NIH Folklore

Every place has folktales of its own — stories of Bigfoot or buried treasure — even the National Institutes of Health.  We'll be adding such tales to this page, but, of course, we'll do historical research to let you know how much of a story is tale, and how much is truth.


FDR, the Wilsons, and the U. S. Naval Medical Center



Telephone operators at a consoleThese telephone operators for the NIH Clinical Center probably heard their share of tall tales.  C. 1953.  Image from the Office of NIH History and Stetten Museum.  Public domain.