The E-Sylum:  Volume 7, Number 48, November 28, 2004, Article 3

ARMY MEDICAL MUSEUM MEDAL COLLECTION

  Ira Rezak,  M.D. of New York writes: "Regarding the
  Allemann article and the collection of medals gathered by
  John Shaw Billings at the Army Medical Museum and
  Library, both referred to in last week's E-Sylum, let me
  make the following few remarks.  First, quite apart from
  Allemann, Horatio Storer frequently attributed specific
  medals to this collection in his long running series on
  medical medals, which ran in the American Journal of
  Numismatics from 1889-1912. Then, of course, his son
  Malcolm, who published Medicina in Nummis in Boston
  in 1931, based on his father's work and on the major
  collection in the Boston Medical Library, did the same.

  The Army Medical Museum, which had been founded in
  1862 as a medical pathology museum, to preserve
  specimens useful in the understanding of diseases (and thus
  only incidentally a repository for historical objects like
  medals) was renamed the Army Institute of pathology after
  the Second World War, and in 1949 became the Armed Forces
  Institute of Pathology (AFIP). In 1955 the collections were
  Moved to the grounds of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
  The Museum was later called the called the Armed Forces
  Medical Museum after 1974 and became part of the National
  Museum of Health & Medicine in 1989 which however still
  remains on the grounds of the Walter Reed Medical Center
  in NW Washington near the Maryland line and the
  Bethesda campus of the National Institutes of Health.

  The medal collection remains, as it always has been, a
  minimal section of the larger Medical and Pathological
  enterprise. But it's still there and I have visited it briefly
  on several occasions. There is not a readily accessible catalog
  and the collection has never been published. The medals are
  not on regular display, but photo images of specimens from
  the collection are used from time to time in publications of
  the National Museum, for instance their calendars.

  I value your efforts on E-sylum and the contributions of
  many others. Thanks."

  Bill Murray writes: "The Army Medical Museum Medal
  Collection still exists.  The Army Medical Museum now is
  located at Fort Sam Houston here in San Antonio, but when
  it moved here from Walter Reed Hospital in Washington,
  D.C., certain of its holdings were withdrawn to be placed in
  the Museum of Health and Medicine, still at Walter Reed.
  Alan Hawk, whose title is Collection Manager, told me today
  that the collection is still in existence with about 3000 items.
  That is the same number referenced in the latest The E-Sylum.
  He said he would be glad to show the collection to interested
  numismatists, but would need an appointment to do so.  His
  direct telephone number is 202-782-2205.  I'm not sure if his
  first name is spelled Alan or Allen, but Hawk is correct.  Boy!
  would I like to be the one to get involved with it!  Good luck,
  someone!"

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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