Access
Publication Rights
Preferred Citation
Acquisition Information
Processing History
Historical Background
Biographical/Historical note
Collection Scope and Content Summary
Collection Arrangement
Related Collections
Contributing Institution:
Special Collections and Archives, University of California, Irvine Libraries
Title: Forest Grunigen files on the California Osteopathic Association
Creator:
Grunigen, Forest
Identifier/Call Number: AS.083
Physical Description:
3.7 Linear Feet
(5 boxes)
Date (inclusive): 1901-1990
Date (bulk): 1941-1963
Abstract: This collection comprises files on the California Osteopathic Association (COA) that were accumulated by Forest Grunigen,
a California osteopath who was an active member of the organization and served as its president in the 1940s. Materials include
correspondence, meeting minutes, photographs, news clippings and reports. The bulk of the material covers the COA/California
Medical Association (CMA) merger, in which Grunigen was a key figure. Also in the collection are the files of Dain Tasker,
who served as the Historian of COA in the 1950s. His files include an unpublished manuscript of his history of the osteopathic
profession in California.
Language of Material:
English
.
Access
The collection is open for research.
Publication Rights
Property rights and copyright reside with the University of California. For permissions to reproduce or to publish, please
contact the University Archivist.
Preferred Citation
Forest Grunigen files on the California Osteopathic Association. AS-083. Special Collections and Archives, The UC Irvine Libraries,
Irvine, California. Date accessed.
For the benefit of current and future researchers, please cite any additional information about sources consulted in this
collection, including permanent URLs, item or folder descriptions, and box/folder locations.
Acquisition Information
Gift of Forest and Dolores Grunigen, 1995.
Processing History
Processed by Anne Mar, 2004.
Historical Background
Forest Grunigen served as president of the California Osteopathic Association (COA) in 1943 and played a leading role in establishing
the medical school at UC Irvine. COA was established in 1900 as an affiliate of the American Osteopathic Association (AOA)
and, along with the College of Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons (COPS), was a figurehead of the osteopathic tradition in
California.
Osteopathy, from the Greek osteon (bone) and pathos (to suffer), was coined by Dr. Andrew Taylor Still who, in the late 1800s,
sought a more holistic approach to curing disease than the traditional medicine that he and his fellow medical doctors were
practicing. He believed that disease interrupted the flow of blood and nervous impulses but, through manipulation of the bones,
one can restore that flow and, thus, restore health to the patient.
This non-traditional approach to curing illness was suspect to many in the medical community. Osteopathy struggled to gain
credibility. In 1922 California passed State Measure 22, the Osteopathic Initiative Act. It established a board that had jurisdiction
over examination and licensure of Doctors of Osteopathy (D.O.) and legally recognized it as a distinct medical profession.
In the mid-1940s, the COA, led by Forest Grunigen and the COA's Fact Finding Committee, began talks to merge with the California
Medical Association (CMA), led by Wayne Pollack and CMA's Committee on Other Professions. The terms of the merger included
granting D.O.s M.D. degrees, elimination of the osteopathic licensing boards, and conversion of the College of Osteopathic
Physicians and Surgeons into a medical school.
In 1960, the AOA revoked COA's charter when it defied AOA's request to cease merger talks. This action left California without
a licensing board. A splinter group of osteopaths who opposed exchanging their D.O.s for M.D.s, formed in 1960, naming themselves
the Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons of California (OPSC). In 1961, an agreement between the CMA and COA was reached. The
OPSC filed suit alleging that the merger was a conspiracy to destroy the osteopathic profession in California. Two more suits
followed, later in 1961 and in 1962, but in all cases, the court found in favor of the defendants.
In the midst of all these events, Dain Tasker, historian of the COA, was working on his history of the profession in California.
Tasker had long been involved in osteopathic professional activities in California, having been the president of the first
board of osteopathic examiners in 1901. This gave him a unique perspective into the topic. The manuscript was never published
but there are extant copies, one of which is included in this collection, another of which is included in AS-027 (California
College of Medicine records).
COPS, now renamed the California College of Medicine (CCM), became part of the University of California system in 1963. Forest
Grunigen, who was so instrumental in the COA/CMA merger, and Warren Bostick, the new dean of CCM, recognized that CCM would
be better served if it were associated with on of the UC campuses. On April 5, 1967, CCM officially became a part of the University
of California, Irvine.
Biographical/Historical note
Chronology
1900 |
California Osteopathic Association established |
1940 |
Negotiations between California Osteopathic Association (COA) and California Medical Association (CMA) begin |
1943 |
Forest Grunigen elected president of the COA |
1943 |
Grunigen appoints Fact Finding Committee to lead merger talks with CMA |
1952 |
Cline Committee report completed |
1960 |
Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons of California (OPSC) is formed in opposition to the merger |
1961 |
COA/CMA merger is successful |
1963 |
California College of Medicine joins the UC system |
1968 |
CCM relocated to UC Irvine campus |
1999 |
Forest Grunigen dies |
Collection Scope and Content Summary
This collection comprises Forest Grunigen's files on the California Osteopathic Association of which he was an active member
and served as president in the 1940s. Materials include correspondence, meeting minutes, photographs, news clippings and reports.
The bulk of the material covers the COA/CMA merger of which Grunigen was a key figure. Also in the collection are the files
of Dain Tasker who served as the Historian of COA in the 1950s. His files include his unpublished manuscript of the history
of the osteopathic profession in California.
Collection Arrangement
This collection is arranged in five series.
- Series 1. California Osteopathic Associaiton/California Medical Association merger, 1941-1962. 1.0 linear feet
- Series 2. California Osteopathic Association, Board of Trustees meeting materials, 1951-1962. 0.3 linear feet
- Series 3. Dain Tasker writings, correspondence and other materials, 1950s. 0.4 linear feet
- Series 4. Photographic material, 1901-1989. 1.6 linear feet
- Series 5. Scrapbooks, 1912-1961. 0.4 linear feet
Related Collections
The following related collections can be found in UC Irvine Special Collections and Archives:
- AS-018, Warren L. Bostick papers
- AS-027, California College of Medicine records
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Osteopathic medicine -- Study and teaching -- California
Osteopathic physicians.
Medical research personnel.
Osteopathic physicians -- California -- Photographs.
Osteopathic medicine -- California -- History.
Osteopathic medicine -- Education.
Tasker, Dain L. -- Archives
Forty-First Medical Society (Los Angeles, Calif.) -- Archives
Pacific College of Osteopathy (Los Angeles, Calif.) -- Archives
College of Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons (Los Angeles, Calif.) -- Archives
University of California, Irvine -- Archives
California Osteopathic Association. Fact Finding Committee
California Osteopathic Association -- Archives
American Osteopathic Association -- Archives
California Medical Association. Committee on Other Professions
Los Angeles County General Hospital -- Archives
California College of Medicine -- Archives
California Medical Association -- Archives
Los Angeles City and County Osteopathic Medical Association -- Archives
Grunigen, Forest -- Archives