Frances Glessner Lee

Glessner Lee was born in Chicago on March 25, 1878.Botz, Corinne. The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death, The Monacelli Press (2004), p. 18. Her father, John Jacob Glessner, was an industrialist who became wealthy from International Harvester.[https://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/07/garden/murder-downsized.html?_r=0 Kahn, Eve, Murder Downsized (7 Oct 2004), The New York Times.]Laura J. Miller, [http://harvardmagazine.com/2005/09/frances-glessner-lee-html "Frances Glessner Lee: Brief life of a forensic miniaturist: 1878–1962"], Harvard Magazine September–October 2005. She and her brother were educated at home; her brother went to Harvard.

As a child Frances fell ill with tonsillitis, and her mother took her to the doctor. When the first doctor prescribed a dangerous treatment for her illness, the Glessners sought a second opinion and Frances underwent a successful surgery at a time when surgery was very dangerous and often lethal.

Frances became interested in learning more about medicine because of this experience. When summering in the White Mountains, local doctors allowed her to attend home visits with them. There Glessner learned the skills of nursing.

She inherited the Harvester fortune and finally had the money to pursue an interest in how detectives could examine clues.{{Cite web|url=http://www.glessnerhouse.org/the-people/|title=The People|website=Glessner House Museum|access-date=March 31, 2016|archive-date=December 10, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211210153006/https://www.glessnerhouse.org/the-people/|url-status=dead}}

Glessner Lee was inspired to pursue forensic investigation by one of her brother's classmates, George Burgess Magrath, with whom she was close friends. He was studying medicine at Harvard Medical School and was particularly interested in death investigation.Katherine Ramsland, [http://www.crimelibrary.com/criminal_mind/forensics/nutshell_studies/2.html The Nutshell Studies of Frances Glessner Lee] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070125095001/http://www.crimelibrary.com/criminal_mind/forensics/nutshell_studies/2.html |date=January 25, 2007 }}, TruTV.com. Magrath would become a professor in pathology at Harvard Medical School and a chief medical examiner in Boston and together they lobbied to have coroners replaced by medical professionals.

In 1931, Glessner Lee endowed the Harvard Department of Legal Medicine—the first such department in the country—and her gifts would later establish the George Burgess Magrath Library, a chair in legal medicine, and the Harvard Seminars in Homicide Investigation.[http://brucegoldfarb.com/the-nutshell-studies-of-unexplained-death "The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death,"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160725065852/http://brucegoldfarb.com/the-nutshell-studies-of-unexplained-death |date=July 25, 2016 }} from American Medical News, August 17, 1992, archived at brucegoldfarb.com, retrieved February 4, 2018.

She also endowed the Harvard Associates in Police Science, a national organization for the furtherance of forensic science; it has a division dedicated to her, called the Frances Glessner Lee Homicide School.

{{main|Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death}}

File:Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death, Red Bedroom.jpg

In 1945 Glessner Lee donated her dioramas to Harvard for use in her seminars. She hosted a series of semi-annual seminars, where she presented 30 to 40 men with the "Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death", intricately constructed dioramas of actual crime scenes, complete with working doors, windows and lights. The 20 models were based on composites of actual cases and were designed to test the abilities of students to collect all relevant evidence. The models depicted multiple causes of death, and were based on autopsies and crime scenes that Glessner Lee visited.

Glessner Lee paid close attention to detail in creating the models. The rooms were filled with working mousetraps and rocking chairs, food in the kitchens, and more, and the corpses accurately represented discoloration or bloating that would be present at the crime scene. Each model cost about $3,000-$4,500 to create.{{Cite news|url=http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2014/06/nutshell_dioramas_of_death_frances_glessner_lee_forensic_science_and_training.html|title=Murder in Miniature|last=Nuwer|first=Rachel|author-link=Rachel Nuwer |date=June 9, 2014|newspaper=Slate|language=en-US|issn=1091-2339|access-date=March 31, 2016}} Viewers were given 90 minutes to study the scene. Eighteen of the original dioramas were still used for training purposes by Harvard Associates in Police Science in 1999.Lisa Respers, [https://www.baltimoresun.com/1999/02/24/helping-to-crack-cases-nutshells-miniature-replicas-of-crime-scenes-from-the-1930s-and-1940s-are-used-in-forensics-training/ "Helping to Crack Cases: 'Nutshells': Miniature replicas of crime scenes from the 1930s and 1940s are used in forensics training"], The Baltimore Sun, February 24, 1999. As of 2020, the models could be found at the Maryland Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore, where they were still used in the annual Frances Glessner Lee homicide investigation seminar.

