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With exhibits that explore everything from Civil War medicine to the evolution of the microscope to health and disease in the human body, the National Museum of Health and Medicine is located at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. This tour will trace its history from its founding as the Army Medical Museum during the Civil War to the present.
The museum’s original mission was to collect specimens for research in military medicine and surgery. Later, staff pioneered photomicrographic techniques, established a library and cataloging system that eventually formed the basis for the National Library of Medicine, and researched infectious diseases, including yellow fever and typhoid.
Among the most popular exhibits is the one on Abraham Lincoln’s death, which includes the bullet that ended his life, a bloodstained shirt cuff from a museum surgeon who attended the autopsy, and bone fragments and hair from Lincoln's skull. Another historical exhibit features a microscope that scholars believe was used by Robert Hooke when he prepared Micrographia, the first book describing observations made through a microscope.
The exhibit on health and disease describes the body’s major organ systems and—using real body parts--depicts how your body functions when you are healthy and how it changes when you are sick or injured. We’ll also see an exhibit of artworks inspired by experiences with the wounds of war.
