Frances Glessner Lee (1878-1962) was instrumental in the development of forensics in the United States. Her detailed dioramas, called The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death, are still used to train homicide investigators.
The 20 models were based on actual crime scenes, and were created to test the students’ ability to look for relevant evidence. Lee also helped to establish the Department of Legal Medicine at Harvard University, and was made an honorary captain of the New Hampshire State Police, which made her the first female captain in the country.
To live content with small means;
To seek elegance rather than luxury,
And refinement rather than fashion;
To be worthy not respectable and
Wealthy, not rich; to study hard,
Think quiet, talk gently, act frankly;
To listen to stars and birds, to babes
And sages with open heart;
To bear all cheerfully, do all bravely;
Await occasion, hurry never;
In a word, to let the spiritual,
Unbidden and unconscious
Grow up through the common.
Frances Glessner Lee (1878 – 1962) was a millionaire heiress who revolutionized the study of crime scene investigation. She founded Harvard's department of legal medicine, the first program in the nation for forensic pathology.
She was not permitted to attend college and instead married a lawyer, Blewett Lee, who later divorced her. She had to wait until a year after her brother's death in 1930, when, aged 52, she took her first steps towards her own career.
Through the 1940s and 1950s, Lee hosted a series of semi-annual "Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death." 30 or 40 leading crime scene investigators would be invited to a week-long conference, where she would present them with an intricately constructed diorama of actual crime scenes, complete with working doors, windows, and lights. They would have 90 minutes to study the scene. The 18 dioramas are still used for training purposes by Harvard Associates in Police Science.
Frances Glessner Lee (1878 – 1962) fue una heredera millonaria que revolucionó el estudio de la criminalística. Es también la fundadora del departamento de medicina legal de la Universidad de Harvard, el primer programa de estudios dedicado al estudio de la medicina forense en los Estados Unidos.
Su familia no le permitió asistir a la universidad y en cambio se casó con un abogado, Blewett Lee, de quien luego se divorció. Tuvo que esperar hasta la muerte de su hermano en 1930 para iniciar sus estudios, cuando contaba ya 52 años.
Durante la década de los años 40 y 50, Lee organizó una serie de "Estudios acotados de muertes inexplicables" (Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death, en inglés), conferencias semi-anuales en las que Glessner presentaba reconstrucciones minuciosas en miniatura de escenas de crimenes reales a investigar y a las que asistieron docenas de los investigadores estadounidenses más expertos en criminalística. Tenían 90 minutos para estudiar la escena. 18 de sus dioramas aún son usados como entrenamiento por los Asociados de Harvard de Ciencia Policial. Su minucioso trabajo -elaborando dioramas con puertas, ventanas y luces practicables- le hizo acreedora del título de capitán honorario de la policía del estado de New Hampshire.
Corinne May Botz photographed dollhouse reproductions of crime scenes and suicides created by criminologist Frances Glessner from the 40's and 50's. They are haunting, strange, and full of suspense!
