The Gas Tube Gang was composed of radiologists who started their practice in the first couple of decades after x-rays were discovered or shortly thereafter. The phrase referred to the unshielded glass vacuum tubes with a trace of gas devised by physicists in the Roentgen era and used to produce x-rays until William D. Coolidge devised the hot cathode tube in 1913.
They would come together for a dinner at most meeting of the Radiological Society of North America and spend the evening recalling their old days. Each year, there would be one or two empty chairs.
In the early 1960s, it occurred to three of the healthy survivors that unless somebody did something about it, the history of radiology would fade away with the empty chairs at their annual dinners. Those hearty octogenarians were Edwin Ernst, Sr., of St. Louis, Benjamin Orndoff of Chicago, and Walter Wasson of Denver. All of them had been founders of successful practices and radiology societies, presidents of this, secretaries of that, directors, trustees, chancellors, and historians of many others. Once they decided to do something about saving the history of American radiology, it quickly became obvious that none of them had lost the leadership skills they had ployed for half a century.
A few months later, the American College of Radiology had agreed to take responsibility for a series of historic efforts. Up stepped Bob Morrison, a retired Eastman Kodak salesman, and volunteered to help organize the collection of historic memoirs, books, artifacts, and ancient equipment. His offer was accepted and he spent more than a decade on what, for him, was a labor of love.
In the mid 1960s, the Mallinckrodt Company contributed money to pay for writing a history of radiology in North America. An editorial committee selected science writers Ruth and Edward Brecher, who produced a definitive volume. The book, The Rays: A History of Radiology in North America , was published in 1969 by Williams and Wilkins.
When the ACR expanded its office in downtown Chicago, one large room was devoted to the books and archival material which Bob Morrison had cataloged. A second space housed static generators and other equipment. A large office building was not a logical place for museum materials. The only visitors were an occasional radiologist seeking research material and salesmen waiting to see college staff members.
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