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Part II: Specialized Collections
There are also a few separate collections. The objects are included on the Historical Collections database. All are active and unrestricted except for the New York Medical Examiner's Collection. Together they comprise about 24 percent of the collection.
HC 56
- Anatomical Models, 1870-present
- Approximately 1,005 items.
- Includes a wide range of models depicting anatomical structures, surgical procedures, and pathological lesions. Most of the models date from around the turn of the century but use a wide variety of media, ranging from plaster of Paris to paper mache to wax. Many of the models depict actual cases, many of which include brief case histories. Highlights include models depicting plastic surgery performed on soldiers disfigured by war wounds during the Civil War, World War I, World War II, and the Vietnam War.
HC 57
- Clothing, 1840-present
- Approximately 345 items.
- Primarily consists of uniforms of the U.S. Army Medical Department, many from AFIP staff. Highlights include uniforms worn by James Earle Ash, director of the Army Medical Museum (1929-1931, 1937-1946); William Crawford Gorgas, Surgeon General of the U.S. Army (1914-1918) and medical director of the Panama Canal Project; Norman T. Kirk, Surgeon General of the U.S. Army (1943-1947): Thomas Lawson, Surgeon General of the U.S. Army (1836-1861); George Lord, killed at the Battle of the Little Big Horn in 1876; and Emma Vogel, superintendent of physical therapists during World War II. A growing collection of uniforms worn by the U.S. Public Health Service is being collected with the assistance of the Service's Office of Public Health History. These include uniforms worn by C. Everett Koop, Surgeon General (1981-1989), and Leonard Scheele, Surgeon General (1948-1956), as well as uniforms worn by the Cadet Nurse Corps founded during the latter part of World War II. There are also uniforms worn by Reconstruction Aides during World War I and U.S. Air Force and Navy uniforms dating from after World War II, notably the uniform of Vera Zeller, the first U.S. Air Force Director of Nursing. In addition to the uniforms, the collection includes protective clothing developed by the military such as flack vests, body armor, and helmets. A Soviet Army medical officer's uniform during World War II and fatigues belonging to a North Vietnamese soldier during the Vietnam War round out the collection of military uniforms. The collection also contains medical clothing including protective clothing developed in response to the adoption of the Universal Precautions during the 1980s.
HC 58
- New York City Medical Examiner's Collection, 1930-1970
- Approximately 175 items.
- Inactive, restricted.
- Inspired by the Black Museum of Scotland Yard, Milton Helpern assembled this collection of artifacts from cases investigated by the New York City Medical Examiner's Office. These artifacts document the fatal accidents, homicides, and suicides that occurred in New York City as well as the forensic techniques of the period.
HC 59
- Numismatics, 1500-present
- Approximately 2,135 items.
- Includes coins, tokens, medals, insignia, and plaster of Paris coin molds commemorating medical themes and important physicians. The coins in the collection honor events ranging from "Administering the Enema" (17th century) to a medallion struck for the Yellow Fever Commission in honor of Walter Reed (1929). This collection has a separate database, which identifies the themes commemorated by the coin, the date of issue, and the issuer and issuee of the coin.
HC 60
- Veterinary, 1880-1960
- Approximately 35 items.
- Primarily includes equine military instruments from the World War II era, many captured from the German or Japanese army. Also included in the collection are food inspection equipment issued to U.S. Army veterinarians.
HC 61
- Weapons, 1860-present
- Approximately 165 items.
- Among the earliest donations to the Army Medical Museum were examples of the firearms, ordinance, and bullets donated by Quartermaster's Corps to assist the Museum in its study of war wounds. After the war the Museum continued to collect and analyze examples of weapons, resulting in an excellent collection of 19th century swords and spears from Europe, Asia, and Africa. The Museum has one of the world's best documented collections of American Indian arrows. Also in the collection are weapons used by the National Liberation Front (Viet Cong) during the Vietnam War, which came from a museum at the Second Surgical Hospital at An Khe established by Major Norman Rich in 1966 to study the wounding power of the weapons used against U.S. troops.
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