History as a Subspecialty of Anesthesiology

he human soul longs for enduring continuity in life and understanding of the past in order to provide clues to the present and perhaps even the future. Within every enduring organization there exist these three perspectives: past, present and future. In anesthesiology, which was the first medical specialty to be born in the United States, those with an eye for past tradition are alive and well.

Many groups devote time, money and energy to preserving our unique heritage, and I will highlight just a few. First of all, ASA has a tradition of support for the Wood Library-Museum of Anesthesiology (WLM) located at the ASA headquarters office in Park Ridge, Illinois. This unique institution contains a comprehensive library of books and journals, historical archives, an ever-growing rare book collection and a world-class museum of important artifacts and historical equipment, many of which are virtually irreplaceable.

The WLM, however, is more than just a collection of “stuff.” It is a hard-working, hands-on Board of Directors (headed by President William D. Hammonds, M.D., and Vice-President Lydia A. Conlay, M.D., Ph.D.), two dedicated librarians (Patrick Sim and Karen Bieterman) as well as Honorary Curator George S. Bause, M.D., and Collections Manager Judith Robbins. Many past trustees and committee chairs who have rendered decades of leadership and service include Elliott V. Miller, M.D., Charles C. Tandy, M.D., C. Ronald Stephen, M.D., and Alan D. Sessler, M.D. This group meets three times a year, and their efforts include not only acquisition and preservation of the WLM holdings but active, ongoing educational programs.

Among the many WLM-sponsored events is the Lewis H. Wright Memorial Lecture occurring during the ASA Annual Meeting. Named for Lewis H. Wright, M.D., who pioneered the use of curare in anesthesia, this lectureship has been awarded to such notables as Chauncey D. Leake, Ph.D., Thomas E. Keys, D.Sc. (h.c.), John S. Lundy, M.D., Leroy D. Vandam, M.D., B. Raymond, Fink, M.D., Selma H. Calmes, M.D., John W. Severinghaus, M.D., Nicholas M. Greene, M.D., Dr. Stephen, Francis F. Foldes, M.D., M.T. “Pepper” Jenkins, M.D., E.S. Siker, M.D., Peter Safar, M.D., and Maurice S. Albin, M.D., to name just a few. This centennial year, the Wright Memorial Lecturer will be Douglas R. Bacon, M.D., who has built his academic career, in good part, on the history of organizational anesthesiology. The lecture will be presented on Tuesday, October 25, from 1 p.m. to 2:10 p.m. in the Georgia World Congress Center, Atlanta, Georgia.

There also are four WLM fellowships awarded each year to ASA members to spend time utilizing WLM resources. One special fellowship is named the Roderick K. Calverley Memorial Fellowship, donated by the University of California-San Diego Department of Anesthesiology in honor of Roderick K. Calverley, M.D., a past trustee who was notable for encouraging young anesthesiologists to study their specialty’s history.

The most prestigious award that the WLM bestows is the Laureate of the History of Anesthesia, founded by Dr. Greene and awarded every four years to an outstanding scholar and contributor in the field. The first, second and third named Laureates were Gwenifer Wilson, M.D., (1996), co-laureates Norman Bergman, M.D., and Thomas Boulton, M.D., (2000) and Donald Caton, M.D. (2004).

Finally the WLM functions as a university press and publishes scholarly works and co-sponsors the Bulletin of Anesthesia History with the Anesthesia History Association (AHA). The Bulletin, published quarterly, contains both peer-reviewed and editorially expedited articles that only grow more valuable over time. All articles are indexed by the U.S. National Library of Medicine in PubMed and are available to all interested seekers.

AHA is a community of those interested in anesthesia history founded in 1982 primarily due to the efforts of Dr. Calmes and Dr. Calverley. Additionally that year, the AHA Newsletter, later to become the Bulletin of Anesthesia History, was inaugurated. Early editors were Dr. Calmes and Dr. Stephen. The society grew, and now AHA organizes biannual meetings, often with other societies such as the History of Anaesthesia Society (HAS) of the United Kingdom, and is established as a specialty section of the American Association for the History of Medicine.

In 1957 the journal Survey of Anesthesiology was founded and contained a “Classical File” section written by David M. Little, Jr., M.D., who regularly discussed the characters and developments of the specialty. In his honor, AHA awards the yearly Little prize for the most outstanding scholarly article written the preceding year about the history of anesthesiology.

The International Symposium on the History of Anaesthesia — combining anesthesia history societies from Austria, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Crete, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Ghana, Japan, South Africa, Spain, The Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States — meets every four years. The first International Symposium on the History of Anaesthesia was held in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, in May 1982. Subsequent meetings were held in London, United Kingdom (1987), Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America (1992), Hamburg, Germany (1996), the fifth in Santiago de Compostela, Spain (2001) and this past September in Cambridge, England.

The AHA Annual Dinner is well-attended, and recent dinner talks and speakers include Dr. Albin, “The Wounding, Amputation, and Death of Thomas Jonathan “Stonewall” Jackson: An Anesthetic Insight”; Robert J. T. Joy, M.D., F.A.C.P., “Ambroise Paré and War and Trauma Surgery in the Renaissance”; Dr. Siker, “Anesthesia, But No Curare”; H. Michael Marsh, M.B., B.S., “Clinical Problems of War: An Australian Family Memoir — 1899-1946”; and Dr. Bause, “Ethereal Pursuits: In Search of Anesthesia’s Treasures.” This year, Mark A. Rockoff, M.D., will present the “History of Conjoined Twins.”

You can become a part of this lively history community by joining the Anesthesia History Association <www.anes.uab.edu/anesthesia_history_association.htm> and the Friends of the Wood Library-Museum <www.ASAhq.org/wlm> and attending the historical events at ASA or AHA meetings. New research findings, schedules of events and opportunities for study can be found in the Bulletin of Anesthesia History, which is received by membership in either the Friends of the WLM or AHA. Do not miss the opportunity to meet wonderful people who have made and are making history!

Doris K. Cope, M.D., is Director of Pain Medicine Division and Professor of the University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania..