During the period from 1961 to May 1964, the Division's collections expanded greatly through its medical, dental, and pharmaceutical acquisitions. Specimens of antiques acquired from 1961 through 1963 numbered up to 1,539 and included gifts from leading institutions and individual philanthropists. The scope of these gifts and acquisitions ranges from electronic resuscitators, microscopes, x-ray equipment, and spectacles, to patent medicines, amulets, apothecary tools, dental instruments, and office material of practitioners.
[Illustration: Figure 20.--EXHIBIT ON SPECTACLES, LORGNETTES, OPTOMETERS, and refraction, completed in 1960. It features a cross section of the Division's large collection of eyeglasses. (Smithsonian photo 47943-D.)]
In the last decade, the interest in the national endeavor for promoting research and scholarship in the history of medicine has increased greatly. It was most appropriate, therefore, for the Smithsonian Institution to play host on May 2 for two sessions of the 37th annual meeting of the American Association for the History of Medicine held in the Washington, D.C., area from April 30 through May 2, 1964. In welcoming the members to the morning session in the auditorium of the new Museum of History and Technology, Frank A. Taylor, director of the United States National Museum, expressed the feeling that the meeting of the Association was, in a sense, a dedication of the new auditorium and an opportunity for the Smithsonian to reaffirm its deep interest and commitment in fostering research and furthering the appreciation of scholarly endeavor in the history of the healing arts.
"One day the United States will have a National Museum of science, engineering, and industry, as most large nations have." This was the prediction made in 1946 by the director of the U.S. National Museum, Mr. Frank A. Taylor, then curator of the Division of Engineering.[19] It was in 1963, that the new $36,000,000 building of the Museum of History and Technology was completed, and opened to the public in 1964. The offices of the Division of Medical Sciences as well as the reference and study collections were moved to the fifth floor of the new building. The exhibits, however, will be displayed in the gallery at the southwest corner of the first floor. These exhibits, it is hoped, will show a new dimension and an unprecedented approach in displaying the development of the healing arts throughout the ages and the instruments and equipment associated with health professions. They also present the expanding objectives and plans of the Division's growth as an integral part of the Smithsonian Institution. Conveniently, the exhibits form four, closely connected halls in one large gallery which will be open to the public in the summers of 1965 to 1966.