Chiropractic (General)

Silver Anniversary of the Association for the History of Chiropractic!

Joseph Keating Jr., PhD

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the founding of the Association for the History of Chiropractic (AHC) at Spears Hospital in Denver. Established in 1980 as a nonprofit membership society dedicated to discovering, preserving and disseminating the rich saga of the profession, the AHC is one of the unsung success stories in the scholarly history of chiropractic.

The association publishes a scholarly periodical, Chiropractic History, and within its pages much of the mystery and many of the colorful legends that have rippled through the chirocentury have been explored. As well, the AHC hosts an annual Conference on Chiropractic History, which is usually held on the campus of one of the chiropractic schools or in conjunction with the annual meeting of the Association of Chiropractic Colleges (ACC). Through the generosity of corporate members, most notably the NCMIC Group, Inc., and the ACC, the association has published four books and a monograph (see Table 1).

Table 1: Books published by the Association for the History of Chiropractic
  • Keating, Joseph C. BJ of Davenport: The Early Years Of Chiropractic. Davenport IA: Association for the History of Chiropractic, 1997.
  • Keating, Joseph C; Callender, Alana K; Cleveland, Carl S. A History Of Chiropractic Education In North America: Report To The Council On Chiropractic Education. Davenport IA: Association for the History of Chiropractic, 1998.
  • Rehm, William S. Prairie Thunder: Dr. Leo Spears And His Hospital. Davenport IA: Association for the History of Chiropractic, 2001.
  • Vernon, Leonard F. A Profession Persecuted: The History Of Chiropractic In New Jersey. Davenport IA: Association for the History of Chiropractic, 2002.
  • Keating, Joseph C; Cleveland, Carl S; Menke, J. Michael. Chiropractic History: A Primer. Davenport IA: Association for the History of Chiropractic, 2004 (monograph).

The AHC takes pride in being a nonpartisan organization that takes no stand on intraprofessional issues, and welcomes contributions and participation from all members of the profession and from nonchiropractors alike. When we meet for our 25th annual Conference on Chiropractic History on the campus of the Southern California College of Chiropractic June 10-12, 2005, we will gather not as "straights" or "mixers," but as people committed to preserving the profession's "family jewels" - its factual past. We do hope you will join us for this memorable event. Details concerning membership in the AHC, which is available to students at a reduced annual membership dues rate, are available at our Web site: www.chirohistory.org.

We take pride also in the various individuals we have honored with the Lee-Homewood Chiropractic Heritage Award during the past quarter-century. Granted to a living individual who has made a lifetime contribution to the profession, the list of Lee-Homewood Award recipients is a "Who's Who" of pioneers. Here they are, in the order in which they have been recognized by the association:

On behalf of the officers and members of the board of directors of the AHC (see Table 2), I invite you to join us for this special Silver Anniversary Conference on Chiropractic in Whittier, California in June 2005.

Table 2: Officers and Members of the Board of Directors of the Association for the History of Chiropractic, 2004

Arthur Lensgraf, DC, president
Jerry Ray Willis, DC,
first vice president
Bart N. Green, DC, M.S. Ed.,
second vice president
Kenneth J. Young, DC, DACBR,
secretary
P. Reginald Hug, DC, past president
John C. Willis, DC,
editor, Chiropractic History
Alana Callender, MS,
executive director
Rachelle Herrity, DC,
asst. to the executive director
Kenneth Padgett, DC,
director
Carl S. Cleveland, III, DC, director
William F. Holmberg, DC,
director
Joseph C. Keating, Jr., PhD,
director
Edward D. McKenzie, DC, director
N. Ray Tuck, Jr., DC,
director
Glenda Wiese, PhD,
director
Russell W. Gibbons,
editor emeritus
Herbert J. Vear, DC, FCCS(C), director emeritus
Walter I. Wardwell, PhD,
director emeritus

Joseph Keating Jr., PhD
Phoenix, Arizona

jckeating@aol.com

April 2005
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