Administering a national historic landmark for medicine: A conversation with Dr. Adrianne Noe, Director of the National Museum of Health and Medicine, Washington, … (original) (raw)
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Society Preserves Civil War Medical History
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The Society of Civil War Surgeons was formed in 1980 by six medical reenactors who felt that there was a need to open communications among those who did this specialty in the hobby. Today, the society boasts of over 350 members throughout the United States, as well as in Australia, Canada, and England. It is the largest organization of its kind dedicated to the study of Civil War era medicine. The society was incorporated in the State of Ohio in 1990 as a non-profit, educational corporation and is recognized by the Internal Revenue Service as a tax-exempt group. Organized solely to educate the general public as to the study of medicine as it existed during the American Civil War era (Mexican War through the Indian Wars), the Society covers all aspects of medicine, especially surgery, the treatment of disease, and the treatment of the sick and wounded. This is accomplished through research by Society members, publications, and living history exhibitions and lectures during Civil War reenactments. The specific goal of the Society of Civil War Surgeons is to promote, both for its members and the general public, a deep and abiding appreciation for the rich heritage of the Civil War era. To accomplish this, the Society will foster fellowship, provide a continuing forum for education and the exchange of information, and provide communications among people who have similar interests. The Society will serve as a resource for those seeking authoritative information on Civil War era medical and surgical practices. The Society has been represented at most of the larger anniversary reenactment events since the 1980s. Members have also appeared in many of the big screen film productions on the Civil War, as well as numerous conventions, association meetings, and on the Arts & Entertainment channel's Civil War Journal. Members have also served as advisors to several television productions. The Society endeavors to help those develop and/or enhance their portrayal of a Civil War era medical professional through meetings, the society's quarterly publication, The Journal of Civil War Medicine, encampments, living histories, and the networking among members and other interested persons. The Journal of Civil War Medicine, published quarterly, consists of reprints of original articles that were written by the actual participants, articles written specifically for the journal and peer reviewed, and articles that have appeared in other publications for which reprint permission has been obtained.
The United States Army Medical Museum, founded in 1862, was recognized internationally as the premier medical museum. In 1914, the British Medical History Committee formed to preserve knowledge generated by World War I deemed this American institution a model to be emulated. Even so, when America entered World War I, a plan was implemented to reinvigorate the fifty-year-old Museum. It led to the Museum's concentration on pathology even as educational departments for motion pictures and photography were being created. The anti-venereal disease film 'Fit to Fight' was especially controversial particularly when shown to non-military audiences. The Museum's location near the Smithsonian Institution in downtown Washington, DC now seemed less desirable and there was a push for a new building on the suburban campus of Walter Reed General Hospital to consolidate medical resources. Thousands of new specimens arrived, a new numbering system for specimens was adopted and new exhibits of wartime concerns such as trench foot were developed. The Museum contributed to the diagnosis of diseases during the war, and publication of The Medical Department of the United States Army in the World War afterwards. World War I set the Museum firmly on the road to becoming a pathological institute. Meanwhile, as a 'modern' medical research institution, little value was seen in some of the earlier collections, and staff began discarding material -- especially from the Civil War. Changes in medicine made the Museum's traditional wide-ranging roles and relevancy including memorialisation diminish, as its importance in pathology grew stronger. Yet showing the value of traditional museum collections, lung specimens collected during the war recently were used for DNA typing of the 'Spanish' influenza. With unlimited access to Museum records and pertinent military documents, the authors analyze these developments, especially in light of the evolving intersection of medicine, museology and popular culture.