Armed Forces Institute of Pathology: Its First Century 1862-1962/Appendix A

by Robert S. Henry

APPENDIX A

A Chronologic Synopsis of Events

1862

25 April: William Alexander Hammond appointed Surgeon General, U.S. Army.

1 May: Brigade Surgeon John Hill Brinton and Assistant Surgeon Joseph Janvier Woodward ordered to report to Surgeon General for special duty.

21 May: Surgeon General Hammond issued Circular No. 2, establishing the Army Medical Museum.

9 June: Hammond issued Circular No. 5 which provided for publication of "The Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion."

1 August: First home of the Museum in the Riggs Bank Building. Hammond ordered Brinton to collect and arrange in the "Military Medical Museum" all specimens of morbid anatomy, both medical and surgical.

1863

1 January: Second home of the Museum — Pennsylvania Avenue. First catalog of the Army Medical Museum issued by the Curator.

25 August: Third home of the Museum— Corcoran School House, 1325 H Street, NW.

24 September: Brinton's plan for an Army Medical School rejected by Secretary of War Stanton.

1864

18 August: Surgeon General Hammond dismissed from the Service by Secretary of War Stanton.

3 October: Dr. George Alexander Otis named Curator, to succeed Brinton.

1865

15 April: Drs. Woodward and Curtis performed the autopsy upon the body of Abraham Lincoln.

Immediately after the removal of the body, Hermann Faber sketched the deathbed scene.

29 April: Autopsy upon the body of John Wilkes Booth performed by Museum's pathologists.

1 November: Surgeon General Joseph K. Barnes issued Circular No. 6, describing Woodward's work in photomicrography.

1866

22 December: Museum settled in Ford's Theater building, its fourth home.

1867

25 April: First visiting rules issued for the Museum.

1881

23 February: Dr. Otis died; succeeded by Maj. David Low Huntington as Curator.

19 September: President James A. Garfield died; autopsy performed by Dr. D. S. Lamb, Museum pathologist, with Dr. Woodward as recorder.

1882

30 June: Dr. Lamb performed autopsy of Guiteau, the assassin.

1883

28 December: Museum and Library consolidated into one division. Maj. John Shaw Billings named Curator of Museum as well as Librarian.

1884

11 October: Billings started microscope collection; first 17 arrived in Museum.

1885

25 March: Site for new building (fifth home) selected.

1887

9 November: Museum moved into "new red brick," its fifth home.

1892

12 April: Congress recognized scientific status of Museum.

1893

24 June: Army Medical School established in Museum building by Surgeon General George Miller Sternberg.

1893

8 September: Capt. (later Maj.) Walter Reed appointed Curator of the Museum; succeeded Billings.

1895

16 September: American Dental Association designated Museum as national repository.

1896

10 June: First record of use of X-ray in Museum.

1898

18 August: General Orders No. 194, AGO, designating Typhoid Fever Board.

1900

24 May: Special Orders No. 22, AGO, designating Yellow Fever Board.

7 September: Report of Reed-Vaughan-Shakespeare Board on Typhoid Fever completed at Museum.

18 September: Dr. Lazear died of yellow fever.

22-26 October: Reed presents "preliminary note" on transmission of yellow fever.

20 November: Yellow Fever experiments continued at Camp Lazear.

1901

6 February: Reed presents findings on transmission of yellow fever before Pan-American Medical Congress in Havana.

1902

22 November: Walter Reed died; Lt. James Carroll designated Curator.

1907

16 September: Carroll died; Capt. Frederick Fuller Russell named Curator.

1909

1 March: First volunteers of Museum staff vaccinated against typhoid by Major Russell.

1910

7 June: Army Medical School moved out of Museum's "red-brick" building.

1911

30 September: Vaccination for typhoid made compulsory in Army.

1913

15 October: Maj. Eugene Randolph Whitmore succeeded Russell as Curator.

1915

4 August: Col. Champe Carter McCulloch, Jr., in dual post of Librarian and Curator, succeeded Whitmore.

1916

23 June: Col. William Otway Owen succeeded McCulloch as Curator.

1917

December: Public Buildings Commission recommends new building on Mall for Museum and Library.

1918

21 March: Surgeon General ordered forwarding of mosquitoes to Museum for identification.

20 July: AEF in France requested services of Museum Unit No. 1.

1919

15 January: Col. Charles Franklin Craig succeeded Owen as Curator.

11 July: Congress makes appropriation for purchase of land for new building.

1 September: Maj. George Russell Callender succeeded Craig as Curator.

1921

17-21 October: First registry established.

1922

1 May: International Association of Medical Museums relocated its central bureau from Montreal, Canada, to Army Medical Museum.

Museum became depository of Society of American Bacteriologists.

Maj. James Francis Coupal succeeded Callender as Curator.

1924

July: Major Callender returned to serve as Curator; succeeded Coupal.

Coupal appointed White House Physician by President Coolidge.

