A Retrospective View By Patrick Sim
History
A scholarship on the history of anesthesia program was the brainchild of the late Rod Calverley, M.D. with a proposal he made during the October, 1986 WLM Board of Trustees meeting in Las Vegas. At the time the WLM was a section within the ASA administration, which functioned like any other components within the ASA. An initial amount of $5,000.00 was to be requested to fund this annual program. Dr. Calverley envisioned the rich resources, particularly in the history of anesthesia, would be utilized by inviting one, or more research scholar(s) to investigate any topic of interest in the WLM. The scholar(s) would be required to visit the WLM to conduct research for a week (5 working days). Funds expended on such endeavor by each scholar would not exceed $1,000.00. It was further envisioned that the outcome of this program would be bilateral. It would highlight the rich resources of the WLM to the world of the history of medicine and anesthesia. At the same time, as a recognized historical institution, its historical research program would attract prestigious and knowledgeable scholars from all disciplines in medicine and the history community. It was also hoped that young physicians and scholars would be attracted to this research program, and cultivate a life-time of interest in the study of the heritage of anesthesia.
The program was to be annual, and named after the founder of the library-museum, The Paul M. Wood Fellowship, which was to be administered by a committee chaired by Dr. Calverley, with Selma Harrison Calmes, M.D., and Edward A. Ernst, M.D. as members. The committee would draft a document for the implementation of the program. The Board approved that, though formal funding process for the program would defer until March 1987. Unexpended funds from the 1986 budget could be tapped for implementing the initial class of Wood Fellows. It was also agreed that incumbent trustees were not eligible for the Fellowship. An announcement of the program was to be submitted to the ASA Newsletter.
Dr. Calverley drafted a document, describing the program, and provided procedural guide for application of the fellowship. It offered a stipend, which later was referred to as honorarium, of $500.00 to support the work of each Fellow. For a Fellow who had to travel more than 100 miles, the program would provide the funding of one round-trip economy class airfare. When lodging was necessary to conduct the research at the WLM, a per diem of $100.00 would be given to the Fellow, which would not exceed 15 working days. Weekend stays would not be reimbursed, because the WLM is closed. Observing the difficulty to have historical papers published in anesthesia journals, Dr. Calverley encouraged that Fellows submit their research products for publication, nonetheless. However, it would not be mandatory for the Fellow to publish his/her research work. The WLM at the same time should receive a copy of any published or unpublished products from the Fellows. A deadline of February 1st to receive applications was established. This would allow the Fellowship Committee to review and discuss all submitted proposals for presentation to the WLM Board for action in its Spring meeting, which is usually scheduled in the first week of March. The Board of Trustees adopted the concept of the Fellowship in principle, and the president brought forth this plan to the ASA for confirmation in 1988.
On October 10, 1987, Dr. Calverley draft the Guidelines for the Paul M. Wood Fellowship modeled after those of the Anesthesiology Young Investigator Award. This fellowship would be intended not just for the history of anesthesia, but to include the investigation of library and museum related issues pertaining to anesthesia. It was at this meeting that the institutional acronym of the Wood Library-Museum of Anesthesiology became the “WLM”, removing the hyphen separating the second and third letters.
FELLOWSHIP ALUMNI, ACTIVITIES, DEVELOPMENT & CONTRIBUTIOINS
Initially established in 1987, the first class of Paul M. Wood Fellows began in 1988 when 14 requests for Fellowship information were posted. Six candidates submitted their research proposals. After extensive review, the committee found 4 to be of great merit on projects that might benefit historical scholarship, and helpful to the WLM resources. Dr. Calverley requsted a budget of $10,000.00 to administer this program for the year, targeting to support three Fellowships with the possibility of accepting a fourth one. Upon reviewing the four proposals, the Board voted to accept all four who represented a diverse cross-section of the anesthesia/history community, a distinguished class indeed. Named the first Wood Fellows with their exciting proposals were:
(1) David L. Brown, MD, of the Mason Clinic in Seattle, planned to investigate the history of anesthetic risks in the early days of surgical anesthesia. Not only was the topic intriguing and practical, the investigator had shown a substantial amount of preparatory work on the topic. Dr. Brown further indicated that he would use the rich resources of the University of Washington Medical School to complement his investigation. The result of Dr. Brown’s work was later published as a chapter in a monographic/serial publication, PROBLEMS IN ANESTHSEIA, with which he was the general editor. Dr. Brown’s chapter was in a volume in the series titled, “Risks in Anesthesia”. Dr. Brown went on to become a very productive historian, in addition to his other academic and clinical accomplishments, among which is his definitive work on the history of regional anesthesia when he assumed the authorship of the extensive historical chapter in the well-known Cousins-Bridenbaugh book in three editions, NEURAL BLOCATE, PAIN MANAGEMENT.
(2) Eugene H. Conner, M.D., of Louisville, KY, a known historian and former WLM trustee, chose to relate the U.S. Congress to the Ether Controversy through the publications of Congressional Proceedings on the subject. This project was doubly beneficial to the WLM, as Dr. Calverley observed that both Dr. and Mrs. Conner were known accomplished historians who collaborated much of their works. The WLM would reap the research efforts of two scholars at one time. Dr. Conner has not published any definitive work from this investigation, but he remains a great friend of the WLM by donating rare books to our collection, and contributed to the special September issue of the ASA Newsletter on historical subjects.
(3) B. Raymond Fink, M.D. just completed his three terms as a trustee of the WLM at the time the Board granted him a Wood Fellowship. His scholarship was impeccable, and was known for his language skill, as he spoke and read 6 non-English languages. Grew up in Belgium, Dr. Fink spoke and read the French language fluently. He proposed to translate Claude Bernard’s 1875 monograph on anesthetics and asphyxia, which he titled Lectures on Anesthetics and Asphyxia, which was ultimately published by the WLM in 1989, the first full English translation this important work ever published. Dr. Fink was the perfect and ideal translator of Bernard’s work not only for his language skill, but also for his research and clinical temperament as a physician, and his historical and biographical research of the author through his friendship with Bernard’s biographer in France. A casual reader could compare the prose of Dr. Fink’s translation with an excerpted English version of Bernard’s work in Faulconer & Keys’ FOUNDATIONS OF ANESTHESIOLOGY, to appreciate Dr. Fink’s talent. Unbeknown to the Board, Dr. fink fulfilled his Fellowship obligations without visiting the WLM, nor did he spend a penny of his Fellowship stipend. Later on, Dr. Fink continued to contribute his talents and time by translating the original French text to English of Nicholai Pirogoff’s early anesthesia monograph, Researches Practical and Physiological on Etherization, 1847, which was published in 1992 by the WLM with an informative and scholarly preface on the book and its impact to anesthesia.
