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 Among the most popular anatomical specimens and historical artifacts on display are those related to President Abraham Lincoln. These include the bullet that ended his life, the probe used to locate the bullet, a blood-stained shirt cuff from the museum surgeon who attended the autopsy, and bone fragments and hair from Lincoln's skull. The collection also includes a pencil drawing of the deathbed scene made by the museum's medical illustrator immediately after the removal of Lincoln's body from the house in which he died. Also on display are copies by sculptor Avarel Fairbanks of Abraham Lincoln's life mask and hands made by Leonard Volk in 1860. |
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 "To Bind Up the Nation's Wounds: Medicine During the Civil War" shows Civil War medicine through the eyes of battlefield surgeons and the stories of Union and Confederate sick and wounded. Among items on display are the amputated leg bones of Maj. Gen. Daniel E. Sickles, the 3rd Army Corps commander who was wounded at Gettysburg on July 2, 1863 and sent the leg to the museum in a coffin-shaped box bearing a visiting card that read: "With the compliments of Major General D.E.S."
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 "Evolution of the Microscope" displays items from the world's largest and most representative collection in tracing the development of the basic tool of the bioscientist over the last 400 years. The exhibit includes the 17th-century, handcrafted, leather and gold-tooled microscope used by Robert Hooke in the preparation of "Micrographia," one of the first books ever written about observations made through a microscope.
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 "Battlefield Surgery 101: From the Civil War to Vietnam" drawn exclusively from the museum's historical archives and historical collections, "Battlefield Surgery 101" presents the highlights of the evolution of military surgical activities over the last 140 years through a selection of photographs and 19th- and 20th- century artifacts.
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 A vivid presentation of anatomical and pathological specimens, assembled from museum collections dating back more than 100 years, goes on display this week at the nation’s medical museum. "Visibly Human: Health and Disease in the Human Body" presents the body’s organ systems and features normal anatomical specimens alongside specimens demonstrating some measure of pathology, be it from injury, disease or environmental factors
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 Abraham Lincoln: The Final Casualty of the War To mark the 200th anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln's birth, NMHM honors our 16th president with this exhibition of items associated with his last hours and the physicians who cared for him.
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 Trauma Bay II, Balad, Iraq NMHM has opened a new exhibit that offers a rare view inside a former Air Force tent hospital in Balad, Iraq.
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 "RESOLVED highlights the underlying forensic sciences that have evolved in fulfilling this nation’s commitment to the identification and commemoration of the U.S. service member."
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 "Blood, Sweat, and Saline: Combat Medicine in the Korean Conflict" features surgical instruments used in a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital and an artificial kidney machine used in the field. The exhibit makes the story of medicine during the Korean War come to life through photographs and the personal recollections of medics, patients, and military personnel. The exhibit is 500 square feet and contains 48 artifacts and 6 pathological specimens.
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 "From a Single Cell,” an exhibit that documents human development from the embryonic stage to age 5, includes real human specimens from the museum's Human Developmental Anatomy Collection (HDAC), which is the largest collection of fetal material in the United States. It also features anatomical models and images that demonstrate different growth patterns and developmental stages before and after birth.
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 "History of the National Museum of Health and Medicine, AFIP” The National Museum of Health and Medicine is remembered by many as the Army Medical Museum and has been located in some of Washington’s most historic and memorable buildings.
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 "Growing Up in Washington" is an exhibit of photos and reminiscences that recall museum experiences spanning the past 140 years, featuring memories of childhood visits.
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 "Research Matters: Environmental and Toxicological Effects of Arsenic," highlights the developing science of medical geology used by the museum's parent organization, the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, to study health problems associated with exposure to toxic metals and metalloids such as arsenic.
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 "Wounded in Action: An Art Exhibition of Orthopaedic Advancements," an exhibit of art works inspired by experiences with the wounds of war, will have its first major installation at the National Museum of Health and Medicine/AFIP in Washington, D.C. and the University of Maryland Baltimore, in May 2010.
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Effects of Canister Shot in the Civil War: Skull of a soldier of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteers
This skull was discovered in 1876 on Morris Island, South Carolina, near the site of Battery Wagner, a powerful earthwork fort that had protected the entrance to Charleston Harbor during the Civil War. The skull belonged to a man of African descent—a soldier of the famous 54th Massachusetts Volunteers, which had led the assault on Wagner on the night of July 18, 1863. |
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William Holland Wilmer Ophthalmology Collection
William Holland Wilmer influenced military ophthalmology through his research and his patient care. The son of a Protestant Episcopal Bishop, he earned his MD at the University of Virginia in 1885, interned at Mount Sinai, and began practice in Washington in 1899. He also maintained a professorship at Georgetown University beginning in 1917 and managed a broad practice in the mid-Atlantic region. Wilmer made notable contributions to military ophthalmology and to aviation medicine, pioneering the establishment of visual requirements and ocular conditions for aviators. |
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"Walt Whitman's Soldiers"
Walt Whitman’s life and his experiences in Washington’s Civil War hospitals are featured in the several photos and unique anatomical specimens of The National Museum of Health and Medicine that open a window not only to Whitman, who lived and worked in Washington from 1863 to 1873, but also to the soldiers he nursed and to the makeshift institutions where, as Whitman wrote, “every cot had its history."
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"Closing in on a Killer: Scientists Unlock Clues to the Spanish Influenza Virus"
A 1997 temporary exhibit on the 1918 influenza pandemic and efforts by Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP) pathologist Dr. Jeffrey Taubenberger to recreate the genetic structure of the 1918 influenza virus are featured in this virtual exhibit. Today, Dr. Taubenberger’s work on 1918 influenza is made possible through his use of the AFIP’s Tissue Repository, the largest and most comprehensive tissue repository in the world, which includes cases dating back to 1917 and more than 3 million medical cases, in the hope that the knowledge gained could help prevent or defend against another deadly pandemic.
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"Hairballs: Myths and Realities Behind Some Medical Curiosities"
The National Museum of Health and Medicine has 24 veterinary and 3 human hairballs or “trichobezoars" in its anatomical collection. To commemorate National Hairball Awareness Day on April 27, 2006, the museum featured a temporary display of 10 of these hairballs to explore the myths and realities behind these medical curiosities. Included were hairballs from a steer, two oxen, three cows, a calf, horse, and a chicken.
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