Standards for data collection from human skeletal remains : proceedings of a seminar at the Field Museum of Natural History, organized by Jonathan Haas / volume editors, Jane E. Buikstra and Douglas H. Ubelaker, assistant editor, David Aftandilian ; contributions by D. Aftandilian ... [et al.]
Armstrong Manual Training School, built in 1902, was authorized by congress as a vocational high school for African American youth in Washington, DC. The school was named for Samuel C. Armstrong (1839-1893), a white commander of an African American Civil War regiment and founder of Hampton Institute, now University. Designed by local architect Waddy B. Wood, the Renaissance Revival building provided carpentry, machine, foundry, and blacksmith workshops. In addition, the school taught chemistry and physics. Dr. Wilson Bruce Evans, the father of performing artist Lillian Evans Tibbs, served as founding principal. Duke Ellington, William "Billy"Eckstein, and John Malachi are among a host of Armstrong graduates who became prominent in their profession. In 1996 the school was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in the District of Columbia.
Collection Restrictions:
Use of the materials requires an appointment. Please contact the archivist at acmarchives@si.edu.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Army Medical Museum photographs prepared under the supervision of John Shaw Billings and Washington Matthews, and created by superimposing images of several skulls for comparative purposes. Each image has a caption that includes tribal or racial identification, number of skulls photographed, photograph number, negative number, and data on photographic technique.
The collection represents of Aleut, Apache, Arapaho, Cheyenne, Comanche, Dakota, Eskimo, Hidatsa, Navajo, Oglala, Ojibwa, Paiute, Piegan, Ponca, Wichita, African American, Hawaiian, people, and people of San Miguel and San Nicholas Islands (California).
Biographical/Historical note:
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.
Local Call Number(s):
NAA Photo Lot 6A
Location of Other Archival Materials:
Additional Army Medical Museum photographs of skulls can be found in the National Anthropological Archives in Photo Lot 6B, Photo Lot 73-26C, Photo Lot 78-42, Photo Lot 83-41, and Photo Lot 97.
The National Anthropological Archives holds microfilm of the papers of Washington Matthews, circa 1864-1905, and records concerning skeletal material transferred to the Smithsonian Institution from the Army Medical Museum.
See others in:
United States Army Medical Museum composite photographs of skulls, circa 1884-1885