(4) A. J. Wright, M.L.S., Clinical Librarian of the Department of Anesthesia at the University of Alabama at Birmingham chose to investigate medical literature of the 19th, and early 20th centuries on self-experimentation. Besides the resources at the WLM, Mr. Wright had for his use the extraordinary historical resource of the famed Reynolds Library Collection at the University of Alabama Health Science Center. Subsequently, Mr. Wright, who became president of the Anesthesia History Association, published many scholarly historical papers, created and maintained much-visited websites to promote the interest and awareness of the history of anesthesia. Lately, Mr. Wright gained the recognition of his own institution, that he was appointed Associate Professor of Anesthesiology in charge of a section on the history of anesthesia for the anesthesia residency program.
This distinguished first class of Paul M. Wood Fellows was elaborately introduced in the ASA Newsletter by committee chair Rod Calverley, M.D. It must also be mentioned that the fellowship program itself did not simply attend to the successful proposals. Two of such were not selected in the first class of the program also merit encouragement and refinement. The unsuccessful candidates were contacted and frank and constructive discussions held to encourage continued participation in the program.
The Fellowship Committee reviewed proposals to the 1989 Paul M. Wood Fellowship, and recommended to the Board their preference on four of them. Again, diverse in nature, this new class comprised of an international candidate, a resident physician, an expert on regional anesthesia who chose to investigate the impact of music on anesthesia, and a husband and wife team who proposed to write a fiction based upon historical facts of medical anesthesia in the mid-19th century.
(5) Douglas R. Bacon, M.D., M.A., a resident from the State University of New York at Buffalo submitted a proposal to investigate the organized history of anesthesia in the era of the 1920s and 1930s. Dr. Bacon’s resident status particularly attracted the attention of the committee, which wanted specially to encourage a generation of young anesthesiologists to be interested in the heritage of their chosen medical specialty. Dr. Bacon developed his historical interest long before he became a physician. His passion for history caused him to work on a graduate degree in History. This makes him a unique anesthesiologist with formal historical training. His contribution to modern history of anesthesia aside, Dr. Bacon asserts immense influence in the younger generation of anesthesiologists to take part in historical projects in subsequent years. Several of his residents successfully applied for the Fellowship program, and contributed with published works, among them Robert Sands, Bing Du, and lately, Claude Vachon, and Sandra Kopp, all investigated different areas of anesthetic interest. Dr. Bing Du worked on a collaborative project with his mentor and the Librarian, which resulted in the publication of a seminal paper on the American influence of Chinese anesthesia. Bacon’s historical expertise has wrought him international recognition that he has become a much sought-after lecturer.
Dr. Calverley was especially impressed by the Bacon project mainly because the author was an anesthesia resident. Special consideration given to applicants in residency training was beginning to take priority in the Fellowship program. That was the reason for the creation of the Rod Calverley Fellowship at the untimely death of Dr. Calverley, especially to encourage historical interest in anesthesia residents. Dr. Calverley’s teaching institution generously donated matching funds in his memory in 1995 to create a Calverley Fellowship annually awarded to the best resident applicant’s proposal.
(6) Clifton M. Patton, M.D., and Lea Patton, R.N., of the University of Miami planned to write a work of fiction based upon the history of medical anesthesia in mid-19th century. Both Dr. and Mrs. Patton had a joint avocation in creative writing, and had published novels on medical themes in the commercial press. They visited the WLM and had a first hand understanding of the resources here. However, they never found time to embark on their joint project, despite an application for extension for their Fellowship plan, which was granted but never fulfilled.
(7) Dr. Gale E. Thompson proposed to investigate on the functional value of music on anesthetized patients. The esoteric nature of this topic did not produce any concrete result in Dr. Thompson’s research, although his proposal was considered very strong and outstanding. He has since been a great supporter of the WLM.
(8) Internationally known anaesthetist from the UK, David J. Wilkinson, FRCA, was accepted to study the historical introduction of trichlorethylene in both the UK and America. The scope of this investigation would entail research efforts in both the U.S. and the U.K. This scheme pleased Dr. Calverley all the more because of the possibility of expanding research resources between two countries on Dr. Wilkinson’s project. Dr. Wilkinson has since proved to be a great friend of the WLM, and his historical research continues to gain him the reputation of an international anesthesia historian. He is delivering the 2002 Lewis H. Wright Memorial Lecture in October.
The Fellowship Class of 1990 again proved to be international and diverse. Doris K. Cope on the faculty of the University of South Alabama, Richard I. Bodman of Halifax in Canada, a duo-research team of Joan Bevan and Maria Parcelli from Magill in Montreal, and Christopher Lawrence from the Wellcome Institution in the U.K. were selected Wood Fellows presenting a wide variety of research topics. Dr. Cope proposed to study the history of blood transfusion, Dr. Bodman planned to uncover all American sources on a biography of Harold R. Griffith, the Bevan/Parcelli team also would like to investigate American sources on Canadian anesthesiologists from McGill University, and British medical historian/pathologist Christopher Lawrence was interested in the history of the nitrous oxide movement.
The logistic issue for this international class was the limitation of compensation for air travel. The Fellows from the U.K. and Canada were compensated in their travel plans with the reimbursement of funds equivalent to a round-trip coach class airfare from the arrival point at a U.S. city to Chicago. This policy becomes standard for foreign Fellows of the future, which will include candidates from Australia, Norway, China and the Czech Republic.
