US Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery Office of Medical History Collection

Navy Medicine is an integral part of today’s Navy and Marine Corps team and has been a part of that team since the American Revolution. Today’s Navy and Marine Corps team is engaged in a global power competition. Our country depends upon Navy Medicine’s unique expeditionary medical expertise to prepare and support Naval forces, including both Navy and Marine forces. This renewed global power competition requires Navy Medicine to be more agile and capable of operating in a distributed maritime environment at the speed of our warfighters. The Navy-Marine Corps team’s ability to prevail across the range of military operations is dependent upon their medical readiness and our ability to enhance their survival in the high-end fight. Today’s Navy Medicine is built on the shoulders of those who came before us, including everything from shipboard and submarine medicine to research and development on the cutting edge of medical science. Documents in this collection include both current and historical works illustrating Navy Medicine’s role in the defense of the United States of America.

A historical component has existed at the US Navy's Bureau of Medicine and Surgery since May 1907 with the establishment of the Publications Office. In addition to producing The Naval Medical Bulletin, the Publications Office was responsible for producing occasional historical monographs, and maintaining a historical archive. Today the Office of Medical History's mission has evolved to preserve and promote the history and heritage of the Navy Medical Department while serving the needs of our customers. The collection consists of publications, public records, manuscripts, personal papers, hospital plans, Navy Hygiene Museum records, biographical files, subject files, facility files, films, videos, photographs, prints, drawings, and artifacts. The OMH currently consists of over 100 collections covering over 1,000 linear feet and is staffed by a historian and an archivist.

Navy Medicine's website is Home (navy.mil)

Photographic items from the BUMED's historian's office can be found on Flickr at https://www.flickr.com/photos/navymedicine/