1929

12 February: Maj. James Earle Ash succeeded Callender as Curator.

Surgeon General's Circular Letter No. 2 defined Museum's four functions pertaining to tissue pathology.

1930

American Registry of Pathology established.

1931

Maj. Paul Edgar McNabb succeeded Ash as Curator.

1933

Maj. Virgil Heath Cornell succeeded McNabb as Curator.

Registry of Dental and Oral Pathology established; reactivated the arrangement of 1895 between the American Dental Association and Museum.

1935

19 July: Maj. Raymond O. Dart succeeded Cornell as Curator.

Registry of Otolaryngic Pathology established.

Major Dart's special report to Surgeon General on the state of the Museum.

Capt. Hugh Richmond Gilmore, Jr., succeeded Dart as Acting Curator.

1937

9 February: Lt. Col. James E. Ash returned for a second tour of duty as Curator; succeeded Gilmore.

i938

15 June: Important contributions to Museum of models, pictures, specimens, and instruments.

New building for Museum authorized by Congress.

1940

4 January: President Franklin D. Roosevelt earmarks funds for new building in his budget.

13 June: Appropriation of $130,000 for preliminaries of construction approved by Congress.

1941

11 August: Consulting Board approved new building plans.

24 September: President Roosevelt signed H.R. 5146; authorized expenditure increased from $3,750,000 to $4,750,000.

11 December: Surgeon General's Circular Letter No. 121 decentralized pathological facilities and activities of the Army; 18 histopathological centers established.

1943

November: Surgeon General informally authorized designation, "Army Institute of Pathology."

26-31 December: Widespread distribution of pathological material on tropical diseases.

1944
1 January:	Curator issued Office Order No. 18; functions and responsibilities assigned. New name of "Army Institute of Pathology" appeared as a subordinate division of Army Medical Museum.
1945
24 January:	Office Order 20, SGO, sets up new board to plan new library and museum building.
24 September:	Scientific value of pathological "followup" of Veterans' Administration patients recognized.
1 December:	Report of Committee on Pathology of National Research Council.
1946
7 June:	Army Regulations 40-410 officially designated the Institute as the Army Institute of Pathology. Scientific Advisory Board established.
12 June:	Veterans' Administration requested Army Institute of Pathology assistance.
8 July:	Army Institute of Pathology became central laboratory of pathology for Veterans' Administration.
December:	Col. (later Brig. Gen.) Raymond Osborne Dart succeeded Ash as Director.
1947
3 March:	Scientific Advisory Board of Army Institute of Pathology held its first meeting.
13 April:	Second meeting of Scientific Advisory Board; important changes recommended.
7 May:	Museum opened to the public in its new location at "Chase Hall."
1948
5 January:	Hawley Board submitted report to Secretary of Defense.
12 June:	President Truman approved Public Law 626, 80th Congress, 2d session ; authorized spending of $600,000 for plans.
13 October:	Architects and engineers for new building named.
19 November	Comptroller General ruled Public Law 626 applied to Forest Glen only.

1949

21 February: Secretary of Defense Forrestal approved major recommendations of Hawley report.

1 June: Preliminary plans for new Institute building at Walter Reed Army Medical Center approved.

6 July: General Orders No. 32, Department of the Army, designated the Institute as the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, effective 1 July.

1950

15 February: Army Regulations 40-410; Bureau of Medicine Circular Letter 50-8; and Air Force Regulation 160-38 jointly designated "AFIP" as the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, "TriService."

29 April: President Truman signed H.R. 6539 to become Public Law 495, 81st Congress, 2d session.

May: "Bomb-resistant" structure required by "National Security Resources Board specifications."

31 July: Col. Elbert DeCoursey succeeded General Dart as the Director, AFIP.

1951

6 January: President Truman signed H.R. 9893 (authorization) and H.R. 9920 (appropriation) to become Public Law 910 and Public Law 911, 81st Congress, 2d session.

10 July: Ground-breaking ceremonies for new Institute building.

1953

14 January: Cooney Committee appointed to study AFIP.

9 March: Report by Cooney Committee.

20 October: Cornerstone-laying ceremonies.

1954

September : International visitors inspected building.

1955

20 January: First meeting in new auditorium.

13 February-March: Move to new building, "Sixth Home," completed in 1 month.

26-27 May: Dedication ceremonies.

June: Contract for television installation.

1955

1 July: Dr. Ernest W. Goodpasture, first Scientific Director, appointed.

1 August: Capt. William Merrill Silliphant, MC, USN, succeeded General DeCoursey as the Director.

14 November: Joint Committee on Aviation Pathology established with headquarters at AFIP.

1958

2 December: World Health Organization-International Reference Center for Soft Tissue Tumors established at AFIP.

1959

13 April: Dr. Robert E. Stowell, second Scientific Director, appointed.

1 August: Col. Frank Marion Townsend, USAF, MC, succeeded Captain Silliphant as the Director.

1962

Extramural research support exceeds $1 million.