(9) Dr. Calverley’s vision for this Fellowship program was gradually unfolding through the activities of the Fellows. The lone American Fellow of the class of 1990 has become one of the most productive anesthesia historians through this program. Dr. Cope’s Fellowship experience is a shining example of success that Dr. Calverley would have been very pleased. She also set a tone for Wood Fellows to broaden their research experience beyond their proposed project. Unhampered by her original research theme, Dr. Cope found more fertile ground to work on a new project, and switched gear to turn her focus on the life of the icon of early American anesthesiology, Dr. James Tayloe Gwathmey. As a result, Dr. Cope becomes the biographer of Gwathmey. Her subsequent productive research interests and publications earned her well-deserved recognition of a world class anesthesia historian. She is the product of the Fellowship program, which has returned to serve the historical cultural aspects of anesthesia, as she also involves herself heavily on the international anesthesia history movement as a writer, editor, lecturer and is active in anesthesia history related organizations and institutions.
(10) & (11) The Canadian Fellows of the class of 1990 had a common thread on their respective projects. They sought WLM resources and funding to supplement their respective projects, and simultaneously utilized Canadian resources to enrich their projects, including requesting funding support for their projects from Canadian sources. Dr. Bodman subsequently published a biography of Harold Randall Griffith. Dr. Joan Bevan and Maria Parcelli capped their project with the publication by the McGill University Libraries, of a biography of Canadian pioneer anesthesiologist, Wesley Bourne, in 1996. Although the latter project involved a team, only Ms. Parcelli visited the WLM to collect historical data for their project.
(12) In granting the Fellowship to Dr. Christopher Lawrence of the Wellcome Institution, Dr. Calverley was hoping that it would also attract the professional expertise of Dr. Lawrence’s spouse, and medical museum expert at the Wellcome, Dr. Gislane Lawrence. The outcome did not reveal such ideal situation, but Dr. Lawrence did contribute a chapter on anesthesia in a monograph of British surgical history, based upon his research at the WLM.
The issue of equitable compensation to Fellows visiting the WLM was raised in 1991. Dr. Calverley observed that the cost of lodging in the Park Ridge area for Fellows conducting historical research was fairly expensive, and proposed to increase the Fellowship per diem from $100 to $150. The Board did not take any action until March 1991 when Dr. Ron Stephen’s proposal to increase the Fellowship per diem from $100 to $125 was approved, to be effective in 1992. Dr. Calverley did not attend this meeting as he was on active military duty in the Middle East, as a medical officer during Desert Storm military campaign.
(13) & (14) The Board of Trustees selected four Fellows for the class of 1991. Two special characteristics occurred. It accepted a second-time applicant, and it allowed a team of two Fellows working on a single project. Dr. Douglas Bacon was awarded a second Fellowship to team up with Dr. Richard Ament to study academic anesthesia modeled after Ralph Waters’ experience in Madison, WI. The proposal for a dual-Fellow project required a budge of $6,000. The Board approved this proposal only after the budget had been reduced to an affordable level for the WLM. In order to accommodate this proposal, the Board also considered this dual Fellowship as expenses for two Fellows. So arranged, the 1991 Fellowship budget remained in check without overspending. The result was the publication of a paper titled, “Ralph Waters and the Beginning of Academic Anesthesiology in the U.S.: The Wisconsin Template.”
(15) Dr. Stephen Small of Harvard proposed to study the passion of Horace Wells, focusing on the societal evolution of his life. The Board accepted this theme with a recommendation that Dr. Small would restrict his theme to the medical contribution of Wells’ discovery. The trustees was encouraged by the promise of an excellent writer in Dr. Small, and was hopeful of a great product from his research. Subsequently, Dr. Small contributed an interesting article on the death mask of Horace Wells in the September ASA Newsletter.
(16) Another Canadian anesthesiologist was awarded a Fellowship who planned to study the influence of the works of John Snow on the development of anesthesia. Dr. David Shepard is a known scholar on John Snow. The Fellowship committee found his proposal complete, and clear, and his interest in John Snow intense. Dr. Shepard subsequently published a biography of John Snow, touching upon the dual careers of Snow as an anesthesiologist and an epidemiologist.
The 1992 Wood Fellowship program received five proposals. Four Americans and one Canadian had been awarded the Fellowship. One of the Americans was a doctoral student who had been commissioned, and written an official history of American Nurse anesthesia by the AANA.
(17) Canadian anaesthetist David Shepard successfully repeated another application, proposed to study the relationship between American and Canadian anesthesia. The Board found Dr. Shepard’s proposal well-thought and well-presented, with great relevance to American history of anesthesia. Dr. Shepard went on to become the honorary archivist of the Canadian Anaesthetists Society, and continued to contribute to the history of anesthesia in Canada.
(18) Air Force anesthesiologist Jonathan Blank was awarded the Fellowship to study the career of Edward B. Tuohy as a leader in organized anesthesia and a regional anesthesia expert. The Board’s impression was that the proposal required more focus, but had presented a good strategy for investigation. The trustees suggested Dr. Blank to contact people like Dr. John Leahy who knew Dr. Tuohy for information and perspective. No research outcome has been received.
(19) Dr. Jonathan Berman’s proposal to study the history of oropharyngeal airways was highly regarded. His research interest was also prompted by the contributions in airway management and career of his father Dr. Robert A. Berman. The result was not only a publication of the history of airways, but a detailed collection and cataloging of the airways which brought Dr. Berman a reputation as an expert in its history. He subsequently was also invited to join the WLM Board of Trustees.
(20) The case of Marianne Bankert evoked rigorous debate at the meeting. Ms. Bankert was a doctoral candidate at the University of Chicago majoring in English. She had been commissioned by the AANA to write a book on the history of nurse anesthetists, which became the official history of the AANA. Several trustees read the book and found it was absolutely partial toward the nurse anesthetists and their organization. Her proposal was considered by some members to be politically sensitive, and to accept it could imply that the WLM endorse whatever view and outcome her research would result. The board was advised to distant itself from this project. However, one trustee found the proposal very well written, and the attitude toward the subject was judicious. He suggested that such scholarship should be respected and recognized. The debate continued, which included the view that if the WLM yielded to the issue of partiality, it became a partial party as well. In its noble mission, the WLM should rise above partisanship, and Bankert’s Fellowship proposal was accepted, and it carried with one dissension. No report of the outcome of Ms. Bankert’s research has been received.
