Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-02-19
Meeting Called
On Medical
Museum Site
Bourd Members
Favor Keeping
Unit in D. c.

uVVi NSSPtHS
Unit in D. c.
Administrators of the Armed
Forces Medical Museum will
meet next Tuesday to decide
what can be done to preserve
the world-renowned institution
in face Of efforts to move it
elsewhere.
The special meeting was called
in wake of yesterdays nomina-
ton by President Eisenhower of
a Board of Regents to select a
new site for the National Medi-
cal Library.
Both the museum and library.
long a part of the Washington
scene and until recently COM
bined under one roof, are being
coveted by other parts of the
country.
The Board of Governors of the
Armed Forces Institute of
Pathology. made up of the three
surgeons general of the Armed
Forces and Navy Capt. w. M,
Silliphant. director, administer
the museum.
No Orders To Vacate
A spokesman said Tuesdays
meeting will be to determine
"how best to preserve the Med
ical Museum" He said mem
bers read in The Sunday Star
that the Southwest Redevelop-
ment program will force the mu-
scum out of its quarters at Ninth
street and Independence avenue
S.W., but no official orders to
vacate had been received.
The feeling of the Board of
Governors. of which Army
Surgeon General Silas B. Hays
is chairman. was represented as
favoring the continued operation
of the museum in Washington.
DR.. Worth Bagley Daniels, one
Of the new regents of the
Library of Medicine. said he be-
lieves the library should stay in
Washington where "the greatest
users are located"
DR.. Daniels. Washington ply
sician and son Of the late
Josephus Daniels. was named to
a one-year term on a list Of 10
regents sent by President Eisen-
hover to the Senate for confirm
alton.
Regents 10 Select Site
The board of regents will be
charged with selecting a site for
a new building to replace the
outmoded library at Seventh
street and Independence avenue
lS.W. 1t also viii assist in the ad.
ministration by the Public
Health Service. to which the IL
brary was transferred by Con-
lgreSs last year.
! That Washington is in dan
ger Of losing the library, which
DR.. Daniels called the worlds
finest medical collection. was in
ldicated last year when Chicago
interests began bidding for it.
Congress brought this move up
short by announcing the re-
.gency plan for the final selec-
ton of a site.
! DR.. Daniels said he could not
speak for the other nominees,
but he felt there would be
strong support for keeping the
library in Washington.
i Widely Used Here
THE greatest users Of the
library are concentrated right
here" DR.. Daniels added. These
include the National Institutes
Iof Health. Walter Reed Army
and Bethesda Naval Hospitals.
The Agriculture Department is
ian enormous user and so
strangely enough. is the Gen.
trial Intelligence Agency. which
relies on it for medical intel
ligence.
DR.. Daniels said he had some
ideas about where he would like
to see the library located. but
believed 1t would be unwise to
discuss this until the regents
have met.
He recalled that a few years
ago the. Navy drew up tentative
and incomplete plans for the
library on Jones Bridge road
near the Naval Hospital. He
said the plans called for prin-
cipally a ground-f floor operation,
functional in its scope and de-
lsigned to protect the great store
oi nearly / million books.
Served Advisory Board
DR.. Daniels served for three
years on the advisory board OF
the library while 1t was still
known as the Armed Forces
Medical Library.
The Washington physician
said the library'S future looks
much brighter now that it is tc
be administered differently. He
said the Defense Department
was in no position to handle il
properly, since appropriation de-
mands for the library often con-
fiicted with other defense needs
Col. Frank B. Rogers. present
director of the library, probably
will become secretary for the
board Of regents, DR.. Daniels
added.
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