Instead of unagitated landscapes or informal domesticated scenario , Frances Glessner Lee ’s dioramas often depicted murder most filthy . Glessner — a tricksy Chicago heiress sour forensic scientific discipline pioneer — is today remembered for create the “ Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death , ” an mixture of mini - aspect that present real - life killing , suicide , and other mysterious police case . Once used to train homicide investigators , Lee ’s model will soon go on public display for the very first clock time at the Smithsonian American Art Museum ’s Renwick Gallery , accordingtoThe Washington Post .
“ Murder Is Her Hobby : Frances Glessner Lee and The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death”will openon October 20 , 2017 . The exhibition will showcase 19 criminal offense - scene dioramas , which visitant will be allowed to examine using flashlight and magnifying eyeglasses . Accompanying crime scene reports — once used by investigator - in - training — will provide additional context for each of the scenario , but guests will be left to remove the crimes using their own devices .
Lee , who was born in 1878 , initially conduce a quiet life as a wife and female parent . But after her children were grow and her marriage end , she was left free to go after her interest in forensic skill . After learning that police and coroners were often relatively untrained in death investigation , Lee commence making dioramas from doll’s house miniatures . These flyspeck rooms and houses were loosely based on real - life New England crime scenes , and hail unadulterated with tight skirt “ body , ” murder weapons , blood splutter , and notional details from Lee ’s own imagination .
“ Every element of the dioramas — from material tobacco in miniature , hand - combust cigarette tail , tiny stocking knit with unbowed pins , and working curl on window and door , to the angle of miniscule hummer holes , the patterns of blood dab , and the stain of painstakingly painted miniature corpses — challenges trainees ’ power of observation and deduction , ” the Smithsonianexplainedin a press outlet .
In accession to create dioramas , Lee used her family heritage to fund the Department of Legal Medicine at Harvard , which taught local police how to work out unexplained death using medical technique . There , the Nutshell Studies were used to teach students how to canvass crime scenes to discover and analyze grounds .
Thanks to her extensive work in the field of forensics , the inheritress was named an honorary res publica police skipper in New Hampshire in 1943 . At the fourth dimension , she was the only woman in the U.S. to meet this honor . In 1945 , Lee partner with Harvard to found a week - recollective seminar on forensic science , which still occursannuallyand is now know as the Frances Glessner - Lee Seminar in Homicide Investigation . Lee died in 1962 , at the long time of 83 . Today , she ’s remember as “ the godmother of forensic science , ” according to the Smithsonian .
Nineteen of Lee ’s Nutshell Studies survived the result decades , and most of them were kept at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore , Maryland , where they carry on to be used for instruct role . Now , the Nutshell Studies are receiving much - needed conservation oeuvre before going on display . At the Renwick , they will serve as a tribute to Lee and “ her focal point on society ’s ‘ invisible dupe , ’ ” the Smithsonian say , “ especially woman and the working class , whose pillowcase she championed , and the way in which her dioramas challenge the tie-up of femininity with ordering and domesticated walking on air . ”
[ h / tThe Washington Post ]
