Despite worldwide concern that “interest in the humanities (including the study of history) is fast declining,” the Anesthesia History Association (AHA) is enjoying a resurgence in membership, activities and contributions to the professionalism of anesthesiologists!
Founded in 1982-83 by Drs. Selma Calmes and Rod Calverly, the goals of AHA are to promote interest in anesthesia history; to facilitate and encourage preservation of the evidence and artifacts of that history; and to stimulate anesthesia history education. A variety of new initiatives in recent years, along with some renewed active recruitment efforts, have resulted in a surge in new membership in AHA.
Although AHA has always been autonomous, from its earliest days the Wood Library-Museum of Anesthesiology (WLM) has acted as a “big brother” in encouraging, assisting or even sometimes “partnering” with AHA projects. Due to their parallel interests, it is not surprising that (as is the current case) over the years...
