[5] The AMM was established during the American Civil War[3] as a center for the collection of specimens for research in military medicine and surgery.

[6] In 1862, Hammond directed medical officers in the field to collect "specimens of morbid anatomy...together with projectiles and foreign bodies removed" and to forward them to the newly founded museum for study.

[6] The AMM's first curator, John H. Brinton, visited mid-Atlantic battlefields and solicited contributions from doctors throughout the Union Army.

[8] Proposed was “a site on land that is located east of and adjacent to the Hubert H. Humphrey Building (100 Independence Avenue, Southwest, in the District of Columbia)”.

[9] In 1993, a draft bill authored by Sen. Edward Kennedy proposed $21.8 million for moving the existing collection to a new facility to be constructed on that site.

The museum's most famous artifacts relate to President Abraham Lincoln and his assassination on April 14, 1865, by John Wilkes Booth.

[19][20] Also on display is a small portion of Booth's spine,[21] surgically removed to dislodge the bullet that killed him after his escape from justice ended at Port Royal, Virginia, fired from Union soldier Boston Corbett.

[27] In this category, the museum houses a notable holding brought directly from the Middle East, “Trauma Bay II, Balad, Iraq”.

Arrangements were made to ship these items from Iraq when a visiting US Congressional delegation was moved by the stories they had heard.

[28] Past exhibits include;[34][35] The museum offers programs on topics in medical, scientific, and historical subjects.