By August 1992, Fellowship Chair Dr. Calverley was pleased to report that two WLM Fellows had published books, and four had presented papers at the Third International Symposium on the History of Anesthesia held in Atlanta earlier that year in celebration of the sesquicentennial of Crawford Long’s discovery of ether surgical anesthesia.
At the October meeting of the Board, the Fellowship provisions were amended to allow per diem payment to Fellows who reside in the Chicago area similar to Fellows from elsewhere.
The 1993 Fellows were selected at the March meeting of the Board. This was an all-American class, with two senior anesthesiologists, a young faculty member from a teaching institution, and a military physician from the U.S. Air Force. Dr. Norman A. Bergman of the University of Oregon proposed to survey the WLM to aid his book project on pneumatic medicine and its influence on the introduction of surgical anesthesia. Dr. Harry Wollman, University Professor at Hannemann, would like to write a definitive book on the discoveries of anesthesia and antisepsis as the two major medical advances responsible for the development of surgery. Young Dr. Fred Spielman from the University of North Carolina had long standing interest in relating the creative and aesthetic aspects of arts and their expressions in depicting pain and its treatment. Air Force anesthesiologist, Dr. Karl A. Poterack at Wilford Hall, in Texas would like to investigate the origins and development of anesthesia records. The advantage of hindsight, again, allows us to assess the success of this program, and be amazed by the foresight of its founder, the late Rod Calverley, M.D.
(21) Dr. Norman Bergman had a distinguished career in academia from his residency days at Columbia to the years of establishing a prestigious program in Portland, OR. Along the development of his academic research career, traveling extensively worldwide, Dr. Bergman had collected significant and invaluable amount of historical material on 18th century pneumatic medicine, which to him was the key to the ultimate discovery of inhalation anesthesia. His goal of writing a “pre-history” of anesthesia culminated at the Wood Fellowship when he was in resident at the WLM for three weeks to collect and summarize all of his data of many years to plan to write a definitive pre-history of anesthesia. Ultimately, through this Fellowship program, Dr. Bergman published his book, THE GENESIS OF SURGICAL ANESTHESIA, with the WLM as its publisher. This project also brought him the international recognition as Wood Library-Museum Laureate of the History of Anesthesia in the year 2000. Dr. Bergman had died shortly before the investiture of this prestigious title, which he had shared with British Historian/Anaesthetist, Thomas B. Boulton, M.D., FRCA. The Fellowship program conceived by Dr. Calverley not only reaped its greatest harvest handsomely in terms of its mission to advance historical scholarship and popularity for anesthesiology, but the limited financial commitment to the program witnesses a return of manifold in many directions to benefit the Wood Library-Museum. At his death, Dr. Bergman bequeathed funds from his estate to the WLM, and his family donated additional funds in his memory. At the same time, all of his files collected over the years during his careers on the history of pneumatic anesthesia have also been donated to the WLM.
(21) The Fellowship program also propelled the interest and prestige of Dr. Fred Spielman as he went on to gain a Fellowship at the Wellcome Institution in London working on the same interest he had expressed in his WLM Fellowship. Dr. Spielman has become an expert in this aesthetic field of medical history, published frequently and become a much sought after lecturer in this genre of medical history.
(22) Dr. Karl Poterack encountered some bureaucratic hurdles in accepting this historical research fellowship. Expense reimbursement from the WLM was considered harshly as being unacceptable at the military establishment. He had to return all such reimbursement funds including the air travel cost he had expended. Such expenses were reimbursed to him only after he retired from the military and became a civilian.
(23) Dr. Harry Wollman wrote a manuscript on his research, but it was never published.
The Class of 1994 Wood Fellows consisted of four American anesthesiologists, out of a total of eight applications. One of those candidates whose proposal not selected was considered an alternate. Another proposal came from the curator of the Crawford Williamson Long Museum in Jefferson, GA. The Board felt that the theme of this proposal would benefit the Long Museum more than it would do to the WLM. It decided that it would be a good opportunity to cause a closer institutional liaison between the Long Museum and the WLM by inviting this applicant to spend time at the WLM as a guest of the Hon. Curator of the WLM. Dr. Bause issued the invitation. Here was the class of 1994:
(24) Dr. Douglas R. Bacon was awarded his third Wood Fellowship to investigate the history of continuing education for anesthesiology. The Board felt that the WLM would have adequate material to support Dr. Bacon’s research.
(25) Joel O. Johnson of the University of Utah proposed to study “The oldest anesthetic, Scopolamine: History and its use in anesthesia.”
(26) Dr. Eric A. Schoenberg from the University of Cincinnati was to study the history of scientific pain control, focusing on Silas Wier Mitchell’s work at Turner’s Lane Hospital in Philadelphia.
(27) Dr. David B. Waisel of the U.S. Air Force was doing a pediatric anesthesia fellowship at the Children’s Hospital in Boston when he applied for this history fellowship. He planned to investigate the effect of World War II on the growth and development of physician anesthesiology. Not only did Dr. Waisel excel in his historical research, and prove to be productive in his historical endeavors, he also branched out in his interest in the ethical issues of anesthesia. One of his acquired interest in military anesthesia resulted from his WLM experience will be published in ANESTHESIOLOGY, showing to the world of anesthesia history a unique photographic archive of Dr. Norman B. Kornfield’s war-time diary and photo scrap book.
At its August 1994 meeting, the Board entertained two proposals from Dr. Calverley on issues concerning the Fellowship program. He proposed that the award of a Fellowship honorarium be disbursed to the Fellow only after a report of the proposed research activities is received from the research Fellow to the chair of the Fellowship Committee. The rationale behind this action was to assure sustained historical research interest of the Fellows beyond their practical experience at the WLM.
