About the Collection
The Melvin C. Shaffer World War II Photographs are part of the World War II photographs, Medical Museum and Arts Service collection. Shaffer’s photographs, taken 1943-1945, show life during World War II, including images from North Africa, Italy/Southern France, and Germany. The collection consists of personal photographs and covers a variety of subjects, including images of civilians, the destruction of war, Army hospitals and troops.
Shaffer (1924-2021) was part of the Museum and Medical Arts Service (MAMAS), Army Institute of Pathology, U.S. Army Medical Museum, during the war. The Armed Forces Institute of Pathology/Army Medical Museum in Washington organized units of six personnel plus a commanding officer to furnish medical illustration services to the medical corps in various overseas operations. Starting in 1942, the units were assembled and given basic medical training plus workshops in medical photography and medical art before deployment. Altogether six such MAMAS units were deployed, first to India to serve the India/Burma campaigns then to North Africa, England and the South Pacific. Davis was with the 3rd detachment MAMAS in northern Africa in 1943, in Italy and France in 1944, and in Italy and Germany in 1945.
Highlights include:
- 26 images of Mt. Vesuvius that depict the volcano before, during, and after its eruption in 1944.
- People and scenery in Bou Saada, Algeria, 1943.
- The 8th Evacuation Hospital, Pietramala, Italy, 1944-1945.
- Scenes in and around Berlin immediately after the end of the war in Europe.
