Photographs documenting physical anthropology techniques for measuring and photographing skulls for comparison, as practiced by scientists of the Army Medical Museum. Photographs are mounted on unbound pages from an album and have been annotated to describe the technique depicted.
Biographical/Historical note:
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 American Indians. 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 78-42
Location of Other Archival Materials:
Copy prints of additional mounted photographs from this series can be found in the National Anthropological Archives in Photo Lot 33.
Additional photographs of skulls by the Army Medical Museum can be found in the National Anthropological Archives in Photo Lot 6A, Photo Lot 6B, Photo Lot 73-26C, Photo Lot 83-41, and Photo Lot 97.
The National Anthropological Archives holds microfilm of the papers of Washington Matthews, circa 1864-1905.
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 78-42, United States Army Medical Museum photographs of measuring and photographing skulls, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
