One of the largest projects developed as part of the radiology centennial celebration in 1995 was a set of three history books–diagnosis, therapy, and physics. Those books featured chapters by more than 60 scholarly authors covering all of the areas from Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen’s discovery of x-rays in 1895 to the growth of radiology as an incredible solid feature in modern medicine.
The books were finished in early 1996, just after the end of the centennial year, by the editorial staff of the American Roentgen Ray Society (ARRS). Then, for a decade and more, the ARRS undertook maintenance and selling of the books. I wrote a column some years ago urging academic chairmen to get copies for their departmental libraries. But, for some of those departments, the library had gone digital and traditional books were fading away.
Even so, a couple of years ago, Susan Capitelli, the boss lady of the ARRS, told me that the centennial books were gone. I was fortunate that I had a set of them, which I used frequently for references in my academic radiology histories. I had been casual to refer anyone asking for historic information to call the ARRS and obtain one of the three that was most appropriate.
For some years before the centennial, I had been the staff director for the centennial organization and the committees that produced various projects. My only direct contribution for the books was one chapter about the history of radiology politics, contained in the diagnostic book. When we dissolved the centennial team, we divided up the slide sets, videotapes, educational packages, and other items among some of the sponsoring organizations. So the ARRS took over the history books.
A couple of years ago, when the books were all gone, it seemed to me and to John Tampas, who had been the president of the centennial team, that somebody should figure out a way to reproduce copies of the three books. Getting them reprinted would have cost many thousands of dollars. And we did not have that kind of centennial money.
With encouragement from the ARRS editorial staff, we got a suggestion that it would be possible and much less expensive to digitize the books and make them available on CDs and possibly on websites of some of the sponsoring organizations. At first, John Tampas and I approached the American Association of Physics in Medicine about supporting the physics book, the American Society of Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) about the therapy book, and the ARRS or the American College of Radiology (ACR) about the diagnostic book. But then, the ARRS decided to take on the digitization task and make the volumes available to other societies and to individuals. Jim Brink, the Yale radiology chief and ARRS president, has a digital team in his department that has about finished copying these three books. Either by now or very soon, the ARRS will announce its details to make the digital versions available. If the books are in the websites, anyone can find them and download some or all of them for their own historic resources.
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