WASHINGTON: A homicide detective trains on the job for years, but onewoman’s pioneering miniature crime-scene replicas are still used more thanhalf a century after her death to teach police investigators from acrossthe United States.

Starting in the 1940s, Frances Glessner Lee, known as the “mother offorensic science,” subverted traditionally feminine crafts to makebreakthroughs in the field of criminal investigation that was then still inits infancy.

Her dollhouse-sized, three-dimensional creations, inspired by true crimescenes, formed the subject of an exhibition that closed Sunday at theRenwick Gallery across from the White House in Washington, the first timeall 19 studies still known to exist have been shown to the public.

All but one, known as the “lost nutshell” and on loan from the Society forthe Protection of New Hampshire Forests, were loaned from the HarvardMedical School via the Maryland Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME).

The Glessner family donated a tree farm to the New Hampshire society in1978.

Charming at first glance, the handmade dioramas are also undeniablymacabre, featuring the bodies of people who met a variety of grisly fates.

They are meticulously detailed, featuring piles of newspapers or letters inLilliputian print, an ashtray overflowing with hand-rolled tiny tobaccocigarettes whose ends Lee would burn for added realism, finely knit socksor working window and door locks.

Overturned chairs, blood-spattered sheets or a cake still sitting on anopen oven rack next to a dead housewife hint of unspeakable violence frozenin time.

Lee, who died in 1962 and who was in her 60s when she began crafting herdioramas, deliberately chose to feature victims who would otherwise oftenbe overlooked, such as women and the poor, in an effort to help traineesrecognize and overcome biases.

Thanks to the hyperreal studies, budding criminal investigators havelearned how to approach their trade scientifically, becoming betterobservers and taking into account all key evidence without mishandling itor tampering with crime scenes.

Lee’s “Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death” are so effective that theOffice of the Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore still uses them today intraining seminars.Strangling or hanging?

Lee, America’s first female police captain, helped found the Department ofLegal Medicine at Harvard University, the first of its kind.

The discoloration of the corpses, the angle of minuscule bullet holes andthe blood-spatter patterns are just some of the details meant to givetrainees clues to solve crimes and to determine whether a natural death, anaccident, a suicide or a murder was at play.

The solution to each crime scene remains a secret, since they are stillused for training, but visitors to the Renwick were encouraged to maketheir own findings, flashlight in hand.

Forbidden by her wealthy parents from attending college, Lee was made tomarry at age 19 and had three children.

Only once her marriage had ended in divorce and Lee had obtained aninheritance was she finally able to pursue her interest in forensicpathology.

“Frances Glessner Lee was generous, forward-thinking, persistent, stubbornand innovative,” said author and DeSales University forensic psychologyprofessor Katherine Ramsland.

“A fan of Sherlock Holmes and true crime stories, she focused on whatmattered to her rather than on what society (and her father) thought wasproper.”

In photographs from the time, Lee can be seen standing among several dozenpolice officers, looking stern with her hair gathered in a bun.

“Because she had the means to assist with wide-scale training on suchthings as the skills of observation, deduction and incident reconstruction,Lee was able to alert thousands of investigators, attorneys and reportersto the nuances of crime that they might not otherwise consider,” saidRamsland.

“She also made inroads for women.