National History Day student donates artifact to museum    Robert Hamilton, 14, of Topeka, Kan., one of the more than 2,200 student finalists in the annual National History Day (NHD) program, has donated an historic artifact that he used in his project to the National Museum of Health and Medicine. Hamilton surprised museum staff by donating the brick that he used in his performance piece entitled, “Dr. Samuel J. Crumbine: Communicating Public Health Reform in Kansas,” a 9-minute monologue explaining the achievements and progress Dr. Crumbine made in Kansas in the early 1900s. The ‘Don’t Spit on Sidewalk” brick, part of Dr. Samuel Crumbine’s public health campaign, that was donated to the museum by a National History Day participant. The brick, once a part of an Erie, Kan. sidewalk, is engraved with the words “Don’t Spit on Sidewalk” and memorializes Dr. Crumbine’s historic campaign for public health reform. It has been added to the museum’s historical collection, which documents changes in medical technology since the early 17th century and includes objects ranging in size from a suture needle to a two-ton MRI magnet, such as X-ray equipment, microscopes, surgical instruments, numismatics, and anatomical models. Alan Hawk, the museum’s historical collections manager shows the brick from where it is stored in the collection “I first saw a "Don't Spit on Sidewalk" brick in the courtyard of my church, Grace Episcopal Cathedral, in Topeka, Kan.,” Hamilton said when he presented the brick to Alan Hawk, manager of the museum’s historical collections. “There were three of them that I noticed were still used as paving in the courtyard as I was working on my research.” Hamilton explained that after researching the bricks, he was able to locate one for sale on the internet to use in his project. Crumbine’s performance was one of two performances, a documentary and an exhibit, based on this year’s NHD theme of “Communication in History: The Key to Understanding,” that were presented at the museum in a program open to the public. “The combination of creativity and scholarship built into the NHD program makes it a model for performance-based learning,” said Mark Robinson, NHD’s director of public affairs. Crumbine, raised by his grandmother to believe that cleanliness prevents disease, received his medical degree from the Cincinnati College of Medicine and relocated to Dodge City, Kan., where he began his lifelong campaign for public health reform. His first effort, in 1906, was to educate the public about the severe hazards caused by the common housefly. His “Swat the Fly” campaign helped spread information through flyers detailing why the insect was so harmful, and his “Fly Bulletin” encouraged people to make homemade flypaper and install screens on windows. The campaign resulted in the creation of the fly swatter, still in use today. In addition, Crumbine initiated other public health campaigns to end the “common drinking cup,” which resulted in the creation of the Dixie Cup, and to end the “roller towel” in public bathrooms that led to the installment of paper towels and a ban on roller towels in 1910. Crumbine’s final campaign, portrayed in Hamilton’s performance, was perhaps his most famous. He convinced a Topeka brickyard to imprint the words, “Don’t Spit on Sidewalk” into every fourth brick that was laid in public sidewalks, to remind people to help stop the spread of typhoid and tuberculosis. The effects of this campaign can still be seen today in cities throughout Kansas. Museum director Adrianne Noe, Ph.D., presents Robert Hamilton of Topeka, Kan., with a certificate of recognition for his work on his National History Day project. After Hamilton and the other groups had presented their projects, the museum’s director, Adrianne Noe, Ph.D., presented the students with certificates in recognition of their research and dedication.