The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death are a series of nineteen intricately designed dollhouse-style dioramas created by Frances Glessner Lee, a pioneer in forensic science. Glessner Lee used her inheritance to establish a department of legal medicine at Harvard Medical School in 1936, and donated the first of the Nutshell Studies in 1946 for use in lectures on the subject of crime scene investigation. In 1966, the department was dissolved, and the dioramas went to the Maryland Medical Examiner's Office in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. where they are on permanent loan and still used for forensic seminars. The dioramas are detailed representations of death scenes that are composites of actual court cases, created by Glessner Lee on a 1-inch to 1 foot scale. Each model cost about to create. She attended autopsies to ensure accuracy, and her attention to detail extended to having a wall calendar include the pages after the month of the incident, constructing openable windows, and wearing out-of-date clothing to obtain realistically worn fabric. The dioramas show tawdry and, in many cases, disheveled living spaces very different from Glessner Lee's own background. The dead include prostitutes and victims of domestic violence. Glessner Lee called them the Nutshell Studies because the purpose of a forensic investigation is said to be to "convict the guilty, clear the innocent, and find the truth in a nutshell." Students were instructed to study the scenes methodically—Glessner Lee suggested moving the eyes in a clockwise spiral—and draw conclusions from the visual evidence. At conferences hosted by Glessner Lee, prominent crime-scene investigators were given 90 minutes to study each diorama.
On 18 November 2017, the film Murder in a Nutshell: The Frances Glessner Lee Story was directed by Susan Marks and the film was premiered at the Renwick Gallery. Nora Atkinson, the Lloyd Herman Curator of Craft, moderated a discussion with Ms. Susan Marks.
Season 17, episode 17 of NCIS titled "In a Nutshell" was based on Frances Glessner Lee's dioramas.
"The Dollhouse Murders: A Forensic Expert Investigates 6 Little Crimes" a 'fictionalized how-to manual of the whats, wheres, whys, whens and hows of detective, forensic and medical crime scene investigation' by author Thomas P Mauriello.
Bruce Goldfarb's 18 Tiny Deaths: The Untold Story of Frances Glessner Lee & The Invention of Modern Forensics retells the story of Glessner Lee's life and her creation of the dioramas.
