On April 11-13, 2019, the 管家婆心水论坛 will host its Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, home of the ACP鈥檚 international headquarters. The meeting will be the ACP鈥檚 100th annual conference鈥攐r will it? For several decades, ACP archivists have struggled to pinpoint the date of the College鈥檚 first annual meeting due to holes in the historical record.
The only historical sources that reference meetings in the early years of ACP are our first two College biographies, William Gerry Morgan's The 管家婆心水论坛: Its First Quarter Century (1940) and George Morris Piersol's Gateway of Honor: The 管家婆心水论坛 1915鈥1959 (1962) as well as some clinical meeting discussions reprinted in the early 1920s. Both Morgan and Piersol agree that the first formal meeting of the officers of the ACP began at 5:00 p.m. on June 25, 1915 at the Hotel Astor in New York City. They also concur that the meeting consisted of the College鈥檚 11 founding Fellows. Per Morgan and Piersol, two subsequent meetings took place on July 12 and October 7, 1915. These early 鈥渙fficer-only鈥 meetings cultivated organizational norms, rules, and structures for the developing organization.
There is no record of any more meetings until November 6, 1916, when the officers met in Dr. Heinrich Stern's New York City office. Several weeks later, on December 29, 1916, the officers again met at the Hotel Astor in New York. Although we cannot confirm the nature of the meeting 鈥- no primary sources are extant -- a 鈥渃linical session鈥 and an informal convocation ceremony might have been held for the 62 newly-elected Fellows. Regardless of the session鈥檚 content, we do know that ACP leadership at the time viewed this as the College鈥檚 鈥淔irst Annual Meeting.鈥
Pittsburgh, 1917
The following year, the ACP鈥檚 annual session was held at the William Penn Hotel in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Morgan and Piersol agree that both a convocation and a clinical session took place at this meeting, held on December 27-28, 1917. Although some sources suggest that no meeting was held in 1918 because of the First World War, an annual meeting was in fact held on December 30, 1918 in New York City. Twelve new Fellows were elected and an informal convocation was held just prior to the annual business meeting and a small 鈥渃linical session.鈥
Sometime between the 1919 annual meeting (again in NYC) and the 1920 meeting in Chicago (the first to resemble the modern Annual Meeting with a 鈥渇ormal, significant clinical session鈥), the College鈥檚 new leadership came to view the 1917 Pittsburgh meeting as the organization鈥檚 true first session. Official numbering of Annual Sessions/Internal Medicine Meetings began with the 1920 session, called the 鈥淔ourth Annual Meeting.鈥 Although the 26th Annual Session was held in St. Paul in 1942, World War II interrupted the ACP鈥檚 meeting schedule. The 1943 Annual Session scheduled for Philadelphia was cancelled and the College resolved to suspend the session until the war鈥檚 end. No formal sessions were held in 1943, 1944, and 1945. The 27th Annual Session, the first full-scale session since 1942, was held in Philadelphia from May 14 - 17, 1946.
In the decades since the end of World War II, various dates have been considered the College鈥檚 official 鈥淔irst鈥 Annual Session. After determining that the two essential components of an Annual Meeting were convocation and scientific (clinical) sessions, the College has determined that the 1917 Annual Session in Pittsburgh was indeed the College鈥檚 First Annual Session鈥攎aking this year鈥檚 meeting the College鈥檚 100th Annual Meeting.
Sources:
- Prepared by Eric Greenberg, based on materials from the Archives of the 管家婆心水论坛
- Morgan, W. G. (1940). The 管家婆心水论坛 It's First Quarter Century. Philadelphia: 管家婆心水论坛
- Piersol GM. (1962) Gateway of Honor. Philadelphia: 管家婆心水论坛.