pathology at Western Reserve University, declared that it demonstrated what could be done by the U.S. Army Medical Corps "in the face of most distressing conditions."
The oral presentation by the Curator was backed up by a tour of the Museum, in which the members of the Association had an opportunity to see in actual use the methods of mounting, lighting, and display which had been presented and discussed earlier in the day. The tour, according to the minutes of the Association, afforded "an extremely interesting and valuable time * * * in the examination of the treasures and resources of this great Collection." 2[1]
Deterioration at the Museum
The collections of the Museum were indeed great, but there can be no doubt that by the early 1930's, as a result of restricted space and reduced staff, they had deteriorated relatively, if not absolutely.
This was made plain in a special report to The Surgeon General of the Army by Maj. (later Brig. Gen.) Raymond Osborne Dart (fig. 73), who had served as Major Cornell's Assistant Curator and who succeeded him. The new Curator was a native of Kansas, who received his academic education in the University of that State and took his medical degree at Rush Medical College of the University of Chicago. He entered the Army in 1917, and started his first tour of duty as Curator of the Museum in 1935. Before his second tour of duty with the Museum ended, he was to affect profoundly its organization and direction.
The purpose of Major Dart's special report of 19 July 1935 was to point out and make "recommendations for the correction of defects in the organization which have seriously handicapped the successful operation of the institution in the past." Continuing, he wrote:
It is an easily verified fact that the Army Medical Museum has slipped steadily backward from the first rank of medical museums which it occupied immediately after the World War until it is no longer regarded as an important place for the dissemination of information concerning museum technique and display. Meanwhile the very fundamentals of museum display have been changed and other institutions have assumed the leadership in this field which was formerly held by the Army Medical Museum. The reasons for this state of affairs are quite obvious when one considers the history of the organization during the past few years. 3 [2]
