Frances Glessner Lee was an unlikely forensic scientist who became a pioneer in forensic reconstruction. Her interests in detective work and dollhouse miniatures led her down an unusual career path, particularly for a woman of her time. She is most well-known for building a series of miniature crime scene dioramas, similar to those used in the CSI episodes about the Miniature Killer.
Life of Frances Glessner Lee
Frances Glessner was born in 1878 to a privileged life as a socialite in Chicago. Her father was a vice president for what would later become International Harvester. She did not attend college, however, she became interested in legal medicine as a result of her friendship with one of her brother's Harvard classmates, Dr. George Burgess McGrath. He later became a chief medical examiner in the Boston area and pathology professor at Harvard.
This friendship led Frances to donate $250,000 to establish a legal medicine program at Harvard in 1932, which was the only one in the United States at that time. Her continued interest led to a donation of one thousand books and manuscripts which later became the Magrath Library of Legal Medicine.
Frances' continued work with the pathology program led to changes in investigative techniques. She worked to develop plates where the pattern of a gunshot wound could be determined. She also created investigative techniques for working a crime scene. In 1942, she was given the honorary title of New Hampshire State Police Captain, the first female in the country with such an achievement.
Forensic Evidence Reconstruction: The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death
Frances Glessner Lee had a hobby common to many privileged women of her time. She enjoyed creating miniature scenes and dioramas. Frances, however, turned her tableaus into crime scene reconstructions. Eighteen dioramas were created and named the Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death, which contained everything needed to investigate the crime. Frances used photographs and witness accounts to recreate each scene to the finest detail. This included positions of the body and everything in the rooms, even the blood spatter evidence.
According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, her good friend, Erle Stanley Gardner, the creator of the Perry Mason series, felt that studying these models gave more detail on circumstantial evidence than a person could learn on their own. Gardner dedicated Perry Mason's The Case of the Dubious Bridegroom to France Lee.
The Nutshell Studies were originally given to Harvard and now reside at the Maryland Chief Medical Examiner's Office. They may be viewed by appointment.
Glessner House Museum The Glessner Family. glessnerhouse.org Accessed February 22, 2010.
Visible Proofs Forensic Views of the Body. Biographies. Frances Glessner Lee. U.S. National Library of Medicine. nlm.nih.gov. Accessed February 22, 2010.
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