Dr. Calverley further proposed to set a limit on the number of Fellowships a successful applicant could be awarded. He felt that after two successful Fellowship experiences at the WLM, a Fellow would be well equipped in his/her further research endeavors to be successful, and would be confident in seeking other sources of grant support for such research. After discussion, the Board decided that a successful Wood Fellow may receive a maximum of two Fellowships, but special consideration will be given on additional applications when the new proposals were of exceptional merit. This provision of possible exception on meritorious ground, however, was considered ambiguous, and unfair to other less polished proposals. The Board then in 1995, at its March meeting, affirmed its position of the limit in granting two Fellowships to one single applicant without exception.
The Class of 1995 again encompassed a wide variety of research proposals, ranging from the traditional historical study of individuals from the initial era in Boston, to the treatment of pain in antiquity, to the ethical issues affecting anesthesia, to organized anesthesia and cross-culturally significance in anesthesia education. Topics from the last two proposals were ranked equal, but no funding was provided to each.
(28) Dr. Dan Laird, a third year resident at the University of Washington submitted a plan to investigate the contributions of Nathan Cooley Keep to obstetric anesthesia.
(29) Dr. Maximo Ferrigno wanted to utilize his cultural heritage and knowledge of the Latin language to study the treatment of pain according to Dioscorides. Dr. Ferrigno was on the faculty at the University of South Alabama, and would like to access works in the classical languages to investigate the treatment of pain in classical time. This would entail in original historical scholarship, as he would also travel to his native Italy to consult his mentors in Venice and Padua. He also proposed to visit the WLM in a shorter time frame, mindful of the limited resources here.
(30) Dr. Vincent Kopp, also on the faculty of the University of North Carolina, wanted to review the historical issues involving anesthesiology. He has since published works on such issues, notably through the works of Henry K. Beecher. Dr. Kopp was a poet, and held an adjunct appointment in social medicine at the university.
(31) Dr. Douglas R. Bacon presented a plan to study the legacy of Francis H. McMechan in the formation of the World Federation of Societies of Anesthesiologists. This was the 4th successful proposal from Dr. Bacon. Since the new rule limiting applications to no more than two. Dr. Bacon’s valid research plan was recognized, but it was not funded. The Board encouraged him to seek other sources of funding support on a valid project.
(32) Ranking equal to Dr. Bacon’s proposal was Kathleen Sullivan Brown’s project on “Teaching Across Culture,” in which Ms. Brown would like to interview volunteers to the Overseas Teaching Program of the ASA. The interviews were considered valid, but the objectives were deviated from library and museum issues. The Board saw the relative value of such oral interviews, but thought it would benefit Ms. Brown’s own research objective as a doctorial dissertation, than for the history of anesthesia in general. This proposal too would not be funded.
Shortly after the March 1995 Board meeting, Fellowship Chair Rod Calverley returned to San Diego, and later went on to Sarajevo on a medical mission as a reserved medical officer of the U.S. Army. Dr. Calverley survived the military conflict in the Balkan, and returned to San Diego. Sadly, still suffering from jetlag, during a recess at a departmental retreat on Saturday afternoon, April 1, 1995, Dr. Calverley was killed in a traffic accident as he was driving with family in the San Diego desert and their van was struck by a drunk driver.
The tragic death of Dr. Calverley brought forth a ground swell of goodwill in his memory. His colleagues at the University of California, San Diego, with which department he had served for 28 years, approached the WLM to establish a lasting memorial for Dr. Calverley. The Board explored the idea of funding permanently a Roderick K. Calverley Fellowship for the Study of the History of Anesthesia. It was estimated that a funding of $50,000 would generate an annual income of $1,700.00, approximately the expenses for one Fellowship. The UCSD department raised a sum of $30,000.00, and donations of about $3,000.00 had been received by the WLM from Dr. Calverley’s friends. Although the total amount was not close to the sum required to generate income to permanently support a Calverley Fellowship, the Board decided that the WLM should co-sponsor this Fellowship annually, by naming a resident Fellow to be a Calverley Fellow, honoring Dr. Calverley whose vision was to encourage historical scholarship in the young anesthesiologists. It was also resolved that the annual selection of the Calverley Fellow be made known to the UCSD Department of Anesthesiology and the Calverley Family.
The 1996 Class of Wood Fellows included the First Calverley Fellow from the Third World, an Australian, and a senior Aqualumnus. Dr. Ronald Stephen took over the Fellowship Committee.
(33) Dr. Bing Du of the State University of New York at Buffalo was named the first Rod K. Calverley Fellow. It was especially appropriate for the Board to award this special Fellowship to a Chinese anesthesiology resident who elected to investigate the American influence on the development of modern anesthesia in China. Dr. Du grew up in China after the communist revolution when American trained Chinese anesthesiologists returned to their native country in the early 1950s to help develop the specialty of anesthesiology. Dr. Du’s research proposal fell exactly under such premises. The late Rod Calverley would have been very pleased that such a research project would take place. This Fellowship proved to be productive from which a paper on the development of modern Chinese anesthesia was published. Dr. Du, his mentor in Buffalo, and the Librarian happily collaborated in exploring a very primitive and untouched area of anesthesia historiography. It was a seminal attempt to understand the development of the specialty in an important Asian country. Subsequently, it instigated further studies of Chinese anesthesia in the other China across the Taiwan Strait. That paper too, has been collected in the proceedings of the 5th International Symposium of the History of Anaesthesia held in 2001 in Spain.
(34) Australian anaesthetist Dr. Richard J. Bailey of Sydney was awarded a Wood Fellowship to investigate the origins and development of liaison in anesthesia between the U.S. and Australia. Dr. Bailey has been a long time friend of the WLM and the best liaison for us with Australian anesthesia.
(35) Senior Aqualumnus Lucien E. Morris, M.D. proposed to compare the resources of the Ralph M. Waters papers in various institutions in the country. Dr. Morris labored mightily to realize a celebration of Dr. Waters’ contributions to academic anesthesia in Madison, WI this past summer at the 75th anniversary of the establishment of the department in Madison.
