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American Pain Society records
Biomed.0123  
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Table of contents What's This?
  • Access
  • Conditions Governing Reproduction and Use
  • Acquisition
  • Preferred Citation
  • Processing Information
  • UCLA Catalog Record ID
  • History
  • Scope and Content
  • Related Material

  • Contributing Institution: UCLA Library Special Collections
    Title: American Pain Society records
    Creator: American Pain Society
    Identifier/Call Number: Biomed.0123
    Physical Description: 5 Linear Feet (5 cubic-foot cartons)
    Date (inclusive): 1977-1991
    Physical Location: Stored off-site. All requests to access special collections material must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.
    Language of Material: Materials are in English.

    Access

    Open for research. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.

    Conditions Governing Reproduction and Use

    Information on permission to reproduce, quote, or publish is available from the History and Special Collections Division.
    Property rights to the physical objects belong to UCLA Library Special Collections. All other 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.

    Acquisition

    The American Pain Society Records were given to the John C. Liebeskind History of Pain Collection by the American Pain Society in October, 1995.

    Preferred Citation

    [Identification of item], American Pain Society records (Collection 123). Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library History and Special Collections for the Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles.

    Processing Information

    Processed by David C. Gartrell.
    Collections are processed to a variety of levels depending on the work necessary to make them usable, their perceived user interest and research value, availability of staff and resources, and competing priorities. Library Special Collections provides a standard level of preservation and access for all collections and, when time and resources permit, conducts more intensive processing. These materials have been arranged and described according to national and local standards and best practices.
    We are committed to providing ethical, inclusive, and anti-racist description of the materials we steward, and to remediating existing description of our materials that contains language that may be offensive or cause harm. We invite you to submit feedback about how our collections are described, and how they could be described more accurately, by filling out the form located on our website: Report Potentially Offensive Description in Library Special Collections. 

    UCLA Catalog Record ID

    UCLA Catalog Record ID: 9942303173606533 

    History

    The American Pain Society (APS) was formed by American clinicians, researchers, and teachers in the field of pain in response to a growing interest in and need for a national pain organization that would also serve as a chapter of the International Association for the Study of Pain. The society was to foster research and education in the multidisciplinary field of pain in the United States.
    Organizational work began in 1977, when John J. Bonica, on February 18, sent a letter to twenty-six other key American colleagues asking them to attend a meeting in Chicago just sixteen days later as members of "the Advisory Committee for the founding of the American Pain Society." Despite the short notice, all but six of the invitees attended the meeting. (Bonica missed it as well due to complications from hip surgery.) All motions were unanimously approved: the decision to found a national society compatible with the IASP; the provision for regional, state, or other subgroups; that B. Berthold Wolff-who was co-chairing the meeting along with B. Raymond Fink--should chair a Steering Committee; and that there would be a Membership Committee.
    Membership in the Society was initially solicited by Wolff in a letter dated June 28, 1977 and sent to all American members of the IASP and its Eastern and Western Regional Chapters. Ultimately, there were 510 charter members of the Society by the time it was officially inaugurated in December, 1978. The APS had its first Annual Scientific Meeting in San Diego on September 9-10, 1979.
    In 1989, 63% of APS members responding to a survey voted that the APS should have its own journal. APS Journal debuted with the Spring 1992 issue and has been published as Pain Forum since 1995.
    In the past twenty years, membership has grown to include over 3000 pain professionals.

    Scope and Content

    The American Pain Society Records represent a period of growth for the Society. Although foundational documents are minimal, the collection features correspondence and records of the activities that built the organization, during the 1980s, into what it is today. These documents include financial papers, committee formations, the records of important general and board meetings, membership building practices, and publication records, including the membership's decision to publish a journal.
    The American Pain Society Records were processed in 1998 by David C. Gartrell. The collection is organized into five major series. Brief descriptions of each follow.

    Related Material

    John C. Liebeskind papers  . Unprocessed collection. Material is unavailable for access. Please contact Special Collections reference (spec-coll@library.ucla.edu) for more information.

    Subjects and Indexing Terms

    Pain. (MeSH)
    Fink, B. Raymond.
    International Association for the Study of Pain.
    Wolff, B. Berthold.
    Bonica, John J.