Clubs and their History

AMERICAN OSLER SOCIETY

A Brief History of the Clubs

It is not obvious which Osler Club should have the distinction as being the first. Ruth Mann and Jack Key eloquently reviewed this question in their 1978 presentation (1) to the American Osler Society. Soon after Osler’s death in 1919, Oslerian clubs were formed at McGill University and at the Mayo Clinic. However, there was in existence as early as 1916 an Osler Society at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. William C. MacCarty, MD, a pathologist at the Mayo Clinic and former student of Osler’s at Johns Hopkins, helped form “The Osler Medical Historical Society,” with the first organizational meeting having been held August 28, 1920, in Rochester, Minnesota. Unfortunately, no further minutes exist until June 23, 1921, so when the lectures started is unclear. The perpetuation of “Osler’s ideals and to inspire contemporaries to study medical history” was their primary aim. They listed as their secondary purpose “to encourage physicians to interest themselves in the literary activities of their own times and of the past.” Picnics were held every twelfth of July to celebrate Osler’s birthday. Meanwhile, in Montreal, a foursome of thrifty medical students would each purchase a different work of Osler’s and then rotate them among themselves, essentially getting to read four of his works for the price of one. In the fall of 1920, standing at the corner of Prince Arthur and University Streets discussing their next purchases, they had the idea of expanding the group. The idea blossomed and an organizational meeting was convened at the home of Professor SE Whitnall, 323 Rue Peel on April 26, 1921. At the first regular meeting in October of 1921, two papers were read – Osler, His Medical Work by AK Geddes and Osler, His Literary Work by HV Ward. The meetings were eventually moved to the Ritz Carlton Hotel and then, when it finally opened with much anticipation in 1929, the Osler Library. The “Osler Society of McGill University,” remains primarily a student organization and is viable to date. Sadly, the society at the Mayo Clinic, after sixty-six gatherings, apparently disbanded after the July 3, 1925 meeting. In Saranac Lake, NY, on December 9, 1925, Dr. Lawrason Brown delivered the inaugural address of the Osler Club at Trudeau Sanitarium. An ephemeral group was founded on the West Coast, the “Osler Memorial Association of Los Angeles.” The first lecture was delivered by JT Finney in 1921, “A Personal Appreciation of Sir William Osler.” Other Osler Societies included the Osler Club of New York; Osler Reporting Society, Royal Victoria Hospital,Montreal; Osler Clinical Society at the University of Vermont; the Osler Society of Oxford; William Osler Society of Alberta; William Osler Society, Tufts College Medical School; Osler Society, University of Western Ontario; Osler Club at the University of California School of Medicine (organized by Rosencrantz in 1940). The Osler Club of London convened with six founding members in 1928, a year also notable for the death of Lady Osler. In 1896, a book and journal club of The Medical and Chirurgical Faculty of Maryland was founded at Osler’s home with Osler as president. The name was changed to “The Osler Historical Club” in 1929.

In the United States, Al Henderson, John McGoven and Tom Durant, at the urging of Charles Roland, began to conceive of the American Osler Society around 1967, informally meeting in Houston, Texas. The society was chartered in Texas in 1970. It was decided that William Bean would be the first president. A call was placed to his home in Iowa City, Iowa which found Dr. Bean on the tennis court. The callers demanded that he interrupt his game, which he did, to take the call. He accepted the request to become the president of the society and immediately returned to his tennis game. The first meeting was held in Denver, Colorado in 1971. As was the case in Montreal in 1921, two papers were read, one focusing on Oslerian medical matters and one focusing on literary matters. Japan, traditionally practicing medicine in a manner heavily influenced by the German tradition, began to send doctors to the United States after World War II. Of the many Japanese physicians who came under the spell of Osler’s mystique while training in the states, it was Dr. Shigeaki Hinohara who organized the Japan Osler Society in 1983 with forty-three founding members.

While it is beyond the scope of this project, it is of interest to note that Osler’s fingerprint was on any number of academic societies and clubs. Spawned in his wake were such institutions as the Interurban Clinical Clubs, the Laennec Society for the study of tuberculosis, and the Osler-endowed Tudor and Stuart Club. Though founded without his influence, he also left his touch on the Charaka Club.

The above data on the history of the clubs was obtained from:

1. Mann RJ and Key JD. The Osler Medical Historical Society: Mayo Foundation “Chapter,” August 28,
1920-July 3, 1925. Minnesota Medicine, Vol.63. May 1980,pp.348-354.
2. Tidmarsh CJ. The History of the Osler Society. McGill Medical Journal. 1956;25:176-78.
3. Brown L. Some personal recollections of Sir William Osler. In Osler Memorial Volume, Ed. By Maude
Abbott. Montreal, 1926, pp. 439-448.
4. Roland C. Presentation to American Osler Society 29th Annual Meeting, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
May 1999.
5. Hinohara S. Presentation to the American Osler Society 29th Annual Meeting, Montreal, Quebec,
Canada. May 1999.
6. Rosencrantz E. Posthumous Tributes to Sir William Osler. Arch of Intern Med. 1949; 84:170-197.