ADDITION OF CIVIL WAR DATABASE TO WEBSITE ALLOWS IMMEDIATE ACCESS TO NATIONAL MUSEUM OF HEALTH AND MEDICINE'S COLLECTIONS
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The extensive collection of American Civil War artifacts at the National Museum of Health and Medicine are now accessible to the public through the museum's website at www.nmhm.washingtondc.museum.

The database contains all of the museum's Civil War holdings in its anatomical collection and archives, as well as a limited number of records from the historical collection, including material related to President Abraham Lincoln.

"The database allows users to easily search for artifacts and information from the Civil War era," said Lenore Barbian, Ph.D., assistant curator of the museum's anatomical collection. "That means a person can find the information they are looking for much more quickly. This database really cuts down on research time and allows immediate access to information."

To use the database, go to www.nmhm.washingtondc.museum/cwsearch.

Select one of the search options:

• catalogue number
• doctor name
• solider name
• item title or description
• regiment number or state

Then type in the desired search terms, and click "search." If the museum has matching records, a list of results will be returned that give all of the information listed above. Contact information for the curators of the anatomical collection, historical collection, and archives will also be displayed.

The National Museum of Health and Medicine's Civil War holdings are extensive, and include approximately 2,000 skeletal specimens and organ specimens that document gunshot wounds, other injuries, and disease, a large photographic collection, and hundreds of medical instruments and apparatus used during that particular era. For information about the museum's Civil War-related artifacts, visit the collections online at www.nmhm.washingtondc.museum/collections.

Some of the museum's Civil War collection is currently on display in "To Bind Up the Nation's Wounds," a permanent exhibit that shows Civil War medicine through the eyes of battlefield surgeons and that tells the stories of Union and Confederate sick and wounded. Among items on display are amputated leg and arm bones, a variety of surgical kits and instruments, bones with minié-balls still attached, skulls showing fractures, trephination, and gunshot wounds, and several of the weapons used to inflict such injuries. Docent-led tours of this exhibition are available on the second and fourth Saturday of each month at 1 p.m. and last approximately 90 minutes. Admission and parking are free. No reservations are needed.