DITTRICK MEDICAL HISTORY CENTER

Professional Societies

Academy of Medicine of Cleveland

The history of the Academy goes back as far as 1824, the time of the founding of the Nineteenth Medical District of Ohio. Ohio was divided into 20 districts to facilitate the organization of district medical societies, designed to formalize both medical licensure and education. Cuyahoga and Medina counties constituted the Nineteenth Medical District. In 1859, the District was reorganized as the Cuyahoga County Medical Society. By 1893, there were three medical societies in Cleveland, including the Cleveland Medical Society, which existed side by side with the Cuyahoga County Medical Society from 1896 through 1902, when they united to form the Academy of Medicine of Cleveland.

Early records can be found under:
Cleveland Academy of Medicine (1867-1874) Constitution, Rules, Minutes
Cuyahoga County Medical Society (1859-1902) Constitution, Minutes, Account Book
Cleveland Medical Society (1893-1902) Constitution and By-Laws, Minutes, Treasurer's Account Book

Cleveland Medical Library Association

The Archives of the Cleveland Medical Library Association is an extensive collection that encompasses the full history of the CMLA. It is housed in approximately 150 boxes and includes the Administrative Records, Board of Trustees Minutes, Annual Meeting reports, Committee Reports, membership rosters, 50th and 75th anniversary materials, and acquisitions information. The collection also includes architect's blueprints.

Members of the Cuyahoga County Medical Society made the first move toward the organization of a library association in 1893. It was proposed during a meeting in March 1893 that the three Cleveland medical societies unite on the planning of a library and in 1894 each donated books and funds. The Cleveland Medical Library Association (CMLA) was formed to provide Cleveland's medical community with an educational setting and to promote the science of medicine. The Library's collection grew rapidly and new facilities were necessary.

In 1924, Elizabeth Severance Prentiss made a substantial donation towards a new library building in the name of her former husband, Dudley Peter Allen, one of the Library's founders. The new building was completed in 1926 in University Circle. It remains the home of the Cleveland Medical Library Association, the Allen Memorial Medical Library and the Dittrick Medical History Center and Museum.

American College of Gastroenterology

Begun in 1932 as an organization open to all physicians with an interest in the field of gastroenterology. Initially known as the Society for the Advancement of Gastroenterology, the organization became known as the American College of Gastroenterology during the 1954 annual meeting in Washington, D.C. Today, the ACG is very active in scholarly practice, teaching and research.

The collection, housed in six Hollinger boxes, includes minutes of Board Meetings (1932-1979), Board Meeting notices (National Gastroenterological Society, 1935-54; American College of Gastroenterology, 1954-79), correspondence and legal documents (1935-81). Also contains programs of annual meetings, postgraduate courses, and the ACG newsletter.

American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy

Rudolf and Gabriele Schindler shortly after their
arrival in Chicago from Germany, 1934.

"The morning of November 9, 1941 promised at typical cold winter day in Chicago. Newspapers were filled with the news of foreign wars that in a few weeks would engulf the United States. At 56089 Blackstone Avenue near the University of Chicago, Rudolf Schindler was preparing to meet later that day with 16 physicians who practiced gastroscopy to decide if they wanted, or needed, a formal organization through which they and others could work for the recognition and improvement of gastroscopy." *

Schindler stressed the need for standards for training and practice, information sharing among physicians and control of instrument quality. The meeting was a success. The new organization was called the American Gastroscopic Club and by June 1942 there were 109 members. In 1961, the membership agreed to change the name to the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy.

The ASGE collection contains approximately 17.5 linear feet of material, including: early records of the American Gastroscopy Society (AGS) and the American Gastroscopic Club (AGC), ASGE Governing Board Meeting Minutes (1961-79), committee reports, Annual Meeting programs, Digestive Disease Week announcements/programs, membership rosters, correspondence and documents regarding government relations and health care policy.

*Taken from: Gerstner, Patsy "The American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy: A History", Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, supp., vol. 37, no. 2, 1991.

MINOR COLLECTIONS

These are small collections that may contain one sheet, one folder or one box of information.

• AESCLEPIAN SOCIETY OF CLEVELAND
• AMERICAN OSLER SOCIETY
• AMERICAN SURGICAL ASSOCIATION
• ASHTABULA COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY
• CLEVELAND DENTAL SOCIETY
• CLEVELAND DERMATOLOGICAL SOCIETY
• CLEVELAND GASTROENTEROLOGISTS SOCIETY
• CLEVELAND NEUROLOGICAL SOCIETY
• CLEVELAND OPHTHALMOLOGICAL SOCIETY
• CLEVELAND OTOLARYNGOLOGICAL CLUB
• CLEVELAND PSYCHIATRIC SOCIETY/CLEVELAND SOCIETY OF NEUROLOGY AND PSYCHIATRY
• CLEVELAND SOCIETY OF ANESTHESIOLOGISTS
• CLEVELAND SURGICAL SOCIETY
• CLEVELAND VASCULAR SOCIETY
• GEAUGA COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY
• THE GRADUATE NURSES ASSOCIATION, CLEVELAND
• GREATER CLEVELAND NURSES ASSOCIATION
• HOSPITAL OBSTETRIC SOCIETY OF OHIO
• LAKE COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY
• MAHONING COUNTY MEDICAL ASSOCIATION
• NORTHEAST OHIO NEUROLOGICAL SOCIETY
• NORTHERN OHIO NUTRITION SOCIETY
• NORTHERN OHIO PEDIATRIC SOCIETY
• OHIO STATE DENTAL SOCIETY
• OHIO STATE HOMEOPATHIC MEDICAL SOCIETY
• OHIO STATE MEDICAL ASSOCIATION
• OHIO STATE MEDICAL SOCIETY
• OHIO STATE NURSES ASSOCIATION
• OHIO VALLEY SOCIETY FOR PLASTIC AND RECONSTRUCTIVE SURGERY
• SOCIETY OF THE MEDICAL SCIENCES OF CLEVELAND
• UNION MEDICAL SOCIETY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO
• WAYNE COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY
• WOMEN'S MEDICAL SOCIETY OF CLEVELAND