Archives West Finding Aid

This collection contains materials collected by the University of Oregon Medical School Alumni Association. Organized at the instigation of Dr. Adalbert G. Bettman (1907) in 1913 with about 25 members, he became its first Secretary; a position he held for 10 years. The scrapbook is primarily filled with Dr. Bettman's reports on the various alumni meetings and business conducted there. Rapidly growing in popularity, the association soon broached the then-new idea of hosting Alumni Class Reunions (1916). By the end of WWI (1918) the Association had over 200 members. They took a stand against the beginning of an Optometry program other than the Medical School's; but for standardization of hospital services (1919). Soon it was recognized that the day of the general practitioner was fading and specialization was the wave of the future (1920). Also a new focus on Public Health and Crippled Children was noted. Bettman finally tired of his duties (he had also been Alumni President 1917-18, and first medical correspondent for the UO's publication "Old Oregon"), and asked to be relieved (1922). He was followed for a year by C.H. Palmer, then Dorwin Palmer, and by 1926 Ivan Woolley had taken the Secretary's position, followed by Claude Lewis.