Who's buried in John Wilkes Booth's grave?

A deathbed claim Enid News & Eagle Elements of the 16th New York Cavalry tracked Booth and an accomplice to a .... and since have been preserved at the National Museum of Health and Medicine.

Staff departures, catching up

Exhibit designer Navjeet Chhina departed the medical museum in the late summer of 2011. He'd like BM's readers to know that.

Another departure is imminent, I'm told.

History of drugs - article of interest

Ancient pills found in shipwreck offer rare insight into early ... KGWN The results offer a peek into the complexity and sophistication of ancient ...

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NLM History of Medicine Lecture

 

You are cordially invited to the next NLM History of Medicine lecture, to be held Wednesday, 16 January 2013 from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m., in the Lister Hill Auditorium, National Library of Medicine, Building 38A, Bethesda, MD:

 

"Calculating with Mortalities in Restoration London:  John Graunt and his Natural and Political Observations.

 

Kristin Heitman, PhD

Assistant Professor, Department of Medical History

Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD

 

The paper will discuss Graunt's ground-breaking epidemiological and statistical work with plague and other diseases in 17^th century England. Drawing upon NLM's extensive holdings of Graunt's published works, this lecture will examine the development, evolution, distribution, and reception of Graunt's book through its five editions.

 

All are welcome.

 

Sign language interpretation is provided. Individuals with disabilities who need reasonable accommodation to participate may contact Stephen Greenberg at 301-435-4995, e-mail greenbes@mail.nih.gov, or the Federal Relay (1-800-877-8339).

 

Due to current security measures at NIH, off-campus visitors are advised to consult the NLM Visitors and Security website:

 

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/about/visitor.html

 

Sponsored by

NLM's History of Medicine Division

Jeffrey S. Reznick, PhD, Chief

 

Event contact:

Stephen J. Greenberg, MSLS, PhD

Coordinator of Public Services

History of Medicine Division

National Library of Medicine, NIH

301-435-4995

greenbes@mail.nih.gov

 

 

 

Jan 16: Comic book & thriller writer Brad Meltzer at Politics & Prose

Why should you care? On his website, Meltzer writes:

 In this case, it began with a government employee who told me that I needed to come to a secret museum that almost no one knew about.  Naturally, I was suspicious, so I asked him what they had at this so-called museum.  Then he told me:  We have pieces of Abraham Lincoln's skull, the bullet that killed him, and even the bones of John Wilkes Booth, if you want to see them.

I take issue with the 'so-called' and 'secret' - the Medical Museum's been open to visitors since the 1860s.

Brad Meltzer - The Fifth Assassin

Start: Jan 16 2013 7:00 pm

End: Jan 16 2013 8:00 pm

Meltzer's latest D.C. thriller features Beecher White, hero of The Inner Circle, as he untangles a plot to kill the president—a plot that goes back to the very first presidential assassination. Researching the four successful attempts on the lives of chief executives, White discovers a long-running conspiracy.

The Fifth Assassin (Hardcover)

By Brad Meltzer

$27.99

ISBN-13: 9780446553971
Availability: Coming Soon - Available for Pre-Order Now
Published: Grand Central Publishing, 1/2013

Staff departures at NMHM

Jim Curley of Historical Collections and Emily Wilson of HDAC will be departing the Museum with the turn of the year. Wilson's contractor position has been advertised.

Einstein's brain samples

Einstein's brain: Even on the surface, extraordinary - latimes.com Los Angeles Times One hundred sixty of the slides, made from 240 "blocks" of Einstein's brain, are at Princeton's University Medical Center, and an additional 560 slides are housed at the National Museum of Health and Medicine, until recently on the grounds of Walter ...

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Voice of America visits medical museum

Visit to a Medical Museum; Plastic Surgeon Makes Healing Trips to ... Voice of America The museum also has anatomical collections of bones and preserved human organs. The National Museum of Health and Medicine opened as the Army Medical Museum ...

Einstein's brain app

An app lets users study Einstein's brain; magazine explores longevity research

By Aaron Leitko, October 1, 2012

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/an-app-lets-users-study-einsteins-brain-magazine-explores-longevity-research/2012/09/28/147cd106-695a-11e1-acc6-32fefc7ccd67_story.html

Museum Archivist Eric Boyle has a book coming out this fall

Quack Medicine: A History of Combating Health Fraud in Twentieth-Century America (Healing Society: Disease, Medicine, and History) [Hardcover]

 

Eric W. Boyle

VOA on National Museum of Health and Medicine

US Museum Showcases National Medical Collection Voice of America The National Museum of Health and Medicine originally opened as the Army Medical Museum during the Civil War. It's celebrating its 150th anniversary with a ...

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Google Alert - "National Museum of Health and Medicine"

Web 2 new results for "National Museum of Health and Medicine"

The National Museum of Health and Medicine: America's hidden ... The National Museum of Health and Medicine. It's not large like Mount Rushmore , iconic like the Statue of Liberty, or symbolic like The White House. It's small ... www.timetravelturtle.com/.../national-museum-health-medicin...

