IAMM transitions to the IAP

The First Seventy-Five Years, 1906-1981 (continued)

IAMM transitions to the IAP

The International Association of Medical Museums clearly needed to review its mandate.

Attendance at the fortieth annual meeting of the U.S.-Canadian Section of the IAMM at the Academy of Medicine in Cleveland, Ohio, April 25, 1951, was alarmingly low. There were only 30 registrants. The Council of the Association met at 8:30 p.m. the evening before (April 24, 1951) at the Wade-Park Manor. Dr. G. Lyman Duff presided at the Council Meeting and members present were: Drs. Roger Baker, Averill Liebow, Thomas D. Kinney, Harold L. Stewart, Jesse Edwards, Granville A. Bennett, Douglas T. Sprunt, James B. McNaught, and Ruell A. Sloan.

It was noted that the U.S.-Canadian Section of the IAMM was faced with a grave situation. The critical questions which faced the Council were: Should the Council recommend to the membership the dissolution of the Association and discontinuance of the publication of the Bulletin? Should the Council take steps to broaden the aims and improve the image of the Association and launch a new publication with more appeal to pathologists? The word "Museums" in the title of the Association was criticized by some as having a musty and ancient connotation, inappropriate for a forward looking pathology society.

Even in its critical situation, the IAMM remained financially sound from the generous donations of Lord Strathcona and the Carnegie Foundation.

When the Council met on April 24, it had before it a letter written by Dr. Ralph D. Lillie on behalf of the Histochemical Society proposing that both organizations hold joint meetings and that the Bulletin of the IAMM be merged with the Journal of Histochemistry. The Council deliberated three days on this issue but made no decision in regard to Dr. Lillie's proposal. Dr. Sidney Farber resigned as Editor of the Bulletin and the Council appointed Dr. Thomas Kinney to succeed him. It authorized Dr. Kinney to develop recommendations for publication with a new format, title, and publisher. The Council nominated Officers and Councillors as follows: President, Dr. Granville A. Bennett; Vice President, Dr. James B. McNaught; and Secretary-Treasurer, Dr. Ruell A. Sloan.

Due to the sudden death of Dr. Ruell A. Sloan, Secretary-Treasurer, on June 17, 1951, the minutes of the meeting were not completed. Three new Council Members had been elected to office (Drs. N. B. Freedman, W. L. Donahue, and Edward B. Smith) but had not yet been formally notified of their appointments. Dr. Chapman Binford chaired a committee of three that audited the books after Dr. Sloan's death.

A special meeting of the Council was held October 17-18, 1951 at the Drake Hotel in Chicago primarily to name a new Secretary-Treasurer of the Association, to notify the new Council Members of their appointments, and to discuss further the unfinished business.

The Officers, Council Members, and active members of the Association attending this meeting were: Drs. Granville A. Bennett, President; James B. McNaught, Vice President; Thomas B. Kinney; Jesse Edwards, James E. Ash; Hugh G. Grady; Nathan Kaufman; Edward B. Smith and Harold L. Stewart.

The Council voted to appoint Dr. Harold Stewart interim Secretary / Treasurer and Dr. Hugh G. Grady to fill the vacancy left by Dr. Sloan on the Council. Both appointments were subject to confirmation by the Association's membership. (These were confirmed by the members within 30 days.)

The Council debated for hours on the future of the IAMM, whether to continue it or to dissolve it. The discussion was heated.

The Council considered at length Dr. Lillie's proposal and those who were in favor of continuation won out, but not until the early hours of the morning of October 18, 1951.

Mr. Paul Hoeber was called into the Council session and he and Dr. Kinney presented the tentative agreements that they had arrived at in conferences held between them during the summer of 1951. They presented to Council a plan to launch a new quarterly journal under the editorship of Dr. Kinney. A number of names for the new journal were suggested but ultimately none of them were adopted. The name "Laboratory Investigation" was agreed upon at some time between the end of October 1951 and the meeting held in New York City in April 1952. Proposals were made to change the name of the IAMM but none of the names suggested were agreed upon.

Dr. Kinney was directed to prepare and circulate a letter to the membership in reference to the changes in the journal and to receive the replies by November 15, 1951.

Dr. Kinney read the names of the new Editorial Board to the Council, they were: Drs. Edwards, Liebow, Duff, Stowell, Farber, McManus, McArdle, Ash and Kaufman, Assistant Editor. The meeting of the Council adjourned at 3:00 a.m. on October 18, 1951.

In correspondence to Prof. Matthew J. Stewart of Leeds, England, on February 18, 1952, Dr. Harold Stewart, Secretary-Treasurer of the IAMM informed him of the action of the Council taken at the October 17, 1951 meeting in Chicago to make some changes in format of the Bulletin and changing the title to "Laboratory Investigation." He stated: "This is being published by Paul B. Hoeber, Inc., Medical Book Department of Harper Brothers, 49 E. 33rd Street, New York 16, New York. The cost of this journal to members is $6.00 a year. The dues for the American members is $5.00 a year. We believe we can make up the additional dollar at least for a year or two, and the same, of course, would apply to the British Section. We hope, of course, that this journal will sell very well and as a result the subscription to members will be reduced. I believe that in the past, the British Section has sent a check to the Secretary-Treasurer covering the subscriptions for a listed number of members. If you choose to do that this year, we will add the additional dollar for each subscription and send it off to Paul Hoeber."

