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Finding Aid of the Dorothy Marsh Collection of California Osteopathic Association Records
1063
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Title: Dorothy Marsh Collection of California Osteopathic Association Records,
Date (inclusive): 1954-1965
Collection number: 1063
Creator:
Marsh, Dorothy
Extent:
5 boxes (2.5 linear ft.)
Repository:
University of California, Los Angeles. Library.
Department of Special Collections.
Los Angeles, California 90095-1575
Abstract: Dorothy Marsh was president of the California Osteopathic Association (COA) during the time it merged with the California
Medical Association in 1962. The doctors of osteopathy not accepting the merger formed an independent organization called
the Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons of California (OPSC) in December 1960, just after the parent organization, the American
Osteopathic Association, had voted to revoke the charter of the COA. The OPSC was then recognized by the American Osteopathic
Association (AOA) in January 1961. The collection contains correspondence, clippings, subject files, other printed material,
and publications of the California Osteopathic Association and includes material concerning the merger of the Association
with the California Medical Association and materials of the American Osteopathic Association, and the Osteopathic Physicians
and Surgeons of California.
Physical location: Stored off-site at SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact the UCLA Library, Department
of Special Collections Reference Desk for paging information.
Language:
English.
COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF: Advance notice required for access.
Restrictions on Use and Reproduction
Property rights to the physical object belong to the UCLA Library, Department of Special Collections. Literary rights, including
copyright, are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds
the copyright and pursue the
copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.
[Identification of item], Dorothy Marsh Collection of California Osteopathic Association Records (Collection 1063). Department
of Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
UCLA Catalog Record ID:
4233371
Provenance/Source of Acquisition
Gift of Dr. Dorothy Marsh, 1969.
Dorothy Marsh was president of the California Osteopathic Association (COA) during the time it merged with the California
Medical Association in 1962; before 1961, when the organization agreed to the merger, the osteopathic profession constituted
10% of the physicians and surgeons in California, and provided care for approximately 15% of the state's population; the doctors
of osteopathy not accepting the merger formed an independent organization called the Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons of
California (OPSC) in December 1960, just after the parent organization, the American Osteopathic Association, had voted to
revoke the charter of the COA; the OPSC was then recognized by the American Osteopathic Association (AOA) in January 1961.
Collection contains correspondence, clippings, subject files, other printed material, and publications of the California Osteopathic
Association. Includes material concerning the merger of the Association with the California Medical Association in 1962. Also
contains materials of the American Osteopathic Association, and the Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons of California.
Expanded Scope and Content Note
Prior to 1962, the Osteopathic profession constituted 10 per cent of the physicians and surgeons in California and provided
care for approximately 15 per cent of the state's population. This ended in late 1961 when the California Medical Association
(CMA) and the California Osteopathic Association (COA) agreed to merge into a single professional body of physicians and surgeons.
In effect, both the profession and doctors of osteopathy lost their identity as the only degree now awarded is doctor of medicine.
Those doctors of osteopathy (D.O.'s) not accepting the merger formed an independent organization called the Osteopathic Physicians
and Surgeons of California (OPSC) in December, 1960, just after the parent organization, the American Osteopathic Association,
had voted to revoke the charter of the COA. The OPSC was then recognized by the AOA in January, 1961, and the OPSC remains
today the official California division of the AOA.
This collection of materials provides the day to day details of the planned merger, the renegade OPSC and its formation, the
AOA view of COA's activities, and the actual negotiations and agreements reached between CMA and COA. The greater part of
the collection presents the inside view through official COA correspondence and various printed materials. Supplementing this
type of information is a sizable group of newspaper clippings providing the view of the merger plans given to the public.
Consisting of about 3000 pieces, the collection was the gift of Dr. Dorothy Marsh, D.O., president of the COA during the final
merger negotiations and when the contract was signed. For a detailed narrative of the events concerning osteopathy in California
and the 1961 merger, see Doctors of Medicine and Doctors of Osteopathy in California... box 5, folder 4.
Arranged in the following series:
- COA correspondence (Boxes 1-2).
- American Osteopathic Association, and Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons of California (Box 3).
- Miscellaneous subject files (Box 4).
- Clippings, publications, miscellaneous (Box 5).
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the repository's online public access catalog.
Marsh, Dorothy--Archives.
California Osteopathic Association.
American Osteopathic Association.
Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons of California.
Osteopathic physicians--California--Archival resources.
Partial list of Correspondents
- Grace B. Bell. Dean of College of Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons.
- Dr. Glen D. Cayler. Secretary of California Board of Osteopathic Examiners.
- Dr. David Dobreer. Head of OPSC.
- Dr. True B. Eveleth. Executive director of AOA.
- Dr. Paul Foster. CMA.
- Dr. Forest J. Grunigen. COA.
- Dr. Roy J. Harvey. President of AOA.
- Mr. Howard Hassard. Executive director of CMA and attorney representing CMA in the negotiations.
- Dr. W. Ballentine Henley. President of California College of Medicine.
- Mr. J. Frank Holt. Chairman Board of Trustees of College of Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons.
- Seth M. Hufstedler. Lawyer for COA.
- Dr. Dorothy Marsh. President of COA.
- J. Stuart Page. Administrative Director of COA, 1960.
- Dr. Wayne Pollock. CMA, Committee on other professions.
- Mr. Don E. Rosenthal. Administrative Director of COA, 1961.
- Thomas Schumacher. COA.
- Walter S. Wiggins. Secretary of American Medical Association.