The fund dwindled over the years, as was inevitable, but it lasted for a quarter of a century before its final extinction in 1958, after the last $42.51 had been spent in December 1957.9[1]
Lt. Col. James E. Ash returned to the Museum in 1937 for a second tour of duty as Curator — a post which he was to hold for 10 fruitful years. In the first of these years, the Museum attracted more than 97,000 visitors, making it, according to Surgeon General Reynolds' report for 1937, "one of the show places of the Nation's capital" — to which he added the wry comment that it was "about the shabbiest." The largest medical museum in the world "from the standpoint of amount of material," the report said, "suffers considerably by comparison with other museums in Washington, with their fine buildings and modern equipment." 10[2]
The status of the Museum as the Army's "clearing house for pathology" and the "large number of cases sent into the various registries * * * ," said the report, "require the constant application and considerable overtime effort of the limited personnel to keep it moving at a reasonable pace. There is no time for the study and investigation that this material warrants, and the Museum itself can be given only perfunctory supervision." Many exhibits needed revamping and a large percentage of the labels, some of them actually illegible, needed replacing, but "with the present personnel it is possible to make scarcely any appreciable progress in this rejuvenation."
Gaining Ground
Nevertheless, progress was made. The collection of microscopes, ophthalmoscopes, hard-of-hearing aids, and stethoscopes — each collection as comprehensive as any to be found in the world — were exhibited to "much better advantage than they have been heretofore," 11[3] using the new exhibit cases purchased out of the Edgar Bequest. During 1938, the main museum room was improved, the work being done by the staff using materials purchased from the limited funds available. To relieve some of the overcrowding, several of the old wooden exhibit cases were retired and the number of exhibits was
- ↑ 9 Just what led Edgar to make the Army Medical Museum the principal beneficiary of his will does not appear in the will and codicil thereto. Among his other bequests, however, there was one for the sons of Surgeon General Robert Murray, which might indicate an interest on the part of Dr. Edgar in The Surgeon General's office. Material on the Edgar Bequest is in the AFIP historical files, which contain legislative and court proceedings, accounting records, and correspondence between The Surgeon General and the trustees under the Edgar will. Uses made of the bequest are mentioned in the Annual Reports of the Surgeon General, U.S. Army, for 1936, pp. 145, 146, and for 1937, P. 170.
- ↑ 10 Annual Report of the Surgeon General, U.S. Army, 1937, PP- I71-172.
- ↑ 11 Ibid., p. 170.
