Army Medical Museum and Library, Military museum on Independence Avenue, Washington, D.C., United States
The Army Medical Museum and Library was a brick building on Independence Avenue that housed medical collections and research facilities from 1887 to 1969. The spaces contained specimens, photographs, and documents from the Civil War that showed injuries and diseases.
The collection began in 1862 under Surgeon-General William Hammond to document injuries and diseases of Union soldiers during the Civil War. The museum grew into an important research facility until it closed in 1969.
The institution served as a place where military physicians gathered and shared knowledge about combat injuries to improve understanding of medical care in wartime. This collection helped doctors learn from real cases and refine their techniques.
The original building no longer operates as a museum, but the collections are now housed at the National Museum of Health and Medicine in Silver Spring, Maryland, with free admission. Visitors interested in medical history can view the objects there and learn about how knowledge advanced.
The collections were preserved in an unusual way: medical specimens were placed in kegs of brine or whiskey and transported directly from battlefields. This method allowed real evidence of war injuries to be kept for decades.
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