American Association for Thoracic Surgery Archives

Institutional material, historical manuscripts and data, biographies, member information, curriculum vitae, bibliographies, correspondence, minutes, transcripts, programs, reports, reprints, and photographic media (11 linear feet, 1899-2002) document the history and administrative practices of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery and the professional accomplishments of its members.

Historical information about the founding and growth of the association can be found in Series 1: Historical and Institutional Material. The Constitution and By-Laws of the Association are housed first in this series. For information on the administration of the AATS, the researcher should consult materials in Series 3-5. The vast majority of materials in these three series are minutes, transcripts, and/or agendas from various council, committee, and board meetings. Series 3: Annual Meetings gathers minutes that document general association business and activities, the decisions of the Executive Officers of the Council of the AATS, and the reports of various committees. Additional council and committee meeting minutes are located in Series 4: Executive Office, along with reports, financial ledgers, and correspondence from the association's first fifty years. The minutes in Series 5: Graham Education and Research Foundation document the meetings of its Board of Directors and the Evarts A. Graham Memorial Traveling Fellowship Committee. This last series also includes copies of the reports made by the traveling fellows.

Member information, statistics, and professional activities are documented in several places throughout the collection. The five subseries in Series 2: Membership contain member lists, biographical sketches and data, statistical reports from the Membership Committee, curriculum vitae and bibliographies, and photographs. The volume Founding of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery (1917-1967) also contains biographies of fourteen founding members, including Willy Meyer and Evarts A. Graham. Series 3: Annual Meetings has a subseries of programs that include abstracts of papers presented by AATS members and their professional colleagues. Reprints of articles written by members such as Armistead C. Crump are gathered in Series 6: Member Writings.

Historical and Institutional Material documents the institutional procedures and overall history of the AATS. The series begins with the association's constitution and by-laws. The remaining folders are arranged in alphabetical order; materials consist of manuscripts, notes, correspondence, photographs, and miscellaneous items relating the history of the AATS. The Founding of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery folders include a rough draft, final volume, and photographs depicting the association's genesis and the careers of some of its founders. Also of interest is the correspondence in the "National Board of Medical Examiners" folder, which chronicles the formation of the American Board of Thoracic Surgery, and the folder "American Association for Thoracic Surgery St. Louis Administrative Offices," which provides an overview of the history and function of the offices.

This series is divided into five subseries and contains biographical, professional, and statistical information about the association's members. The Member Lists subseries begins with a volume devoted to the founders and officers; the remaining lists are ordered chronologically. Biographical drafts, obituaries, patents, and programs for events honoring specific members are grouped under the Biographies subseries. This is the only subseries that is arranged alphabetically rather than chronologically. Of special note is the "Biography of Founders" material, which includes the drafts for the Biographical Sketches section of the Founding of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery (1917-1967) in Series 1. Other notable items are the original patents for medical equipment located in the folders for Crump and Meyer. The third subseries, Membership Committee Data, contains statistical information about members (ages, membership status, available places in the active membership, etc.). The curriculum vitae and bibliographies in the fourth subseries were collected from senior members circa 1980. The fifth subseries contains photographs of early association members.