The Army Medical Museum and Library (AMML) of the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

was a large brick building constructed in 1887 at South B Street (now Independence Avenue) and 7th Street, SW, Washington, D.C., which is directly on the

National Mall The National Mall is a landscaped park near the downtown area of Washington, D.C., the capital city of the United States. It contains and borders a number of museums of the Smithsonian Institution, art galleries, cultural institutions, and va ...

. It was designated a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places liste ...

in 1965 and added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1966. The building was demolished in 1969, and the collections at the focus of the landmark designation were dispersed.

Building history

The AMML was designed by German-born architect

Adolf Cluss Adolf Ludwig Cluss (July 14, 1825 – July 24, 1905) also known as Adolph Cluss was a German-born American immigrant who became one of the most important, influential and prolific architects in Washington, D.C., in the late 19th century, respons ...

(1825–1905) to house the Army Medical Museum, the Library of the Surgeon General's Office (later called the Army Medical Library), and some of the Army's medical records.
/ref> Between 1893 and 1910, it also housed the

Army Medical School Founded by U.S. Army Brigadier General George Miller Sternberg, MD in 1893, the Army Medical School (AMS) was by some reckonings the world's first school of public health and preventive medicine. (The other institution vying for this distincti ...

. The AMML remained on the Mall until the 1960s, when the Museum and Library were moved to their present separate locations. The old building (known affectionately as "Old Red" or "The Old Pickle Factory") was razed and replaced by the Smithsonian's

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is an art museum beside the National Mall, in Washington, D.C., the United States. The museum was initially endowed during the 1960s with the permanent art collection of Joseph H. Hirshhorn. It was desig ...

in 1969.

Collection history

The AMML collection had its origins in the federal government's decision in 1862, during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and t ...

, to begin a collection of items of medical and surgical interest related to the treatment of

Union Army During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union (American Civil War), Union of the collective U.S. st ...

wounded and sick in the war. At first focused on diseases related to the military (a major cause of death and incapacity during that war), it grew over the next two decades to include a wider array of samples for the use of military medical investigators. In 1888 the collection was formally opened to civilian medical researchers as well. The collection resided in a variety of buildings prior to the construction of the AMML building in 1887, including

Ford's Theatre Ford's Theatre is a theater located in Washington, D.C., which opened in August 1863. The theater is infamous for being the site of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. On the night of April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth entered the theater bo ...

. It remained in the AMML building until October 1968, at which point it was dispersed. Its principal successor is the

National Museum of Health and Medicine The National Museum of Health and Medicine (NMHM) is a museum in Silver Spring, Maryland, near Washington, DC. The museum was founded by U.S. Army Surgeon General William A. Hammond as the Army Medical Museum (AMM) in 1862; it became the NMHM in ...

Silver Spring, Maryland Silver Spring is a census-designated place (CDP) in southeastern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, near Washington, D.C. Although officially unincorporated, in practice it is an edge city, with a population of 81,015 at the 2020 ce ...

Successor institutions

* The

Armed Forces Institute of Pathology The Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP) (1862 – September 15, 2011) was a U.S. government institution concerned with diagnostic consultation, education, and research in the medical specialty of pathology. Overview It was founded in ...

(AFIP) was located on the campus of

Walter Reed Army Medical Center The Walter Reed Army Medical Center (WRAMC)known as Walter Reed General Hospital (WRGH) until 1951was the U.S. Army's flagship medical center from 1909 to 2011. Located on in the District of Columbia, it served more than 150,000 active and ret ...

from February 1955 until its disestablishment on May 15, 2011 * The

, located in

Forest Glen Annex The Forest Glen Annex is a U.S. Army installation in the Forest Glen Park neighborhood of Silver Spring, Maryland, USA. It is situated between Brookville Road and Linden Lane. Since 1999, the Annex has been the site of the Walter Reed Army In ...

Fort Detrick Fort Detrick () is a United States Army Futures Command installation located in Frederick, Maryland. Historically, Fort Detrick was the center of the U.S. biological weapons program from 1943 to 1969. Since the discontinuation of that program, i ...

Silver Spring, Maryland beginning September 15, 2011. It is now part of the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command. * The Library of Surgeon General's Office, after various name changes (Army Medical Library, Armed Forces Medical Library) became the

National Library of Medicine The United States National Library of Medicine (NLM), operated by the United States federal government, is the world's largest medical library. Located in Bethesda, Maryland, the NLM is an institute within the National Institutes of Health. Its ...

(NLM) – then a part of the U.S. Public Health Service – in 1956. The NLM moved to the

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the lat ...

campus in

Bethesda, Maryland Bethesda () is an unincorporated, census-designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland. It is located just northwest of Washington, D.C. It takes its name from a local church, the Bethesda Meeting House (1820, rebuilt 1849), which ...

in 1961.

References

External links

Photograph of "Old Red"
on the

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Army Medical Museum And Library Government buildings completed in 1887 Library buildings completed in 1887 Medical Museum and Library United States Army Medical Museum Medical Museum and Library Medical museums in the United States Libraries on the National Register of Historic Places in Washington, D.C. Military facilities on the National Register of Historic Places in Washington, D.C. Defunct museums in Washington, D.C. National Mall Military facilities in Washington, D.C. Educational institutions established in 1887 Southwest Federal Center 1887 establishments in Washington, D.C. Buildings and structures demolished in 1969

Building history

Collection history

Successor institutions

See also

References

External links