Frances Glessner Lee, the heiress to the Harvester fortune, created the “Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death” in the 1940's to help train homicide investigators. At the time, there was very little investigative or medical training for policemen.
Lee, who came to law enforcement at a late age, was the first female police captain in the US, and helped to found the Department of Legal Medicine at Harvard University. Since she was an artist as well as criminologist, she created these handmade, miniature crime scenes as training tools.
The "Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death" was an exhibit at the Renwick Gallery in Washington DC (it closed January 28, 2018). This was the first public display of all existing dioramas. The pieces are owned by the Harvard Medical School but kept by the Maryland Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. The exhibition was organized by Nora Atkinson, The Lloyd Herman Curator of Craft at the Renwick.
The background text for each Nutshell is identical to what was posted next to each diorama. I have arranged the Nutshells in no particular order, though I have tended to present the more complex cases first.
The Nutshell Studies are still active training tools, so the answers to the cases are a secret. You can share your own theories and read others on Twitter at #RenwickGallery.
A word about the pictures: The exhibits were not illuminated. A flashlight was provided to museum goers so they could provide their own illumination. That is why the lighting is not consistent throughout. All photos were taken by me.
Learn more about the Nutshells and Frances Glessner Lee at the following links:
Article in SAAM advertising the exhibition.
Article at Smithsonian.com
Article at NPR
Article in The Atlantic
No comments:
Post a Comment