"The dollhouse is one in a series of model whodunits used to train generations of police detectives in crime scene investigation."

"Using a tiny paintbrush, Ariel O’Connor carefully applied a compound to preserve the charred wall of a dollhouse featuring a grisly scene: the skull of a body lying in a bed inside peers out, beseeching the viewer to determine whether this was murder.... It is being cleaned, repaired and stabilized to be showcased at the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Renwick Gallery beginning in October. It is the first time the collection, built about 70 years ago, will be on public display.... [Frances Glessner] Lee was a wealthy Chicago heiress who helped establish a forensic pathology program at Harvard University, earning her the title 'godmother of forensic science.' She meticulously built the dollhouses — with the help of a carpenter beginning in the 1940s to portray homicides, suicides, and accidental and inexplicable deaths...."

A Baltimore Sun article about an upcoming Smithsonian exhibition, "Murder Is Her Hobby: Frances Glessner Lee and the Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death."