United States Army Medical Museum photographs of skulls
odd: label: Local Call Number(s)
content: NAA Photo Lot 73-26C, NAA Photo Lot 73-26D
name: label: Creator
content: Army Medical Museum (U.S.)
label: Collector
content: Billings, John Shaw, 1838-1913
label: Depicted
content: Guiteau, Charles J. (Charles Julius), 1841-1882
label: Collector
content: Hayden, F. V. (Ferdinand Vandeveer), 1829-1887
label: Collector
content: Matthews, Washington, 1843-1905
label: Collector
content: Palmer, Edward, 1829-1911
label: Collector
content: Putnam, F. W. (Frederic Ward), 1839-1915
label: Collector
content: Rolleston, George, 1829-1881
label: Collector
content: Schumacher, Paul J. F.
topic: label: Topic
content: Indians of North America -- Northeast
creator: label: Creator
content: Army Medical Museum (U.S.)
culture: label: Culture
content: Ute
label: Culture
content: Chinook
label: Culture
content: Choptank Indians
label: Culture
content: Sioux
label: Culture
content: Eskimos -- depicted
label: Culture
content: Tonkawa
label: Culture
content: Africans -- United States -- depicted
label: Culture
content: Potawatomi
label: Culture
content: Taiwan aborigines
label: Culture
content: Pomo
label: Culture
content: Taiwanese
label: Culture
content: Pueblo
label: Culture
content: Nisqually
label: Culture
content: Hawaiians
label: Culture
content: Indians of North America -- Great Basin
label: Culture
content: Indians of North America -- Northwest Coast of North America
label: Culture
content: Indians of North America -- Great Plains
bioghist: label: Biographical/Historical note
content: 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 Native Americans. 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.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 100 Negatives (photographic) (circa, glass)
unitdate: label: Date
content: probably 1870s-1880s
custodhist: label: Custodial History note
content: Photographs probably transferred by the Army Medical Museum. They were turned over to the Smithsonian's central photographic laboratory in the early to mid 20th century. They were returned to the Department of Anthropology in 1973.
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: National Anthropological Archives
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NAA.PhotoLot.73-26C
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Negatives (photographic)
label: Type
content: Photographs
bibliography: label: Bibliography
content: Some of the images also relate to John Shaw Billings and Washington Matthewsʹ publication in the Memoirs of the National Academy of Science, volume, 1886.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Photographs
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents note
content: Photographs of skulls in the United States Army Medical Museum collection, which appear to have been collected for physical anthropological purposes. Included are archeological remains and remains of Native American tribes and some other ethnic groups. Other than tribe or location, data for the specimens include Army Medical Museum specimen number, AMM negative number, and sex; for some, there is also collection data and information on physical or medical conditions. There are also notes identifying donors who included army officers, physicians, scientists, and explorers such as Ferdinand Vandiveer Hayden, Edward Palmer, Frederic Ward Putnam, George Rolleston, Paul Schumacher, and many others. Some of the photographs may have been made as part of the Army Medical Museumʹs program of distributing images of its specimens.

Represented are Africans, Chinook, Choptank, Dakota, Eskimo of Greenland, Taiwanese peoples, Hawaiians, Hidatsa, Nisqually, Philippine peoples, Ponca, Potowatomi, Pueblo, Tonkawa, and Ute. Archeological specimens are from the Aleutian Islands, California, the Dakotas, England (Roman period), Florida, Illinois, Mississippi, New Mexico, Peru, Vancouver Island, and Vermont. For some, there is also information about the status or physical condition of the individual or observations of medical conditions shown in the specimens. Some additional photographs appear to show specimens at the American Museum of Natural History.
relatedmaterial: label: Location of Other Archival Materials
content: Photographs previously filed in Photo Lot 73-26D have been relocated and merged with Photo Lot 73-26C. These are also Army Medical Museum negatives of skulls and form part of this collection.
label: Location of Other Archival Materials
content: Additional Army Medical Museum photographs of skulls can be found in the National Anthropological Archives in Photo Lot 6A, Photo Lot 6B, Photo Lot 78-42, Photo Lot 83-41, and Photo Lot 97.