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First Posted: Jan. 27, 2014 Updated:
Jan 21, 2020

The National Museum of Health and Medicine in Silver Spring, Md

"The National Museum of Health and Medicine was established during the Civil War as the Army Medical Museum, a center for the collection of specimens for research in military medicine and surgery. In 1862, Surgeon General William Hammond directed medical officers in the field to collect 'specimens of morbid anatomy together with projectiles and foreign bodies removed' and to forward them to the newly founded museum for study. The Museum's first curator, John Brinton, visited mid-Atlantic battlefields and solicited contributions from doctors throughout the Union Army. During and after the war, Museum staff took pictures of wounded soldiers showing effects of gunshot wounds as well as results of amputations and other surgical procedures. The information collected was compiled into six volumes of The Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion, published between 1870 and 1883.

During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Museum staff engaged in various types of medical research. They pioneered in photomicrographic techniques, established a library and cataloging system which later formed the basis for the National Library of Medicine, and led the Museum into research on infectious diseases while discovering the cause of yellow fever. They contributed to research on vaccinations for typhoid fever, and during World War I, Museum staff were involved in vaccinations and health education campaigns, including major efforts to combat sexually-transmissible diseases.

By World War II, research at the Museum focused increasingly on pathology; in 1946 the Museum became a division of the new Army Institute of Pathology (AIP), which became the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP) in 1949. The Museum's library and part of its archives were transferred to the National Library of Medicine when it was created in 1956. The Army Medical Museum became the Medical Museum of the AFIP in 1949, the Armed Forces Medical Museum in 1974, and the National Museum of Health and Medicine in 1989"

"The National Museum of Health and Medicine in Silver Spring, Md., held its Anatomy of Sports program on August 11, 2012. The event taught attendees about the muscle groups athletes use while playing their sports, as well as common sports injuries and how they can be prevented. Medical illustrators were on hand to paint on the athletes' bodies as they demonstrated the movements and positions they use to play their sports. ...

Meghan Solon rides Nipper to demonstrate the way a horse and rider's bodies need to work in together to produce the best possible performance. Both were painted at the National Museum of Health and Medicine's Anatomy of Sports program on Aug. 11, 2012 in Silver Spring, Md." ... Quotation

Meghan Solon and Nipper
Meghan Solon rides Nipper/National Museum of Health and Medicine's Anatomy of Sports Program


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