Dr. Doris Cope took over the Fellowship program in 1997, succeeding Dr. Ron Stephen as chair of the Committee. From a pool of seven applications, the Committee recommended four to receive the Fellowship. Characteristically, this class of 1997 appeared to be a very young group of anesthesiologists.
(36) For the Calverley Fellowship, the Board chose Dr. John Cross of University of California, Davis, who proposed to study the history of pediatric anesthesiology. Dr. Cross surveyed the resources at the WLM, and found it encouraging to focus his research on pioneer pediatric anesthesiologist, Dr. Robert M. Smith, of the Children’s Hospital in Boston. His project has not been moving, and he has since moved to Los Angeles in private practice.
(37) Another young resident anesthesiologist, Dr. John Sullivan from Harvard, expressed interest in working on the WLM Mesmerism collection to find its relationship to the introduction of general anesthesia. Dr. Sullivan reads the French language, and spent most of his time at the WLM going over the Mesmerism collection. We have yet to see any paper published on this topic.
(38) Dr. Charles M. Harrison was a young faculty member at the University of Maryland who came to the WLM to study the contemporary social perception on pain relief at the time Sir James Young Simpson advocated pain free labor in child bearing in Scotland. His focus was on the conflict between theocracy and medicine in 19th century England. His additional interest on the same theme brought him further from 19th century Scotland to the late 16th century on the execution of a pregnant woman who sought pain relief in labor. The dispenser of pain relief was branded as practicing witchcraft. Both patient and healer were executed for their practice on religious ground. Dr. Harrison sought advice from Dr. Don Caton who shared similar historical interest.
(39) Dr. Rafael A. Ortega of the Boston University had an unusual project related to the history of anesthesia. He was granted the Wood Fellowship to develop a video documentary on the history of anesthesia, utilizing substantial amount of WLM material for his visual presentation of the history. He also visited the WLM at one of its trustees meetings to interview senior anesthesiologists for his project. Besides the WLM, Dr. Ortega also received support for this expensive project from his own department, and the anesthesia equipment industry, which used his final product for marketing purposes. He titled his project: The Evolution of the Anesthesia Machine; a Multi-media Presentation. An important outcome of this project affecting the Fellowship program was on funding. It was anticipated that video production of this project would incur large expenses and require additional funding beyond the confine of the Fellowship Committee. The Board assigned other committees to aid in continuing the project. Dr. Ortega continued his work, and the industry supported the project without causing additional financial burden on the WLM.
Three Fellowships were granted in 1998. A resident from Harvard, one young faculty member from Buffalo and a Scandinavian anesthesiologist from Norway formed the class of 1998. Again, this Fellowship program distinguished itself with the diversity of backgrounds of the Fellows selected. The variety of subjects proposed by the Fellows has also contributed to the interesting history of anesthesiology.
(40) Dr. Suresh Kannan from Brigham and Women’s Hospital at Harvard in Boston was named Rod Calverley Fellow of 1998. Dr. Kannan chose Walter Channing and the development of obstetric anesthesia as his topic. Previously he had won a second place in an historical essay contest sponsored by the Anesthesia History Association. As he collected his data for the research, he consulted Dr. Leroy Vandam and Dr. Caton and gained good advice from both. Dr. Kannan has sustained interest in historical research since his Fellowship visit, and will continue to seek publication of his works.
(41) Dr. Robert P. Sands, Jr. chose a unique topic to help the WLM, titled Forgotten Images of Anesthesiology: Lessons Learned from Glass Lantern Slides, 1920-1950. Through this project, Dr. Sands meticulously culled the enormous glass lantern slides collection of the WLM, and organized them with the anesthesiologist’s and historian’s perspectives as a service to the WLM. Dr. Sands historical interest was nurtured and guided by the only 3-time Wood Fellow, Dr. Douglas Bacon. He has since become a productive historian and contributes to the history forums both in print and on the lecture circuit.
(42) The last of the Class of 1998 was a prominent Norwegian anesthesiologist who holds two degrees in medicine and medical research. Dr. Kjell Erik Stromskag of Molde, Norway had secured support from the Scandinavian Society of Anesthesiologists to research on the history of Norwegian anesthesia for publication of a book. He subsequently published his book in the Norwegian language, and copies have been presented to the WLM, with acknowledgment of the Fellowship support he had received. Dr. Stromskag has since become a good friend of the WLM. It is gratifying to further report that in 2003, Dr. Stromskag completed his second Ph.D. by presenting a desertation on the history of Norwegian anesthesia, primarily based upon his research at the WLM. A copy of his dissertation was recently presented to the WLM from the author.
The year 1999 was again productive for the Fellowship program. Two Canadians, one Chinese and a transplanted German American received the Wood Fellowships, all proposed to conduct original historical research.
(43) Dr. Michael A. Frolich from the University of Florida visited the WLM to conduct research on “The Technical Evolution of Continuous Neuraxial Blocade.” Dr. Frolich visited the WLM twice. His second visit allowed him to collect data to fill some gaps in the development of epidural catheters. He further compared such development in America and in Europe. As a result of this Fellowship, Dr. Frolich co-published a paper with Dr. Donald Caton in ANESTHESIA & ANALGESIA, titled, “Pioneers in Epidural Needle Design,” 2001. In this research, Dr. Frolich interviewed extensively contemporary American pioneers such as Oral B. Crawford, Robert Hustead and Jess B. Weiss. Through his efforts, some memorabilia items were sent to the WLM by these pioneers. The Librarian was especially gratified by a friendship with Dr. and Mrs. Robert Hustead of Witchita, KS. Additionally, Dr. Frolich had published a book on anesthesia and intensive care medicine in German by the prestigious publisher Springer Verlag of Vienna in 2000. An autographed copy of Geburtshilfliche anasthesie und intensivmedizin was presented to the WLM by the author.
