National Museum of Health and Medicine

The National Museum of Health and Medicine is a museum founded in 1862 by the U.S. Army Surgeon General as the Army Medical Museum.

The Army Medical Museum was established during the American Civil War as a center for the collection of specimens for research in military medicine and surgery.

In 1862, the U.S. Army Surgeon General directed medical officers in the field to collect:

“specimens of morbid anatomy…together with projectiles and foreign bodies removed”

and to forward them to the newly founded museum for study. During and after the war, the museum’s staff took pictures of wounded soldiers showing the effects of gunshot wounds as well as the results of surgical procedures.

The information collected was compiled into six volumes of “The Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion,” published between 1870 and 1883.

National Museum of Health and Medicine- Virtual Tour

The probe used on President Lincoln to locate the bullet, plus the fragments of Lincoln’s skull removed at autopsy

During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the museum’s staff engaged in various types of medical research. They pioneered in photomicrographic techniques and led research on infectious diseases while discovering the cause of yellow fever.

The museum contributed to research on vaccinations for typhoid fever. During World War I, museum staff was involved in vaccinations and health education campaigns, including significant efforts to combat sexually transmissible diseases.

In 1989, the Surgeon General commissioned a foundation to revitalize the institution and established the National Museum of Health and Medicine with a focus on public health education.

The museum offers programs for adults and children, on a spectrum of medical, scientific, and historical subjects.

Display case at the National Museum of Health and Medicine

Highlights of the National Museum of Health and Medicine

Advances in Military Medicine exhibits
Anatomy and Pathology exhibits
Battlefield medicine during the Civil War
The Evolution of the Medical equipment exhibits
Battlefield Surgery Gallery
Exhibits on the Forensic Identification of U.S. War Dead
A box containing the sectioned tumor that killed Ulysses S. Grant
World War II Gas Identification Posters
Microscope manufactured for Robert Hooke in the late 1600s
The probe used by Dr. Barnes to locate the ball and the fragments of Lincoln’s skull removed at autopsy
The Evolution of Mechanical heart valves
Wax models for disease identification and education