Collection Scope and Content Note

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 I: 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 III-V. The vast majority of materials in these three series are minutes, transcripts, and/or agendas from various council, committee, and board meetings. Series III: 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 IV: Executive Office, along with reports, financial ledgers, and correspondence from the association's first fifty years. The minutes in Series V: 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 II: 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 III: 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 VI: Member Writings.