The forty-first meeting of the IAMM was held April 9, 1952 at the Hotel New Yorker in New York. Officers and Councillors attending the meeting were: Drs. Granville Bennett, Lyman Duff, Thomas Kinney, Jesse Edwards, Averill Liebow, and Harold Stewart. At this meeting Dr. F. K. Mostofi was elected to the office of Secretary-Treasurer and Dr. Harold L. Stewart was elected to the office of Vice President. At the business meeting, Dr. Henry Edmonds introduced a resolution, which was adopted, that the Council appoint a committee to study a change of name of the Association. Col. Ash, Dr. Harold Stewart, and Dr. F. K. Mostofi were appointed to serve on this committee. The legal aspects were explored with the Bursar of McGill University where the Strathcona and Carnegie funds were kept and no objection to changing the name was raised. By mail ballot the vote was three to one in favor of changing the name (Only 2/5ths of the members voted).

In Dr. Mostofi's report of the minutes of that meeting, he informed the members that there had been considerable discussion about changing the name of the IAMM. New names suggested were "Association for Advancement of Pathology" and "Association for Laboratory Investigation." In a letter to the membership, Dr. Mostofi asked the members which of these names they preferred or if neither what name they would suggest.

A subsequent committee consisting of Drs. Chapman Binford, Jesse Edwards, Harold Gordon and Edward B. Smith proposed the name "International Academy of Pathology." The committee noted that according to Webster's Dictionary "academy" is defined as "a society of learned men united for the advancement of the arts and sciences and literature or some particular science as the French Academy."

Another name given consideration was the "International Association of Pathologists" but the committee favored the former to avoid confusion with the International Society of Clinical Pathologists and to express the connotation of a learned society. The name was finally changed by vote of 47 to 13 at the meeting in Houston in 1955 from the International Association of Medical Museums to the International Academy of Pathology, since it was felt that the interests of the organization were much broader than that indicated by the old title.

In the "Secretary's News Letter", Vol. 1, No. 1, dated 1952 with regard to the journal stated: "Many of you have already indicated your satisfaction with the fine work being done by our editor, Dr. Thomas D. Kinney, his assistant, Dr. Nathan Kaufman, and our publisher, Mr. Paul Hoeber. The Council was so favorably impressed by the work of the editor that he was authorized to make the journal a bi-monthly publication in 1953 without increasing the subscription rate." It further stated:

"You may be interested to know that when the first issue (January 1952) of Laboratory Investigation went to press, it was thought that 1,250 copies would be more than adequate. Some 200 copies were used by the publisher for advertisement. By May the first issue was exhausted. We now have about 1200 subscriptions and there are more than 500 members of the Association. Both are increasing rapidly. Members who discard their journals are urged to return them to the editor. He needs back issues badly, especially the first number."

The same volume contained the first mention of pathological effects of new chemotherapeutic agents. It stated: "This year the Program Committee is considering a symposium on Techniques for Demonstrating Structural Changes in Infections, Neoplastic and Other Diseases, Following Use of Modern Chemotherapeutic Agents." It also stated "It has been suggested that in addition to the general meeting our association offer a one day course in pathologic physiology. For Example, under such a plan a course may be offered on the kidney, the lung or other organ, with 6 to 8 outstanding speakers invited to discuss its anatomy and embryology, its physiology, and the morphologic changes in disease, and perhaps even clinical and experimental aspects. This would not be a seminar, nor would microscopic slides be used. The course would not duplicate those offered by any other society and would extend and supplement the program of clinical pathology offered by the American Society of Clinical Pathology and the College. It would have the advantage of a thorough review of an organ not only with regard to its diseased state but its normal function as well. Whether such a course can be offered at the 1953 meeting remains to be seen, but if the members are interested the Program Committee will make every effort to arrange for it."

This idea was fostered by Dr. F. K. Mostofi and carried out at the April 1, 1953 meeting in St. Louis. The Secretary's News Letter, Vol. 1, No. 3 dated January 1954 stated: The pattern established at the 1953 meeting will be followed. It is appropriate to acknowledge that much of the success of last year's course was owed to the vigorous efforts of our excellent secretary, Dr. Mostofi. The Association is again fortunate in that Dr. E. Gall has consented to act as moderator for a course in 'Pathological Physiology and Surgical Pathology of the Liver.' A very stimulating program, to occupy three half days, is actively organized and will be announced. An additional half day will be devoted to original contributions from the membership."

In a 1957 memorandum, Harold L. Stewart gives credit for the rejuvenation and success of the International Academy of Pathology to Dr. F. K. Mostofi who originated the idea of giving a long course at the annual meetings, to Dr. Chapman Binford for arranging and managing the short courses in surgical pathology (started at the Cincinnati meeting in 1956), to Dr. Jesse Edwards for setting the pattern and obtaining commercial exhibits at the national meetings, to Robert E. Stowell for increasing the membership and to Thomas Kinney for the success of the journal "Laboratory Investigation."

In 1956, three hundred and seventy-six pathologists attended the surgical pathology courses. There were four hundred and fifty attendees for the long course on the Erythropoetic System. The short courses on "Surgical Pathology" began at the meeting in Cincinnati in 1956 when Dr. Chapman Binford was Chairman of the Education Committee. He was coordinator of the courses. For 10 years Joshua Edwards served as Chairman of the Short Course Committee succeeding Chapman Binford.