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Re: self-storage



Yes, Barbara, there really is a "Body Farm"...

Professor Emeritus Wm. Bass III, now consulting, has done seminal work, at
University of TN-Knoxville, in forensic anthropology. A 3-acre facility
there has a number of bodies (dead, of course) in various states of decomp,
etc., under different circumstances (e.g., trunk of car; under garbage;
wrapped in blankets, coffins, etc.). Data from the state of decay of the
bodies has provided knowledge for forensics people to piece together the
circumstances of the deceased's demise. Apparently, the good Dr. Bass is the
inspiration for Patricia Cornwell's "The Body Farm", which I have yet to
read.

Something shows up on A&E(?) once in a while about this place. There should
be an active website for the UTK Department of Forensic Anthro. Much work is
done there on forensic odontology as well. It is my understanding that Dr.
Bass is in great demand as a consultant and his work is highly regarded
world-wide. I have wondered how the specimens are dealt with, and the
pictures and tissue samples must be quite numerous for such an academic
undertaking (sorry, couldn't help using that word). I know how well
cataloged dino bones are in museums and universities, so the archiving of
Dr. Bass's specimens might well present a unique, first-time opportunity
when the time comes. Such an archivist will have to be of strong heart (and
stomach). I recall the case of Joseph Merrick, aka The Elephant Man. His
skeleton is preserved in London, and the long-held diagnosis for him was
that he suffered from neurofibromatosis. However, fairly recently, with the
techniques available today, the thinking is that he suffered from the rare
Proteus syndrome.   As one with a life sciences undergrad and one who has
taken a few bodies to the morgue of a major training hospital, I have an
interest in things forensic. (So here I am, in an aeronautics engineering
library!!). Anyway, we, in life as well as death, are enigmatic and amazing
critters. Dr. Bass is helping the medical and forensics communities in the
ground-breaking (oops...there I go again!) work.

 Sharon Lee Butcher
Reference Librarian
AEDC Technical Library
100 Kindel Drive, Suite C212
Arnold AFB, TN  37389-3212
Phone:  931-454-4430
Fax:  931-454-5421
e-mail:  sharon.butcher@arnold.af.mil

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Pope, Barbara [SMTP:bpope@MAIL.STLCOP.EDU]
> Sent: Thursday, October 05, 2000 12:29 PM
> To:   ARCHIVES@LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU
> Subject:      Re: self-storage
>
> Wait a minute! Did I miss something? What is this about a body farm?
>
> Barbara M. Pope, M.L.S.
> O.J. Cloughly Alumni Library
> St. Louis College of Pharmacy
> 4588 Parkview Place
> St. Louis, MO 63110
> Voice: +1 314-367-8700, ext. 1001
> Fax:    +1 314-367-2784
> Email:  bpope@stlcop.edu
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Susan Knoer [mailto:susan.marie@LOUISVILLE.EDU]
> Sent: 04 October, 2000 10:49 PM
> To: ARCHIVES@LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU
> Subject: Re: self-storage
>
>
> >Just wondering who will be the archivist for the Body Farm of Dr. Bass at
> >Univ of Tennessee, Knoxville. Won't be for the faint-hearted.  Don't mean
> to
> >sound ghoulish, but Halloween just around the corner.
>
>
>   Um, I think that an archivist there would be moot - nothing there is
> intended to be preserved, everything is supposed to decay uncontrolled.
> Or
> maybe we can send those managers with new and better ideas to contribute
> to
> the entropy there.....
>   Actually, a really neat and useful idea, though not tops on my tourist
> list.  Too full of the reasons I dropped premed, but high on the "Sherlock
> would have loved this" list.
>   As for the mausoleum, most states have pretty strict laws on who may own
> or run burial grounds, and often have large escrow requirements for
> maintaining them.  I don't knnow if there'd be any reason to move it to
> the
> archives, even if unoccupied, and why would you want it in situ.  Even
> Jeremy Bentham required better....
>
> Susan
>
> Susan Knoer
> Reference Assistant
> Special Collections
> University of Louisville
> Louisville, KY 40292
> 502/852-6752
> 502/852-8734 FAX
> susan.marie@louisville.edu
>
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Problems?  Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <rschmidt@lib.muohio.edu>