DCMilitary.com: NMHM Holds 25th Annual Forensic Anthropology ... bySubmitted by: National Museum of Health and Medicine. Franklin Damann, Anatomical Collections Curator at the National Museum of Health and Medicine ... www.dcmilitaryed.com/.../nmhm-holds-25th-annual-forensic-...

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Museum-related publication is notable.

The Government Printing Office has put up a blog post at http://govbooktalk.gpo.gov/2012/07/03/notable-federal-books-2012/ noting that the Library Journal has listed its 2011-2012 Notable Government Documents at http://lj.libraryjournal.com/2012/05/publishing/past-as-prologue-we-didnt-have-a-deck-last-year/

 

Included is Legacy of Excellence: The Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, 1862–2011 which the Museum archives significantly contributed to. You can read the book here - http://www.bordeninstitute.army.mil/other_pub/loe.html

AFIP swan song book picked as notable

New post on Government Book Talk Librarians Pick Notable Federal Books- 2012 Edition by GPOBookstore It's that exciting time of year again if you're a publisher of Federal publications. It's the equivalent of the Academy Awards, the Emmy Awards or the Grammy Awards… Well, maybe that's pushing it, but when the American Library Association's (ALA) Government Documents Round Table or GODORT convenes the Notable Documents Panel of its Publications Committee to choose the top government-produced publications of the previous year, we can't help but get caught up in the excitement. Each year, this ALA GODORT's Notable Documents Panel selects what it considers to be the most "Notable Government Documents" published during the previous year by Federal, state, and local governments and includes the list of winners in its prestigious Library Journal (LJ). According to its website, Library Journal is "the most trusted and respected publication for the library community. LJ provides groundbreaking features and analytical news reports covering technology, management, policy and other professional concerns to public, academic and institutional libraries. Its hefty reviews sections evaluate 8000+ reviews annually of books, ebooks, audiobooks, videos/DVDs, databases, systems and websites." This year, as usual, many of the Federal publications the panel selected are available through the Government Printing Office's Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) libraries and GPO's Sales Program. Out of all of the Federal Government documents LJ looked at in the past year, here are some of those it found most notable:   Keeping America Informed: The United States Government Printing Office 150 Years of Service to the NationPublisher: Government Printing Office (GPO)GPO's own role in producing excellent Government publications in its 150 years of history gained it a place on the GODORT list for the past year: "Liberally illustrated with historical photographs and facsimiles of famous government documents, this volume will appeal to a wider audience than depository librarians. Historians and history buffs who have an interest in government and how it interacts with both the private sector and public employee unions will find a compelling story that focuses on the federal government's obligation to keep citizens informed about its activities." - LJ   Statistical Abstract of the United States 2012 (Hardcover)Statistical Abstract of the United States 2012 (Paperback) Publisher: Commerce Department, U.S. Census Bureau The Statistical Abstract of the United States, published since 1878, is the standard summary of statistics on the social, political, and economic organization of the United States. It is designed to serve as a convenient volume for statistical reference and as a guide to other statistical publications and sources. The latter function is served by the introductory text to each section, the source note appearing below each table, and Appendix I, which comprises the Guide to Sources of Statistics, the Guide to State Statistical Abstracts, and the Guide to Foreign Statistical Abstracts. The Library Journal adds an important update about this: "In addition to being the quintessential statistical resource of all time, Statistical Abstract is a Notable Document for 2011 simply because this edition will be the last produced by the Census Bureau and distributed through FDLP. Future editions will be published commercially, so librarians will still have options for maintaining the continuity of their print collections. A classic reference tool." - LJ   Macondo: The Gulf Oil Disaster. Chief Counsel's Report 2011Publisher: National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling "The National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill was created by President Obama and charged with investigating the root causes of the largest accidental marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry. The committee concluded that the cause of the blowout was not mechanical. Instead, a number of poor management decisions, combined with an inadequate regulatory structure and an indifferent regulatory agency, overwhelmed the safeguards designed to prevent such disasters. Plenty of illustrations and photographs offer a glimpse into the technology of offshore oil rigs." - LJ   Then Came the Fire: Personal Accounts From the Pentagon, 11 September 2001Publisher: Defense Dept., Army, Center of Military History "In 2011, there were many publications designed to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the attacks of September 11, 2001. In addition to the 59 people aboard the flight that struck the Pentagon, 125 people in the Pentagon were killed. The editors of this memorial volume have collected the stories of eyewitnesses, including the military and civilian personnel who escaped the burning building and first responders and reporters at the scene. It also includes hundreds of photographs."- LJ   Freedom by the Sword: The U.S. Colored Troops, 1862-1867Publisher: Defense Dept., Army, Center of Military History" In what may be the definitive operational history of black troops in action during the Civil War, [author] Dobak describes the differences in how freedmen and runaway slaves were recruited, how they lived, and how they were trained. Most important, it considers how gallantly these men performed in combat at a time when many of their own leaders questioned whether they would be willing to fight for their own freedom and for that of their families. Much of the documentation comes from the 'War of the Rebellion' series." - LJ   Legacy of Excellence: The Armed Forces Institute of Pathology 1862-2011 Publisher: Defense Dept., Army, US Army Medical Department Center and Schoo1, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Public Affairs Office, Borden Institute "In 1862, shortly after the Battle of Antietam, army surgeon general Brigadier Gen. William Hammond ordered the establishment of the Army Medical Museum. Surgeons working on Civil War battlefields were encouraged to preserve anatomical specimens, such as severed limbs and diseased organs, and send them to the museum for further research. From the start, the museum made its displays of specimens and instruments, as well as its medical library, available to the general public. Under the leadership of later curators, such as John Billings and Walter Reed, the museum evolved into the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology. Readers interested in the history of science, especially medical science or in the devastating effects of Civil War weaponry on the human body, will be fascinated by the hundreds of graphic photographs." - LJ How can you get these publications from this year's Federal Notable Government Documents collection? Buy any of these publications online 24/7 by shopping the Notable Government Documents 2012 collection at GPO's Online Bookstore. Buy them at GPO's retail bookstore at 710 North Capitol Street NW, Washington, DC 20401, open Monday-Friday, 9am to 4pm, except Federal holidays, (202) 512-0132. Find these publications in a library near you. About the Author:  Michele Bartram is Promotions Manager for GPO's Publication and Information Sales Division and is responsible for online and offline marketing of the US Government Online Bookstore (http://bookstore.gpo.gov) and promoting Federal government content to the public. GPOBookstore | July 3, 2012 at 1:41 pm | Tags: african american history, ala, american library association, award winning books, black history, BP oil spill, British Petroleum, Deep water, deep water oil commission, deepwater, deepwater oil commission, federal librarians, gulf oil disaster, Gulf oil spill, history of pathology, librarians, Library Journal, Macondo, Notable Government Documents, Pentagon | Categories: 9/11, African Americans, Award Winning Books, Census Bureau, Center of Military History, Civil War, Department of Commerce, Department of Defense, Emergency Response, Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP), Government Printing Office (GPO), Gulf Coast, Libraries, Military History, U.S. Army, U.S. Army Medical Department | URL: http://wp.me/pRdY5-Bo Comment    See all comments Trouble clicking? Copy and paste this URL into your browser: http://govbooktalk.gpo.gov/2012/07/03/notable-federal-books-2012/ Thanks for flying with WordPress.com