For her work, Glessner Lee was made a captain in the New Hampshire State Police on October 27, 1943, making her the first woman to join the International Association of Chiefs of Police. This has been reported as honorary, but in 18 Tiny Deaths by Bruce Goldfarb, New Hampshire Police Superintendent Ralph Caswell (who appointed her captain) is quoted as saying, "This was not an honorary post. She was actually a full fledged captain with all the authority and responsibility of the post."{{cite book |last1=Goldfarb |first1=Bruce |title=18 Tiny Deaths |date=4 Feb 2020 |publisher=Sourcebooks |page=187 }}

The dioramas of the crime scenes Glessner depicted were as follows; three room dwelling, log cabin, blue bedroom, dark bathroom, burned cabin, unpapered bedroom, pink bathroom, attic, woodsman's shack, barn, saloon and jail, striped bedroom, living room, two story porch, kitchen, garage, parsonage parlor, and bedroom.{{Cite book |last=Engelhaupt |first=Erika |title=Gory details: adventures from the dark side of science |title-link=Gory Details |date=2020 |publisher=National Geographic Partners, LLC |isbn=978-1-4262-2098-2 |location=Washington, DC}} They were once part of an exhibit in the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Glessner married a lawyer, Blewett Harrison Lee, who was from the family line of General Robert E Lee, with whom she had three children. The marriage ended in divorce in 1914.

Glessner Lee's perfectionism and dioramas reflect her family background.Botz, Corinne. The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death, The Monacelli Press (2004).{{page needed|date=June 2019}} Her father was an avid collector of fine furniture with which he furnished the family home. He wrote a book on the subject, and the family home, designed by Henry Hobson Richardson, is now the John J. Glessner House museum on the near South Side of Chicago.

The first miniature Glessner built was of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. She did so for her mother's birthday and it was her biggest project at the time. Glessner Lee was fond of the stories of Sherlock Holmes,{{Cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/2017/11/18/564791775/the-tiny-murderous-world-of-frances-glessner-lee|title=The Tiny, Murderous World Of Frances Glessner Lee|last=Horowitz-Ghazi|first=Alexi|date=November 18, 2017|work=National Public Radio|access-date=February 4, 2018|language=en}} whose plot twists were often the result of overlooked details.{{Cite news|url=http://crimefeed.com/2017/03/francis-glessner-lee/|title=A Look Back At The "Mother Of Forensic Science" And Her Dollhouses Of Death - CrimeFeed|last=Townsend|first=Catherine|date=March 28, 2017|work=CrimeFeed|access-date=February 4, 2018|language=en-US|archive-date=February 5, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180205001235/http://crimefeed.com/2017/03/francis-glessner-lee/|url-status=dead}} Many of her dioramas featured female victims in domestic settings, illustrating the dark side of the "feminine roles she had rehearsed in her married life."

