send you today, by express, a pathological specimen, which I would be very glad to have examined microscopically. It is from the wife of Capt. Anderson, and Artillery Officer of this garrison - She reached this Post from Ft. Adams, Rhode Island about the middle of December last, and I was called to see her. I found a very much enlarged Spleen, reaching almost, if not quite, down to the crest of the Ilium. I learned, that the case had been diagnosed and treated as one of Malarial disease, "Ague-cake", but an examination of the blood made here, at no time showed the presence of the parasite in any of it's forms - There were, however, a large number of Eosinophile cells present - I turned the case over to one of my Assistants, who resided close by her, and did not see her again until about 20th. of March last, when I found the abdomen greatly enlarged, the patient markedly emaciated, and confined to bed. An examination of the blood at this time showed an entire absence of the Eosinophiles, and a great excess of polynuclear leucocytes.
Mrs Anderson was 48 years of age.- Day before yesterday a laparotomy was done with no satisfactory results, and this morning she died.-
I give you the forgoing brief narrative of facts, for what they may be worth, in assisting you to arrived at a satisfactory conclusion, as to the nature of the neoplastic growth.
Very truly yours
J.L. Powell
Capt. etc.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Edinburgh Stereoscopic Anatomy set donated
In spite of the Museum’s closing to move, the collections are still growing. Milton and Daniel Klein donated this 1929 set of Edinburgh Stereoscopic Anatomy which complements some earlier sets that we have.
Letter of the Day: April 5
Curatorial Records: Numbered Correspondence 02166
Subject.
War Department,
Surgeon General's Office,
Washington, April 5, 1897
Major Walter Reed,
Surgeon, U.S. Army,
Secretary, Army Medical School,
My dear Reed,
I received on Saturday, the examination papers of the last class in "Duties of Medical Officers." After consulting the Surgeon General on the subject it seems unnecessary to keep all these examination papers as they are quite bulky and not likely to be needed. The Surgeon general suggests, however, that it is important that we should keep on hand a file of the questions given out in each branch session. Will you kindly give attention to this matter and get up, if practicable, a set of examination papers for each session to file with the records of the School. I send you down a copy of my questions given at the last session.
Lest I may not see you soon, I want to say when I handed my report of the School to the General, April 1st, he was very complimentary in his expressions of satisfaction at the work of the Faculty, stating that he thought the course was better than that given by any Army Medical School. His praise was intended of course not for my own ears, so that I want my colleagues and of the faculty to know it.
Very truly yours,
C.H. Alden
Subject.
War Department,
Surgeon General's Office,
Washington, April 5, 1897
Major Walter Reed,
Surgeon, U.S. Army,
Secretary, Army Medical School,
My dear Reed,
I received on Saturday, the examination papers of the last class in "Duties of Medical Officers." After consulting the Surgeon General on the subject it seems unnecessary to keep all these examination papers as they are quite bulky and not likely to be needed. The Surgeon general suggests, however, that it is important that we should keep on hand a file of the questions given out in each branch session. Will you kindly give attention to this matter and get up, if practicable, a set of examination papers for each session to file with the records of the School. I send you down a copy of my questions given at the last session.
Lest I may not see you soon, I want to say when I handed my report of the School to the General, April 1st, he was very complimentary in his expressions of satisfaction at the work of the Faculty, stating that he thought the course was better than that given by any Army Medical School. His praise was intended of course not for my own ears, so that I want my colleagues and of the faculty to know it.
Very truly yours,
C.H. Alden
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