Existing comment:
Collections and Exhibits:
Although primarily engaged in cataloging and describing Civil War material, Museum staff broadened their activities after the war ended. In addition to anatomical specimens, photographs, and illustrations, the Museum collected medical instruments, both for evaluation for Army use and for exhibits. Contributions increased during and after the war, expanding into civilian medicine. In 1884, the fourth curator, John Shaw Billings, established what became the Billings Microscope Collection. Known for his design of the Johns Hopkins hospital, Billings also created the cataloging system for the National Library of Medicine, then called the Surgeon General's Library, which shared administration and quarters with the Museum until 1956. |