Gunther von Hagens, RIP

Gunther von Hagens, Creator of Polarizing ‘Body Worlds’ Exhibits, Dies at 81

A German scientist, he developed a process for turning corpses into posable figures. His shows drew millions of visitors, and many detractors.

By Clay Risen

July 28, 2026

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/28/science/gunther-von-hagens-dead.html

2 new free Navy history books - 1 with chapter on Navy Medicine

This has an article by historian Andre Sobocinski on NM history -

 

On Course Through History: The U.S. Navy at 250

https://www.dvidshub.net/publication/issues/77185

 

This has very little on medicine but cool pictures  –

 

America's Navy at 250: The Historic Collections of Naval History and Heritage Command (2026)

https://www.dvidshub.net/publication/issues/77304

Book by Gurdon Buck, Army Medical Museum contributor, for sale

Buck donated his photos of Civil War plastic surgery to the museum, which also has a copy of his book, courtesy of Dr. Blair Rogers, who wrote about him in plastic surgery journals.

Contributions to Reparative Surgery: Showing Its Application to the Treatment of Deformities, Produced by Destructive Disease or Injury; Congenital Defects From Arrest or Excess of Development; and Cicatricial Contractions From Burns By Gurdon Buck New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1876. First Edition. Octavo, viii, [1], 8-237, [3], 3-30, [2] pages. In Very Good minus condition. Gurdon Buck (1807-1877) was a pioneering military plastic surgeon during the Civil War. He is known for being the first doctor to incorporate pre- and post-operative photographs into his publications. Buck's fascia and Buck's extension are both named after him. $1,800  View Full Description Here

Military medicine history articles

From wagons to air ambulances: Medevac keeps the fight alive

https://www.dvidshub.net/news/569426/wagons-air-ambulances-medevac-keeps-fight-alive

Latest AMEDD Historian newsletter

The latest newsletter, No. 54, on the Civil War is online at https://auls.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/collectionDiscovery?vid=01AULS_INST:Stimson&collectionId=81240848270009191&lang=en.

or https://archive.org/details/amedd-historian-number-54-summer-2026 

Fun, and mostly accurate, video on Navy Medicine in the Civil War

Navy Medicine in the Civil War and Today (featuring CAPT Teresa Dent, NC)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBQdyPqwloE

RIP Norman Rich

 He wasn't a historian of medicine, but his long-term longitudinal followups become a history of some sort. Of interest to us is his preservation of military medical material from the Vietnam War, including booby traps, which are now in the National Museum of Health and Medicine.

https://news.usuhs.edu/2026/06/usu-mourns-passing-of-military-medicine.html

Fragility of Man photographs

https://www.instagram.com/fragility_of_man

My neighbor Roger, as well as being a firefighter, is an artist. He's more in the momento mori tradition than a medical museum one, but I think readers here will enjoy these. It's a plastic skeleton of course.