Francis Glessner Lee and the Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death

The nutshell study is encased in a protective box on display.

Frances Glessner Lee became known as the "mother of forensic science" and you can see one of her nutshell studies, "Sitting Room & Woodshed," on display at The Rocks. It is a miniature work of art, a historic artifact, and a teaching tool for forensic science. You can also see the historic marker at the entrance to The Rocks that is dedicated to Glessner Lee.

Previously considered a "missing" study, Nutshell Study #20 was discovered at The Rocks around 2005 and was loaned to the Bethlehem Historical Society for many years. The other 18 Nutshell studies are not on public display.

A view into the miniature world of the diorama.
The "sitting room" in Nutshell Study #20, which is on display at The Rocks, where it was created by Frances Glessner Lee.
A look inside the mini woodshed in nutshell study number 20.
The "woodshed" in Nutshell Study #20. The dioramas were created on a 1-inch to 1-foot scale.

Glessner Lee spent her childhood summers at The Rocks, where she lived full-time later in her adult life. After her parents and older brother died, Frances used her wealth and new autonomy to endow Harvard with a Department of Legal Medicine. It was at The Rocks in the 1940s that she began to create a set of miniature models depicting highly accurate crime scenes, which she offered for use as police training tools. Frances named her project the Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death, after an old police saying to "convict the guilty, clear the innocent, and find the truth in a nutshell."

The week-long training seminar based on the Nutshell Studies established in 1945 by Glessner Lee at Harvard University, the "Harvard Associates in Police Science homicide investigation seminar," is the longest-running training program of its kind in the country, and is now offered at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of Maryland.

In 2017, some of the Nutshell Studies were shown in a groundbreaking exhibition at the Smithsonian American Art Museumm called Murder Is Her Hobby: Frances Glessner Lee and The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death. The exhibit explored "the surprising intersection between craft and forensic science. It also tells the story of how a woman co-opted traditionally feminine crafts to advance the male-dominated field of police investigation and to establish herself as one of its leading voices... These dollhouse-sized dioramas of true crimes, created in the first half of the 20th century and still used in forensic training today, helped to revolutionize the emerging field of homicide investigation."

Michael Bruno, left, and Nigel Manley unveil a NH Highway historical marker.
Michael Bruno, left, and Nigel Manley unveil a NH Highway historical marker at The Rocks in Bethlehem in 2018 honoring the late Frances Glessner Lee as the “mother of forensic science.” (Photo: John Koziol/Union Leader)

In 2018, Glessner Lee was honored at The Rocks with a New Hampshire Historical Highway Marker. "The unveiling of the marker, inside the triangle at the intersection of Glessner Road and Route 302, was the culmination of research that author and Bethlehem resident Michael Bruno did for his recently released book, Cruising New Hampshire History: A Guide to New Hampshire’s Historical Roadside Markers," according to the Union Leader. The marker reads:

Frances Glessner Lee (1878-1962) "Mother of Forensic Science"

Here at the Rocks, her family's summer estate, this Chicago heiress pursued her passion for criminology in the 1940s-50s with the creation of 20 miniature dioramas depicting actual crime scenes with detailed accuracy. Called the Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death, the dioramas were based on crime scene statements and photographs, and were used to train homicide detectives. In recognition of her many contributions to forensic science, Glessner Lee was appointed an honorary Captain of the New Hampshire State Police in 1943.

2024 programs hosted by The Rocks honoring Glessner's Lee legacy have included a screening of a new documentary by filmmaker Susan Marks and a photo exhibit by Corinne Botz, who spent years researching and writing about the incredible female criminologist who conceived and built the models. This seven-year project culminated in an exhibition and a book by Botz called The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death (The Monacelli Press, 2004). Botz's photographs highlight the models’ painstaking detail, as well as the prominence of female victims. We also held a poetry reading with Jessica Purdy, author of The Adorable Knife: Poems After The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death.

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