Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death, Red Bedroom

The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death are a series of nineteen intricately designed dollhouse-style

diorama A diorama is a replica of a scene, typically a three-dimensional full-size or miniature model, sometimes enclosed in a glass showcase for a museum. Dioramas are often built by hobbyists as part of related hobbies such as military vehicle mode ...

s created by

Frances Glessner Lee Frances Glessner Lee (March 25, 1878 – January 27, 1962) was an American forensic scientist. She was influential in developing the science of forensics in the United States. To this end, she created the Nutshell Studies of Unexplained De ...

(1878–1962), a pioneer in

forensic science Forensic science, also known as criminalistics, is the application of science to criminal and civil laws, mainly—on the criminal side—during criminal investigation, as governed by the legal standards of admissible evidence and criminal ...

. 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 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 Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was ...

, 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. Originally twenty in number, each model cost about to create. 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to having a wall calendar include the pages after the month of the incident, constructing openable windows, and wearing out-of-date clothing to obtain realistically worn fabric.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. The dead include sex workers and victims of domestic violence. 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." 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. __NOTOC__

Alphabetical list of dioramas

* Attic (24 December 1946) * Barn (15 July 1939) * Blue Bedroom (3 November 1943) * Burned Cabin (15 August 1943) * Dark Bathroom (November 1896) * Garage (7 January 1946) * Kitchen (12 April 1944) * Living Room (22 May 1941) * Log Cabin (22 October 1942) * Parsonage Parlor (23 August 1946) * Pink Bathroom (31 March 1942) * Red Bedroom (29 June 1944) * Saloon & Jail (12 November 1944) * Sitting Room & Woodshed (25 October 1947; thought lost and rediscovered in 2003) * Striped Bedroom (29 April 1940) * Three-Room Dwelling (1 November 1937) * Two Rooms (damaged or destroyed in the 1960s) * Two-Story Porch (5 April 1948) * Unpapered Bedroom (4 June 1949) * Woodman's Shack (8 February 1945)

Exhibition

A complete set of the dioramas was exhibited at the

Renwick Gallery The Renwick Gallery is a branch of the Smithsonian American Art Museum located in Washington, D.C. that displays American craft and decorative arts from the 19th to 21st century. The gallery is housed in a National Historic Landmark building that ...

of the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, DC from 20 October 2017 to 28 January 2018.

In popular culture

* The dioramas inspired '' CSI'' writers in their creation of

the Miniature Killer Natalie Davis (a.k.a. "The Miniature Serial Killer") is a fictional character on the CBS crime drama ''CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'', portrayed by Jessica Collins. The Miniature Killer was introduced in the seventh-season premiere; after a se ...

, a serial murderer who leaves miniature dollhouses behind at crime scenes. * Corinne Botz's book ''The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death'' (Monacelli Press, 2004) examines Lee's life and includes numerous photographs of the models. * Susan Marks' documentary film ''

Of Dolls and Murder ''Of Dolls and Murder'' is a documentary film about a collection of dollhouse crime scenes and society's collective fascination with death. It was released in April 2012. Subject matter In the 1930s and 1940s, heiress Frances Glessner Lee created ...

'' looks at how the dioramas are still used as training material by the

Baltimore Police Department The Baltimore Police Department (BPD) is the municipal police department of the city of Baltimore, Maryland. Dating back to 1784, the BPD, consisting of 2,935 employees in 2020, is organized into nine districts covering of land and of waterway ...

. * On 18 November 2017, the film ''Murder in a Nutshell: The Frances Glessner Lee Story'' was directed by Susan Marks and the film was premiered at the

. Nora Atkinson, the Lloyd Herman Curator of Craft, moderated a discussion with Ms. Susan Marks. * Season 17, episode 17 of ''

NCIS NCIS or N.C.I.S. may refer to: Law enforcement * National Criminal Intelligence Service, the predecessor to the Serious Organised Crime Agency of the United Kingdom * Naval Criminal Investigative Service, a United States law enforcement and intelli ...

'' titled "In a Nutshell" was based on Frances Glessner Lee's dioramas. *''The Dollhouse Murders: A Forensic Expert Investigates 6 Little Crimes'' a 'fictionalized how-to manual of the whats, wheres, whys, whens and hows of detective, forensic and medical crime scene investigation' by author Thomas P Mauriello. * Bruce Goldfarb's ''18 Tiny Deaths: The Untold Story of Frances Glessner Lee & The Invention of Modern Forensics'' (2020) retells the story of Glessner Lee's life and her creation of the dioramas. * Carol Guess' book ''Doll Studies: Forensics'' investigates the imagined lives of the victims in a series of prose poems (2012).

References

External links

Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death Image Gallery

Death in Diorama

Biographies, Visible Proofs: Forensic Views of the Body, National Library of Medicine, 16 February 2006, updated 10 July 2006.
Glessner House Museum

"The Mother of CSI"
Episode of Travel Channel's ''

Mysteries at the Museum ''Mysteries at the Museum'' is an hour-long television program on the Travel Channel which features museum artifacts of unusual or mysterious origins. Plot Each episode is focused on interesting and unusual artifacts held in museums. The show ...

''
How A Doll-Loving Heiress Became The Mother Of Forensic Science
* , a video about the works by Vox Media {{DEFAULTSORT:Nutshell Studies Of Unexplained Death Dioramas Harvard Medical School Works about forensics History of forensic science