OHIO MEDICAL HISTORY, 1835-1858
STILL FURTHER ASPECTS
FIVE YEAR REVIEW OF THE
WORK OF THE OHIO COMMITTEE
ON MEDICAL HISTORY AND ARCHIVES
BY ROBERT G. PATERSON, PH. D.
Material presented in this issue of the Ohio
State Archaeo-
logical and Historical Quarterly by the Ohio Committee on Medical
History and Archives represents another
chapter of five continuous
years of effort on the part of a small
group of men throughout
the State in an attempt to mirror the
significant contributions of
men and events connected with the
development of medicine in
Ohio. The title of the present series
is, "Ohio Medical History
1835-1858, Still Further Aspects."
The origin of the Committee is explained
by Dr. Jonathan
Forman, chairman, as follows:
On September 27, 1937, a memorandum
proposing such a Committee
was submitted by Dr. Paterson, executive
secretary of the Ohio Public
Health Association. The matter was then
taken up with Secretary Harlow
Lindley of the Ohio State Archaeological
and Historical Society. On October
26, the Board of Trustees of the Ohio
State Archaeological and Historical
Society approved the plan and authorized
the appointment of Dr. Forman
as chairman and Dr. Lindley as
Secretary1 with power to enlarge the
Committee as events dictated.
Approval by the Council of the Ohio
State Medical Associa-
tion and the Executive Committee of the
Ohio Public Health As-
sociation was received in December,
1937. On May 12, 1938, the
first formal meeting of the Committee
was held at Columbus in
connection with the annual meeting of
the Ohio State Medical
Association. Annual meetings have been
held since in conjunc-
tion with those of the Ohio State
Archaeological and Historical
Society. These have taken place on April
7, 1939; April 5, 1940;
1 Dr. Paterson was appointed
Secretary of the Committee in
1939.
307
308
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
April 4, 1941, and April 1, 1942. No
meeting was held in 1943
owing to the restrictions placed on
travel for the duration of the
war.
The first session papers are found in
the April-July, 1939,
number of the Ohio State
Archeological and Historical Quarterly,
XLVIII, No. 3, and cover 175 pages. This
series is under the
title, "The Pioneer Physicians of
Ohio: Their Lives and Their
Contributions to the Development of the
State, 1788-1835." Papers
were presented by Howard Dittrick, M.
D., Cleveland; Jonathan
Forman, M. D., Columbus; Edward C.
Mills, D. D. S., Columbus;
Robert G. Paterson, Ph. D., Columbus;
Donald D. Shira, M. D.,
Columbus; David A. Tucker, M. D.,
Cincinnati; James J. Tyler,
M. D., Warren; and Frederick C. Waite, Ph. D., Cleveland.
The second session papers are found in
the October-Decem-
ber, 1940, number of the Quarterly, XLIX,
No. 4, and cover 82
pages. The title of the second series
is, "Ohio Medical History
of the Period 1835-1858." Papers
were presented by: Howard
Dittrick, M. D., Cleveland; Jonathan
Forman, M. D., Columbus;
Lucy Stone Hertzog, Chardon; Edward C.
Mills, D. D. S.,
Columbus; Robert G. Paterson, Ph. D.,
Columbus; Donald D.
Shira, M. D., Columbus; David A. Tucker,
M. D., Cincinnati;
and Frederick C. Waite, Ph. D.,
Cleveland.
The third session papers are found in
the October-December,
1941, number of the Quarterly, L,
No. 4, and cover 78 pages. The
title of the third series is, "Ohio
Medical History of the Period
1835-1858." Papers were presented
by: Anne L. Austin, R. N.,
Cleveland; George M. Curtis, M. D.,
Columbus; Howard Dittrick,
M. D., Cleveland; Jonathan Forman, M.
D., Columbus; Philip D.
Jordan, Ph. D., Oxford; Robert G.
Paterson, Ph. D., Columbus;
and Donald D. Shira, M. D., Columbus.
The fourth session papers are found in
the October-December,
1942, number of the Quarterly, LI,
No. 4, and cover 73 pages.
The title of the fourth series is,
"Ohio Medical History, 1835-
1858, Further Aspects." Papers were presented by Jonathan
Forman, M. D., Columbus; Leon Goldman,
M. D., Cincinnati;
Russell L. Haden, M. D., Cleveland;
Philip D. Jordan, Ph. D.,
OHIO MEDICAL HISTORY, 1835-58 309
Oxford; Edward C. Mills, D. D. S.,
Columbus; E. W. Mitchell,
M. D., Cincinnati; Ralph Taylor, M. D.,
Columbus; and A. E.
Waller, Ph. D., Columbus.
On May 5, 1940, the Ohio Committee was
elected a con-
stituent in the Society of the American
Association of the History
of Medicine and has continued its
membership to date. Dr. How-
ard Dittrick, Cleveland, has been our
delegate to the American
Association. On October 7, 1940, under
the auspices of the Ohio
Committee, a fall meeting of the
American Association was held
in Cleveland, Ohio. Dr. Dittrick served
as chairman.
Thus there has been accumulating
gradually a body of orderly
facts which will help to illuminate not
only the trials and successes
of medicine in Ohio but also the
contribution made by medicine to
the general social development of the
State--a phase of history
too long neglected.