Neuron Club Records, 1925 - 2000

Summary

Creator:
Neuron Club
Abstract:
This collection contains the records of the Neuron Club, including club history and bylaws, correspondence, financial documents, membership documents, and minutes dating from 1925-2000. The collection has 9 series: Club History and Bylaws (1925-1993), Attendance Record (1975-2000), Club Dues (1968-1983), Membership (1925-1978), Officers and Committees (1968-1975), Correspondence (1927-1997), Financials (1974-1994), Meeting Locations (1951-1989), and Minutes (1938-2000).
Extent:
1 box .42 linear feet
Language:
English

Background

Scope and content:

This collection contains club history and bylaws, correspondence, financial documents, membership documents, and minutes dating from 1925-2000, with the bulk of the material dating from 1925-1997. The papers came to the library already organized by club secretary Dr. Hunter into the categories of attendance, membership, by-laws and organization, committees, correspondence, financials, and minutes. This original order has been predominantly maintained, with the addition of a Meeting Locations series. In most cases, the individual folder structure has also been maintained, as all the papers but the history and bylaws were organized in reverse chronological order. There are 9 series in this collection.

Club History and Bylaws, 1925-1993: This series, arranged in reverse chronological order, contains histories of the club, organizational and conduct plans, bylaws, and blank letterhead.

Attendance Record, 1975-2000: This series, arranged in reverse chronological order, contains the attendance records for meetings.

Club Dues, 1968-1983: This series, arranged in reverse chronological order, contains a log of the payment of club dues.

Membership, 1925-1978: This series, arranged in reverse chronological order, contains a certificate of membership, miscellaneous notes, members to be elected and initiated, and membership rolls.

Officers and Committees, 1968-1975: This series, arranged in reverse chronological order, contains records of officers and committee members.

Correspondence, 1927-1997: This series, arranged in reverse chronological order, contains official correspondence between secretary Dr. Hunter and other club members and spouses. The bulk of the correspondence regards the upcoming meeting or whether the member will be paying her or his dues. The communication with spouses usually includes the obituary of the member clipped from a newspaper.

Financials, 1974-1994: This series, arranged in reverse chronological order, contains a log of payments from members, banks statements, bank notification letters, deposit slips, and tax forms.

Meeting locations, 1951-1989: This series, arranged in reverse chronological order, contains a log of what institution hosted each club meeting.

Minutes, 1938-2000: This series, arranged in reverse chronological order, contains meeting minutes and one journal publication.

Biographical / historical:

According to the history of the club compiled by club secretary Nadine D. Hunter, M.D., a group of 17 western New York physicians formed the Neuron Club in 1925 to “foster contact and informational exchange” in the areas of neurology and psychiatry. To this point, the members held meetings at which members and guests could present formal papers and make clinical presentations. Membership fluctuated between 35 members during especially active years (roughly 1940-1965) to only eight members by the last years of the club’s existence.

Active membership in the club began dropping in the mid-1970s due to the flourishing of local and regional branches of the American Psychiatric Association, created in the late 1960s. Subsequently, meetings eventually dropped to only once a year, and the presentations became more eclectic, ranging from “general medicine, biological and physical sciences, history, industry, agriculture and sports” to ornithology, medical law, and contemporary political and social struggles. As Dr. Hunter writes, it was “the unwritten philosophy of the Neuron Club that human endeavor of any nature is worthy of attention and has implications in the working of the mind, healthy or otherwise.”

At the October meeting of 1993, the members present decided to continue to meet annually and maintain minutes, but the money remaining in the club’s treasury would be donated to the endowment for the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Rochester School of Medicine in the name of Dr. John Romano (1909-1994), founder of the department. In October 1997, the remaining members agreed that the Neuron Club had accomplished its mission and disbanded. In 2000, Drs. Kraus, Hunter and Barton, along with Dr. Barton’s spouse, began searching for an institution interested in receiving the club’s papers. Drs. Kraus and Hunter donated the papers in 2003.

Acquisition information:
The Neuron Club Records were donated by Richard T. Kraus, M.D. (1931-2006) in 2003. Richard T. Kraus, a specialist in forensic psychology, served as a Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at University of Rochester Medical Center, the Acting Director of Rochester Psychiatric Center, and the Chief of Psychiatry at VA Medical Center in Canandaigua, NY, among other posts. He was an active member of the Neuron Club from 1975 until its disbanding in 1997.

Indexed terms

Subjects:
Neurology
Psychiatry
Names:
Neuron Club

Access and use

Restrictions:

There are no access restrictions on this material.

Terms of access:

Written permission must be obtained from the Oskar Diethelm Library and all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from any materials in this collection.

Location of this collection:
DeWitt Wallace Institute of Psychiatry: History, Policy and the Arts
Weill Cornell Medical College
525 East 68th Street, Box 140
New York, NY 10065, United States
Link to repository site
Contact:
212-746-3728