Our second CAMA Spotlight focuses on one of our member institutions, the Archives of the American College of Surgeons.
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| ACS Seal at its Headquarters in Chicago. Courtesy ACS Archives. |
What is the American College of Surgeons?
The American College of Surgeons (ACS) was established in
Chicago in 1913 at the initiative of Franklin H. Martin, MD, FACS. It was an
outgrowth of the highly successful Clinical Congress of Surgeons of North
America. The Clinical Congress was first held in 1910 to provide continuing
education by means of live demonstrations of surgical operations. From the time
of its origin, the College has been involved in surgical education and
research, patient welfare, hospital standardization, ethics of practice, and
collaboration with other medical associations.
What is the size of your collection?
The ACS Archives holds approximately 300 linear feet of fully processed records.
Tell us about your users.
We are generally open four days a week and serve primarily
our staff and members. But we also have nonmember researchers, typically
historians and graduate students. We have also had young people come to do
research on school projects.
What kind of reference services do you provide?
We reply to phone/email inquiries, assist researchers in the
reading room, and give tours of the College headquarters.
Describe some of your online resources and digital collections.
What are some of your most-used collections?
The records of the Committee on Medical Motion pictures have
been used often over the years. Also
used often are the records on hospital standardization; the Joint Commission on
Accreditation of Hospitals (now the Joint Commission) originated in the
College’s early hospital standardization initiative. And we frequently use the
Grimm Notebooks for authoritative reference on all subjects related to College
history.
[Learn more about 3-D movies at the Clinical Congress.]
Who are some of the most well-known figures connected to the American College of Surgeons and your collection?
Charles H. Mayo received his medical degree from
Northwestern University (then Chicago Medical College). He was one of the
founders of the ACS, its president from 1924 to 1925, and a member of the Board
of Regents. George Crile, founder of
the Cleveland Clinic, and Alton Ochsner, founder of the Ochsner Clinic in New
Orleans, were also founders and presidents of the ACS along with Franklin
Martin and many others, giants of surgery in their day.
--Thanks, Dolores and Susan! If you have questions for Susan and Dolores or CAMA,
feel free to leave a comment in the comments section. We'd love any
feedback on this new feature of the CAMA blog.
More on the CAMA Spotlight Project:
With
this new CAMA Spotlight feature, you can get to know the people and institutions who
offer resources in Chicago concerning the history of medicine, medical
education, and related topics.
Each institution represented in CAMA has a story of its own to tell. We hope this new feature is of interest to fellow
archivists, students, researchers, and anyone curious about what in the
world archivists do.
