A Repository for Bottled Monsters: Siamese twins

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Letter of the Day: January 15

“Art Studio”
1639 19th St. N.W.

Dr. D.L. Huntington

Sir:

Having in my studio a Portait, painted in oil, of the celebrated “Siamese Twins,” said painting having been executed by a French Artist in Paris in 1836. I thought it would be a fitting subject for your Museum.

I will dispose of it for a moderate price.

Should you think favorable of the offer, it can be seen at my studio or I can send it down for your inspection.

Respectfully,

Mrs. V.B. Mullan.

Rec’d for file Jan 15 1884

Monday, September 20, 2010

Letter of the Day: September 20 (1 of 2)

War Department,

Surgeon General’s Office,

Washington, Sept 20, 1883.

Surg. D.L. Huntington USA

Dear Sir:

Have you decided anything in regard to Mrs Mullan’s offer to sell picture of Siamese Twins.

Some 15 or 16 years ago, shortly after the war, when they were here on exhibition, Otis tried to get them to come to the Museum, for the purpose of having a photograph taken; they were willing to come but either their agent or Mr Barnum objected and the project fell through.

Very truly yours

C.J. Myers

I don’t know anything of the merits of the picture, perhaps it wd be well to have it sent to the museum for inspection, unless the price is too great but I don’t want to hold out any inducements to the vendor. Yrs +c DLH

Who are we?

Mike Rhode was the chief archivist of the Museum from 1989-2011, and is the founder of this blog. I maintain an interest in the course of the museum, and will be posting relevant information.

The Army Medical Museum was founded in 1862 during the American Civil War. After World War II, a parent-child relationship was inverted and the Museum became part of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology. Since then, the Museum has moved around Washington, stopping for years in Ford's Theatre, and on the National Mall where the building it shared with the National Library of Medicine once stood, until it was demolished in 1968 for the Hirshhorn Museum. For 35 years it was at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, and now is in Silver Spring, MD.

So what about that blog name?

It's historical. I found it in a quote from one of the former curators. World War II confirmed the Army Medical Museum's primary role in pathology consultation. James Ash, the curator during the war and a pathologist, noted, "Shortly after the last war, more concerted efforts were instituted to concentrate in the Army Medical Museum the significant pathologic material occurring in Army installations." He closed with the complaint, "We still suffer under the connotation museum, an institution still thought of by many as a repository for bottled monsters and medical curiosities. To be sure, we have such specimens. As is required by law, we maintain an exhibit open to the public, but in war time, at least, the museum per se is the least of our functions, and we like to be thought of as the Army Institute of Pathology, a designation recently authorized by the Surgeon General."

After the war, it evolved into the tri-service Armed Forces Institute of Pathology.

A Repository for Bottled Monsters

Pages

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Letter of the Day: January 15

Monday, September 20, 2010

Letter of the Day: September 20 (1 of 2)

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