(44) Prominent Canadian anaesthetist J. Roger Maltby of Calgary, Alberta visited the WLM to conduct a comprehensive research on all aspects of anesthesiology to compile an encyclopedic work titled, Notable Names in Anesthesiology, which was recently published by the Royal Society of Medicine Press in London. The WLM of course received a gratis copy. Moreover, it gained the genuine friendship of this Fellow. As Dr. Maltby plans to retire sometime this year in 2002, he has already made plans to donate to the WLM some of his anesthetic artifacts and equipment from his personal collection. He is also the only Canadian anaesthetist invited to publish his autobiography in our CAREERS IN ANESTHSIOLOGY series.
(45) Canadian anaesthetist Dr. Kim E. Turner investigated an appropriate subject, which affected her former teaching institution, the University Hospital in Toronto. Dr. Turner looked into the background and facts on the clinical research and introduction of Cyclopropane at the University of Toronto and in Madison, WI. As a result, she presented a poster on the history of clinical cyclopropane, and wrote an article on the history of anesthetic explosion for the ASA Newsletter. Dr. Turner is on the faculty of anesthesiology at the Queens University in Kingston, Ontario, and has been involved with the medical museum there. She has been very helpful, to the WLM and been a great friend who has participated in many of the WLM functions.
(46) Dr. Guyan Wang from Beijing at the Peking Union Medical College visited the WLM to work with the Librarian on a pioneer Chinese anesthesiologist trained in Chicago in the late 1940s. Dr. Wang was named Calverley Fellow because of his status as a resident anesthesiologist, and also because of the subject of his research, which was always Dr. Calverley’s historical passion. The greatest impediment for Dr. Wang was language. He and the Librarian finally wrote a paper on the life and contribution of Chinese pioneer anesthesiologist Dr. Deyan Shang of Lanchou, in northwest China. The paper was later presented at the World Congress of Anesthesiologists held in Montreal in 2001, and later published simultaneously in the Bulletin of the History of Anesthesia, and the Proceedings of the History of Anaesthesia Society. Dr. Wang returned to China, and continued to interview Dr. Shang’s family, and obtained some valuable images of our subject of interest. Perhaps the benefit of such seminal work was for it to serve as a foundation for further works on Chinese anesthesia history.
The WLM awarded three Fellowships in the year 2000. A repeat for a prominent senior anesthesiologist, a first time young anesthesiologist in private practice, and a young international candidate from the Czech Republic were named Fellows. This class represents again a unique spectrum in background, as well as research topics.
(47) Dr. Lucien E. Morris, the most prominent living Aqualumnus, was awarded a second Fellowship the study the papers of Dr. Ralph Waters and determine “The Origins of Academic Anesthesia in the U.S. in the 20th Century.” Dr. Morris has experienced throughout his career as an anesthesiologist, educator and researcher all models of academic anesthesia. This experience motivated him to look closer to academic anesthesia in the U.S. to determine the criteria of true academia in anesthesiology. As a result, he single-handedly conceived and saw to the fruition of a symposium on American academic anesthesiology emanated from the University of Wisconsin in Madison. This symposium attracted international anesthesiologists, and anesthesiologists from all over north America in June 2002 to Madison, WI.
(48) Dr. Brian E. Harrington was trained as an expert regional anesthesiologist at the Virginia Mason Clinic in Seattle, where two of its distinguished alumni, Drs. Brown and Thompson, have been Wood Fellows. Dr. Harrington returned to his native Billing, MT to a private practice in the state of the Big Sky. His interest in the regional epidural technique instigated his investigation on the history of the epidural blood patch. He culled the WLM journal literature, and made connections to contact senior anesthesia practitioners who were either directly involved in the development of this technique or were associated with those pioneers. As a result, he established contacts with the family of surgeon James Gormley who applied this technique in his surgical practice, and developed personal friendship with another pioneer anesthesiologist, Dr. Anthony DiGiovanni. Dr. Harrington then laid out a publication scheme on his research findings. First, he presented a poster exhibit at the ASA Annual Meeting in 2001, during the most difficult September 11th time period when traveling to New Orleans was not at all a great pleasure. Then he plans to develop a full-length paper on the subject for publication in an anesthesia journal. Dr. Harrington has also been contacted by the WLM Living History Committee to conduct an oral history interview with Dr. DiGiovanni. He is also an active participant of the ASA Oversees Teaching Program visiting Zambia in the African continent in 1994.
(49) Young Czech anesthesiologist Vladislav Rogozov was named Rod Calverley Fellow, again because of his residency status as an encouragement to foster anesthesia history study in the Old World. Dr. Rogozov apparently was very well read, and the scope of his plan was enormous, ranging from the story of curare, to coca and local anesthesia, to the pre-history of anesthesia. Ordinarily the Fellowship Committee would consider this a “fishing expedition”. However, the Board was impressed by the breadth of his plan, and touched by his enthusiasm. At the same time, the Committee would like to extend its reception to the Eastern European countries. Dr. Rogozov came and spend three full weeks at the WLM, working voraciously to collect all material he could for his future research use. A very gracious visitor, Dr. Rogozov was a pleasure to work with. Since his residency, he has been moving to different programs in his native country, but occasionally keeps in touch with the WLM. Just for good will alone, the Board has made a very good friend for the WLM.
For the first time in its history, the Fellowship program did not attract any substantial inquiries from prospective candidates in 2001. Only one Fellowship was awarded to a Mayo Clinic resident under the tutelage of Dr. Douglas Bacon. The Committee thought an evaluation of the program is due, and also recommended that a workshop on writing history be organized for the ASA annual meetings. The first of such workshop was formed and presented at the 2001 ASA annual meeting. Despite September 11, the workshop at New Orleans was very well attended. On the panel were Drs. Bacon, Calmes, Caton, Cope, with Patrick Sim and A.J. Wright. Various ideas on approaching historical study and writing at the workshop pleased the audience very much. One of the outcomes from this workshop was the acceptance of two applicants for the 2002 Fellowship program who were motivated to do history because of what they had experienced at the panel discussion.