The tragic death of President James Garfield

 CBS News' Sunday Morning July 1 2012

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7413480n

In 1881 James A. Garfield became the second U.S. President to be assassinated. As Mo Rocca learns, however, his death could have been avoided.

[Book author Candace Millard did research in the Museum, and former Museum curator Jeff Reznick appears]

Google Alert - "National Museum of Health and Medicine"

Artifact History: Nélaton probe « BoothieBarn The collection of the National Museum of Health and Medicine (NMHM) contains several objects relating to Presidential health and care. In regards to the ... boothiebarn.wordpress.com/.../artifact-history-nelaton-probe/

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What Would Sickles Do?

When I worked in the Museum for about 25 years, many times we found ourselves asking, "What Would Sickles Do?"* Sickles was a man of action, and took action when he perceived a need. I've noticed that many of the sites for sharing information about the Museum, including this one, are not being maintained, and some (as noted in the rest of the post) are actively being ruined, so I've decided to step back in.

The NMHM's public affairs office has moved the Museum's website and taken down a lot of material the Guide to the Collections (which listed over 500 large groupings of material for researchers), any articles written by staff, all the transcripts of the AFIP Oral histories, the Archives annual reports and probably more.

They did take the time to go through the Archives annual reports, cull all the users of the Archives over 20 years, and put it in one big list. They converted all the finding aids to pdfs, which probably makes them less visible to search engines. The also broke all the links in the History of Medicine Finding Aids Consortium search engine hosted by the National Library of Medicine.

You can still find the Guide to the Collections at the Internet Archive or buy a print copy at cost from Lulu. Fortunately Internet Archive had crawled the site and you can find all the useful missing material here. However, search engines will no longer pull this up for you apparently, based on a quick test for the Foreword to Photographic Atlas of Civil War Injuries (which you can still read here).


*Actually we didn't because he was a bit of a loon - see Gettysburg, battle of or, Key, Philip Barton, murder of.

Bruce Guthrie's NMHM opening pics

Pictures of the opening "crowd" -- http://www.bguthriephotos.com/graphlib.nsf/keys/2012_05_21B_NMHAMO

Some of the exhibits at -- http://www.bguthriephotos.com/graphlib.nsf/keys/2012_05_21A_NMHAM

Walt Whitman in the Civil War article online

Here's an article by my former colleagues about Whitman and the Army Medical Museum:

Remains of War : Walt Whitman, Civil War Soldiers, and the Legacy of Medical Collections
Lenore Barbian, Paul S. Sledzik, Jeffrey S. Reznick
http://lcoastpress.metapress.com/content/2hp4847807u83752/fulltext.pdf

Fredericksburg medical museum featured in paper

Bleeding-Edge Technologies

Dr. Hugh Mercer used only the best leeches, bone saws and lancets

By Holly J. Morris on December 01, 2011

 

http://www.expressnightout.com/2011/12/bleeding-edge-technologies/