Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death

{{Short description|Dioramas for teaching forensic science}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2017}}

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

The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death are a series of twenty intricately designed dollhouse-style dioramas created by Frances Glessner Lee (1878–1962), a pioneer in forensic science.{{citation|title=How a Chicago Heiress Trained Homicide Detectives With an Unusual Tool: Dollhouses|first=Jimmy|last=Stamp|publisher=Smithsonian.com|magazine=Smithsonian Magazine|date=6 March 2014|url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/murder-miniature-nutshell-studies-unexplained-death-180949943/?no-ist|access-date=22 July 2016}}{{cite book |last1=Goldfarb |first1=Bruce |title=18 Tiny Deaths: the untold story of the woman who invented modern forensics |date=2020 |publisher=Sourcebooks |location=Naperville, Illinois |isbn=9781492680475}} Glessner Lee used her inheritance to establish a department of legal medicine at Harvard Medical School in 1936, and donated the first of the Nutshell Studies in 1946{{cite web |url=https://cms.www.countway.harvard.edu/wp/?p=14395 |first=Dominic |last=Hall |title=Nutshell Studies Loaned to Renwick Gallery for Exhibition |work=Center for the History of Medicine at Countway Library |publisher=Harvard University |date=2017-10-13 |access-date=2017-11-11}} for use in lectures on the subject of crime scene investigation. In 1966, the department was dissolved, and the dioramas went to the Maryland Medical Examiner's Office in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. where they are on permanent loan and still used for forensic seminars.

The dioramas are detailed representations of death scenes that are composites of actual court cases, created by Glessner Lee on a 1-inch to 1 foot (1:12) scale.{{citation |first=Rachel |last=Monroe |author-link=Rachel Monroe |url=http://www.citypaper.com/film/story.asp?id=20174 |title=The Art of Murder |newspaper=Baltimore City Paper |date=5 May 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110113165225/http://www2.citypaper.com/film/story.asp?id=20174 |archive-date=13 January 2011 }}{{citation|first=Laura J.|last=Miller|url=http://harvardmagazine.com/2005/09/frances-glessner-lee-html|title=Frances Glessner Lee: Brief life of a forensic miniaturist: 1878–1962|magazine=Harvard Magazine|date=September–October 2005}}{{citation|first=Lisa|last=Respers|url=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/|title=Helping to Crack Cases: 'Nutshells': Miniature replicas of crime scenes from the 1930s and 1940s are used in forensics training|newspaper=The Baltimore Sun|date=24 February 1999}} Originally twenty in number,{{cite web |url=http://nhpr.org/post/tiny-murder-scenes-are-legacy-nh-woman-known-mother-csi#stream/0 |first=Chris |last=Jensen |title=Tiny Murder Scenes are the Legacy of N.H. Woman Known as 'The Mother of CSI' |work=New Hampshire Public Radio |date=2015-07-11 |access-date=2017-11-11}} each model cost about {{USD|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=9 June 2014|newspaper=Slate|language=en-US|issn=1091-2339|access-date=22 July 2016}} She attended autopsies to ensure accuracy, and her attention to detail extended to having a wall calendar include the pages after the month of the incident, constructing openable windows, and wearing out-of-date clothing to obtain realistically worn fabric. The dioramas show tawdry and, in many cases, disheveled living spaces very different from Glessner Lee's own background.Botz, Corinne. "[https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/54826032 The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death]," The Monacelli Press (2004). The dead include sex workers and victims of domestic violence.Botz, Corinne, "The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death," Monacelli Press (2004).

Glessner Lee called them the Nutshell Studies because the purpose of a forensic investigation is said to be to "convict the guilty, clear the innocent, and find the truth in a nutshell."{{citation|url=http://brucegoldfarb.com/the-nutshell-studies-of-unexplained-death|title=The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death|work=American Medical News|date=17 August 1992|publisher=BruceGoldfarb.com|access-date=22 July 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160725065852/http://brucegoldfarb.com/the-nutshell-studies-of-unexplained-death|archive-date=25 July 2016|url-status=dead}} Students were instructed to study the scenes methodically—Glessner Lee suggested moving the eyes in a clockwise spiral—and draw conclusions from the visual evidence. At conferences hosted by Glessner Lee, prominent crime-scene investigators were given 90 minutes to study each diorama.