Early 1960s Civil Defense Medical Kits

The museum surfaced yesterday in 'John Kelly's Washington' in the Washington Post (November 23, 2010). The column mentions the transfer of a cache of Civil Defense medical kits to the museum from the U.S. Senate about a year ago. They were found by Heather Moore, photo historian at the Senate, in a storage space at the Russell Senate Office Building that was under renovation. The kits are assembled in cardboard boxes that, while dusty, remain in excellent condition.













Survival supplies furnished by Office of Civil Defense, Department of Defense, Medical Kit C, 300-325 Shelter Occupants [ca. 1963]

They at once are a fine complement to our Civil Defense and Cold War-era collections and also represent the interesting additions to the collection that are (re)discovered in one way or another. That medical material culture tucked away, hidden, and forgotten in rafters, attics, storage lockers and drawers.












Kelly's story, "No negative fallout from these shelters," is here:
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/22/AR2010112206978.html

Wash Post on leprosy

Sally Squires and her husband John Wilhelm have done an interesting and touching documentary film "Triumph at Carville: A Tale of Leprosy in America" which can be seen at the Museum with a small exhibit on leprosy (aka Hansen's Disease). Today she had an article in the Post about how the disease is still around, but not as dangerous as it has been in the past. See "A Scary Diagnosis Hits Home When a Tiny Rash Turns Out to Be Leprosy, A Teen and Her Community Learn the Modern Reality of Living With the Biblical Disease," By Sally Squires, Washington Post Staff Writer, Tuesday, May 27, 2008; Page HE01. On June 19th, we'll have d a free lecture on Hansen's disease by Wayne M. Meyers of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology. Dr. Meyers is an expert on the disease, which used to be a major area of research in the AFIP, and we have an oral history with him. Drs. Meyers and Chapman Binford were the main doctors working on it. We have some of Dr. Binford's records:

OHA 114

* Binford Leprosy Material, 1922-1975
* .5 cubic foot, 1 box.
* No finding aid, arranged, inactive, unrestricted.
* Public Health Bulletins, reprints, manuscript articles, journals, and photographs related to leprosy. Includes articles and correspondence by Chapman H. Binford, chief of the AFIP Geographic Pathology department.