The Association of American Physicians—Its First Seventy-Five Years

Abstract

Just before the 76th anniversary meeting of the Association of American Physicians rolled around in May, 1961, members were sent a copy of the history of the Association by James Howard Means. A good many of them may have had the feeling this was deja vu —they had heard it all before at the Association banquet the year before. There is truth in this notion, for the speech came near being measured by calendar, not clock, but it is not anywhere near the whole truth. Not just members of this exclusive medical club, but medical historians and physicians generally will be grateful that while there was yet time Means was able to collect material, memorabilia, letters, and other documents from which he has woven a detailed, sometimes dry, anecdotal, but fascinating chronicle of American internal medicine over the last 100 years. In our time, when the proliferation of satellite societies