Photographs of skulls, which were sent by Stuart Eldridge of Yokohama, Japan, to the Army Medical Museum in November 1876. They include front and profile images of skulls of "Botan" warriors from the island of Formosa (Taiwan) and of an adult male from Manila, Philippines.
Biographical/Historical note:
Stuart Eldrige (1843-1901) was a New York-born physician known for his work in Japan for both the United States and Japanese governments. He traveled to Japan as Secretary and Physician to the Scientific Mission to Japan under General Horace Capron in 1871. He continued to serve there in several positions, including Surgeon-General of the Kaitakushi (Commissioner of Development Projects), director of the General Hospital of Yokohama, and Member of the Central Sanitary Board by the Japanese Government (1883).
The United States Army Medical Museum (AMM, renamed the National Museum of Health and Medicine in 1989) was established by US Army Surgeon General William A. Hammond in 1862. Its initial focus was on collecting specimens of unusual pathology, mostly taken from victims of the American Civil War. By 1867, the museum had expanded to include medical, microsopical, anatomical, comparative anatomics, and other sections. The anatomical collection grew in part as a result of Circular No. 2 of 1867, which authorized military medical officers to collect cranial specimens from deceased Native Americans. Additionally, the AMM made an arrangement with the Smithsonian Institution, by which the Smithsonian transferred their collection of human remains in exchange for ethnological artifacts. AMM photographed and measured many of the specimens in its collection as part of the museum's anthropological research.
Local Call Number(s):
NAA Photo Lot 6B
Location of Other Archival Materials:
Army Medical Museum photographs of skulls can be found in the National Anthropological Archives in Photo Lot 6A, Photo Lot 73-26C, Photo Lot 78-42, Photo Lot 83-41, and Photo Lot 97.
The National Anthropological Archives holds records concerning skeletal material transferred to the Smithsonian Institution from the Army Medical Museum.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research.
Access to the collection requires an appointment.
Photo lot 6B, Dr. Stuart Eldridge photograph collection of skulls from Taiwan and the Philippines, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
