On August 6 from 10 am to 5 pm and August 7 from 11 am to 5 pm, The National Museum of Civil War Medicine will host the display of a remarkable collection of miniature dioramas, depicting various settings on Civil War battlefields, including a detailed depiction of a field hospital tent.

The 1:12 scale dioramas are all handmade by Jacob M. Messina, Sr. from basswood, polymer clay, cloth, and styrofoam. Following retirement from Federal service, Mr. Messina began crafting U.S. Civil War camp scene dioramas to depict the life of the common soldier.  Messina will be on hand to discuss how he crafts the dioramas and what they represent.

Messina retired from the U.S. Air Force and served as a civilian for the Office of Naval Intelligence, where he provided intelligence support to U.S. Navy Seal operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. His dioramas have been on display at museums, schools, and libraries in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.