• The first book about Frances Glessner Lee and her dioramas, "The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death" by Corinne May Botz, is published by Monacelli Press in 2004.
• Frances Glessner Lee's biography, 18 Tiny Deaths: The Untold Story of Frances Glessner Lee and the Invention of Modern Forensics, by Bruce Goldfarb, was released by Sourcebooks on February 4, 2020.
• The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death provided the inspiration for the Miniature Killer in the television show CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.{{Cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-may-16-et-csifinale16-story.html|title=The devil is in 'CSI's' details|last=Crabtree|first=Sheigh|date=May 16, 2007|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=February 4, 2018|language=en-US|issn=0458-3035}}
• Glessner Lee is paid tribute to in the book Encyclopedia Horrifica by Joshua Gee.{{Cite book|title=Encyclopedia Horrifica|last=Gee|first=Joshua|publisher=Scholastic|year=2007|isbn=978-0439922555|pages=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediahorr00geej/page/127 127]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediahorr00geej/page/127}}
• Frances Glessner Lee and Erle Stanley Gardner were friends, and he dedicated several of his detective novels to her, including The Case of the Dubious Bridegroom.{{Cite web|url=https://www.glessnerhouse.org/story-of-a-house/2017/10/17/frances-glessner-lee-and-erle-stanley-gardner|title=Frances Glessner Lee and Erle Stanley Gardner|last=Kennedy|first=Cray|date=October 17, 2017|website=Glessner House Museum|access-date=February 4, 2018|archive-date=December 10, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211210173857/https://www.glessnerhouse.org/story-of-a-house/2017/10/17/frances-glessner-lee-and-erle-stanley-gardner|url-status=dead}}
• The character of Agnes Lesser in the Father Brown episode "The Smallest of Things" is based on Glessner Lee.{{Cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6185398/|title=The Smallest of Things|website=IMDb}}
• The Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum exhibited 18 of the Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death from October 20, 2017 to January 28, 2018. Sponsors included the American Academy of Forensic Sciences.
• On November 18, 2017, the film Murder in a Nutshell: The Frances Glessner Lee Story, directed by Susan Marks, premiered at the Renwick Gallery, followed by a moderated discussion with filmmaker.{{Cite web|url=https://americanart.si.edu/calendar?trumbaEmbed=view=event&eventid=124519388|title=Murder in a Nutshell Film Screening|website=Smithsonian American Art Museum|language=en|access-date=February 4, 2018}}
• Frances Glessner Lee's life story is told in the graphic novel Brazen: Rebel Ladies Who Rocked the World written by Pénélope Bagieu.{{cite book |last=Bagieu |first=Pénélope |title=Brazen: Rebel Ladies Who Rocked the World |publisher=First Second |date=2018 |isbn=978-1626728691}}
• Frances Glessner Lee and her pioneering work with crime scene dioramas is cited in some detail and plays a crucial role in episode 17 of the 17th season of NCIS, "In a Nutshell".{{Cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11786836/reference|title = "NCIS" in a Nutshell (TV Episode 2020) - IMDb| website=IMDb }}
• In her book Gory Details: Adventures from the Dark Side of Science, science journalist Erika Engelhaupt describes her own experience working with a team on solving the crime of one of the Nutshell dioramas and discusses Frances Glessner Lee's contribution to forensic science.
• In the fantasy mystery series The Undetectables, Courtney Smyth loosely based the character Francine Leon on Frances Glessner Lee, and took inspiration from Glessner Lee's Nutshell Studies to create magical crime scene dioramas that are used by the characters to solve crimes.{{cite book |last=Smyth |first=Courtney |title=The Undetectables |publisher=Titan Books |date=2023 |page=443 |isbn=978-1803364780}}

• New Hampshire Historical Marker No. 257: Frances Glessner Lee (1878–1962) 'Mother of Forensic Science'

{{reflist|30em}}

• Botz, Corinne May. [https://books.google.com/books?id=a7dvDwAAQBAJ The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death]. New York: Monacelli, 2004. {{ISBN|978-1-58093-145-8}}, {{OCLC|54826032}}
• {{cite web|first1=Priscilla|last1=Frank|url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/dollhouse-scenes-truth-about-american-crime_n_5a73736be4b06ee97af0c4ed|title=How A Doll-Loving Heiress Became The Mother Of Forensic Science|website=Huffington Post|date=February 2, 2018}}, October 23, 2017.
• Goldfarb, Bruce. [https://shop.sourcebooks.com/18-tiny-deaths.html 18 Tiny Deaths: The Untold Story of Frances Glessner Lee and the Invention of Modern Forensics] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210430233920/https://shop.sourcebooks.com/18-tiny-deaths.html |date=April 30, 2021 }} Naperville, IL. Sourcebooks 2020
• Jeltsen, Melissa. [https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/dollhouse-scenes-truth-about-american-crime_us_5a73736be4b06ee97af0c4ed|"These Bloody Dollhouse Scenes Reveal A Secret Truth About American Crime]." Huffington Post, February 2, 2018.
• Rosberg, Gerald M. [http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1966/12/6/a-colloquium-on-violent-death-brings/?page=single "A Colloquium on Violent Death Brings 30 Detectives to Harvard"]. The Harvard Crimson, December 6, 1966.
• {{cite news |last=Wen |first=Patricia |url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/08/14/special-projects/the-woman-who-revolutionized-forensic-science/ |title=The heiress at Harvard who helped revolutionize murder investigations — and the case she couldn’t forget |website=The Boston Globe |url-access=limited |date=August 14, 2024 |accessdate=August 14, 2024}}
• {{cite web |url=https://americanart.si.edu/exhibitions/nutshells |title=Murder Is Her Hobby: Frances Glessner Lee and The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death |publisher=Smithsonian American Art Museum |website=americanart.si.edu}}

• [http://www.corinnebotz.com/nutshell-studies-of-unexplained-death/ The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death Photographs]
• [http://www.ofdollsandmurder.com/ Of Dolls and Murder documentary website]
• [https://www.glessnerhouse.org/the-people/ Glessner House website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211210153006/https://www.glessnerhouse.org/the-people/ |date=December 10, 2021 }}
• {{find a Grave|54755978}}

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Category:1878 births

Category:1962 deaths

Category:American forensic scientists

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Category:Women in law enforcement

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Category:Harvard Medical School people