(50) Dr. Claude A. Vachon of the Mayo Clinic was named Rod Calverley Fellow for the year 2001. He was the only Wood Fellow for the year. As a graduate from Georgia Medical College, Dr. Vachon chose to study the career of GMC’s founding chairman of the department of anesthesiology, Dr. Perry P. Volpitto. Dr. Volpitto was an Aqualumnus who became an icon of Georgia anesthesia. His other significant contribution was a comprehensive survey of anesthesiology resources in 1965. Dr. Vachon’s project is still on going. He represents a generation of young anesthesia residents at Mayo who developed an interest in studying the history of anesthesia under the guidance of Dr. Douglas Bacon, who was a product of the Fellowship program in its early period.
The year 2002 witnessed the revival of interest in the study of anesthesia history. A record six Fellowships were awarded for the class of 2002. Two of them were attracted to the program by the history workshop they had attended as mentioned earlier. An international Fellow came from Australia, planning to utilize the Fellowship to write a book on the history of anesthesia with very specific topics. Two were young anesthesiologists coming to collect archive material in collaboration with senior authors on a larger project about organized anesthesia. The sixth Fellow was accepted on a trial basis with funds contributed by some trustees.
(51) Dr. Sandra L. Kopp of the Mayo Clinic was named the 2002 Calverley Fellow, opting to work on the ASA official archives to find out the scientific bases of ASA meetings and prestigious lectureships which impact the growth of the Society. This was part of a larger project directed by Dr. Douglas Bacon to document and chronicle the 100 years history of the ASA in anticipation of its centenary in 2005.
(52) Dr. Babatunde Ogunnaike of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas shared a similar research project to document a decade of progress in the era of the 1960s for anesthesiology. His senior author was Dr. Buddy Giesecke. This was also a part of the larger project of the ASA history directed by Dr. Bacon.
(53) Dr. Burdett Dunbar, who attended the ASA History Workshop in New Orleans, was encouraged to investigate the origins of ambulatory anesthesia. Being an authority on ambulatory and pediatric anesthesia, Dr. Dunbar wanted to study the official documents in the ASA Archive to understand the reaction, and reception of this new concept of anesthesia when it began in the 1960s. He further planned to interview individuals who were active advocates of this form of anesthetic practice for his project. Dr. Dunbar became so fond of the WLM after spending two weeks here that he volunteered to help the WLM on several of its activities and programs after his imminent retirement from the practice of anesthesiology.
(54) Dr. Shigemasa Ikeda is a Japanese-American anesthesiologist from the St. Louis University School of Medicine in St. Louis, MO. His career strides two cultures both in Japan and America. He also experienced the end of World War II when he witnessed the rebuilding of his native Japan through enormous U.S. aid. After attending the history workshop, he was motivated to do history, which hitherto was quite esoteric to him. He offered to examine the civilian agency of Post WWII era in America, which aided General Douglas McArthur in the rebuilding of Japan through science and medicine. His focus was on the training of anesthesiologists by Americans and their contributions to Japanese anesthesia. To date, Dr. Ikeda has amassed a great deal of archival documents on the U.S. Assistance Program from the Andover Divinity School Archives at Harvard. He also connected with several pioneer Japanese anesthesiologists trained in America and contributed to the development of anesthesia in Japan. His project is considerably large, but he has already submitted a poster presentation of a part of this project to the ASA annual meeting, which has been accepted. We shall reap the benefit of Dr. Ikeda’s research to have a better understanding of the history of Japanese anesthesia since 1945.
(55) The last accepted project for the Fellowship, but not funded from the budget was a plan proposed by an artist in the Chicago area. Mr. Steven Juras read of our Fellowship program, and also our other programs on the website, and constructed a plan to produce a video program to promote the WLM. The plan was so abstract, and utilization of WLM resources uncertain, but the idea was intriguing that the trustees were curious to see how it would develop. The budgetary requirement of Mr. Juras was so modest that some trustees contributed funds to invite him to develop his plan. Mr. Juras visited the WLM and discussed his plan with the Librarian once, but has not since returned for an update of his plan.
WOOD FELLOWSHIP AND THE MOVEMENT OF ANESTHESIA HISTORY
The latest establishment of the Section of the History of Anesthesia at the Department of Anesthesiology at UAB, the founding and continued growth of historical societies for anesthesia, international symposia, the publication of the Bulletin and the Proceedings, WLM Laureate Historian, flourishing publications of departmental history, WLM historical monographs, and autobiographies of anesthesiologists in the Career of Anesthesiology Series, and the oral history program in the Living History of Anesthesiology impacted the development of the history of anesthesia. Many of such programs were outcome of the Fellowship program. Names and expertise of all Fellows, and the outcome of their toil are all benefits to the WLM as a result of the program. Expanded investigation and development of the history of world anesthesia â latest on Japan, China, Czech Republic, and Norway were directly and indirectly a result of the Fellowship. The program also influences the development of leadership in history of anesthesia community.
The Fellowship program has established a network of important friends for the WLM in all of the Fellows working at the WLM. Dan Laird becomes very influential in organizational anesthesia from the state of Washington to the state of Nevada. Many of the successful Fellows became involved in historical activities and several have been invited to join the Board of Trustees, assuring the leadership continuity of the Wood Library-Museum.
It was always Dr. Calverley’s idea to invite three, but at the most four, Fellows annually to visit the WLM to do historical research. When a proposed project by two investigators was received, the co-workers in a given project were considered two Fellows.
Dr. Douglas Bacon, with formal historical research training, not only distinguished himself in the anesthesia history community, but also becomes a recognized force in encouraging the anesthesia history movement by serving as mentors to many resident anesthesiologists in their historical research endeavors.
Dr. Calverley’s vision in promoting the movement of the history of anesthesia also addressed to the need for institutional endorsement for prospective Fellows. In each and every application, the director of the applicant’s institution was made aware of the purpose of such mission, and was required to grant an applicant study leave, and provide encouragement to take up the challenge of historical research. This indeed enhances the value of the program and elevates the reputation of the WLM. The fact that Fellows with immense professional achievements also helped promote the program, which in turn makes a shining example of the study of the history of anesthesia in the medical history community. All things considered, the WLM is the beneficiary from this program.
