{"id":4099,"date":"2026-08-05T20:40:48","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T20:40:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/library.umbc.edu\/specialcollections\/finding-aids\/coll021\/"},"modified":"2026-08-05T20:40:48","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T20:40:48","slug":"coll021","status":"publish","type":"finding_aid","link":"https:\/\/library.umbc.edu\/specialcollections\/finding-aids\/coll021\/","title":{"rendered":"American Association of Anatomists records"},"content":{"rendered":"

Overview<\/h2>
Title:<\/strong><\/td>American Association of Anatomists records<\/td><\/tr>
Call Number:<\/strong><\/td>Coll021<\/td><\/tr>
Creator:<\/strong><\/td>American Association of Anatomists<\/td><\/tr>
Dates:<\/strong><\/td>1900-2011<\/td><\/tr>
Size:<\/strong><\/td>18 boxes (14 linear feet)<\/td><\/tr>
Abstract:<\/strong><\/td>Files contain the institutional papers, publications, and photographs of the American Association of Anatomists. Records include awards, committee files, planning files for Experimental Biology, financial documents, membership lists, AAA publications, and historic photographs.<\/td><\/tr>
Language:<\/strong><\/td>English<\/td><\/tr>
Citation:<\/strong><\/td>American Association of Anatomists records, Center for Biological Sciences Archives, Collection 21, Special Collections, University of Maryland, Baltimore County (Baltimore, MD).<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>

Administrative\/Biographical Note<\/h2>

The AAA was formed in 1888 to serve the researchers, educators, and students of anatomical sciences; it has held annual meetings since the year of its formation. Membership for AAA is open to undergraduates, graduate and medical school students; postdoctoral fellows; medical residents; educators; researchers; and retirees.\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t1888\n\t\t\t\t\tThe Association of American Anatomists held its first official meeting in Washington, D.C. with the objective of the “advancement of the anatomical sciences.” The fourteen men that met at this meeting elected Dr. Joseph Leidy of the University of Pennsylvania as their first President.\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t1901\n\t\t\t\t\tThe first issue of the Proceedings of the American Association of Anatomists was published in the American Journal of Anatomy.\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t1906\n\t\t\t\t\tThe first volume of The Anatomical Record was published.\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t1908\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tThe Association officially changed its name from the Association of American Anatomists to the American Association of Anatomists.\n\t\t\t\t\tDr. Florence Sabin became the first woman officer.\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t1917\n\t\t\t\t\tAAA reached over 300 members.\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t1937\n\t\t\t\t\tAAA hosted its first meeting outside the United States, in Toronto, Canada.\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t1986\n\t\t\t\t\tAAA reached over 5,000 members, with the majority from the United States, but members also from Canada, Japan, United Kingdom, Israel, Taiwan, China, and Australia.\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t1992\n\t\t\t\t\tDevelopmental Dynamics was first published as a direct descendant of the American Journal of Anatomy, which began in 1901.\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t1996\n\t\t\t\t\tAAA held their annual meeting as part of the larger Experimental Biology conference for the first time.\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t2000\n\t\t\t\t\tAAA mandated that students become involved in the Board of Directors. Two of the eight directors were to be students or postdoctoral fellow members.\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t2008\n\t\t\t\t\tThe first volume of Anatomical Sciences Education was published.<\/p>

Scope & Content<\/h2>

The American Association of Anatomists (AAA) was formed in 1888 to serve the researchers, educators, and students of anatomical sciences. The American Association of Anatomists records contain the papers, publications, and photographs of the AAA. Spanning from 1900 to 2011, the records are 14 linear feet. This collection is divided into seven parts, consisting of records relating to the Board of Directors, committees, membership, finance, Annual Meeting\/Experimental Biology, awards, publications, and photographs.\n\t\t\tThe Board of Directors (Series I) consists of a President, President-Elect, President-Emeritus, Secretary-Treasurer, two Program Chairs, and eight directors. As of 2000, two of the eight directors must be students or postdoctoral fellow members. The Executive Committee of the of the Board of Directors consists of the President, President-Elect, President-Emeritus, and Secretary-Treasurer. Records of the Board of Directors include minutes of the general meetings as well as Executive Committee meeting minutes.\n\t\t\tSeries II includes the records of several AAA committees. Committees include, but are not limited to, the Membership Committee, Nominating Committee, and a Joint Steering Committee on Public Policy. Records in this series include mostly meeting minutes, agendas, and related documents. The records of the Business Committee are filed with Series IV and committees work that directly related to Experimental Biology are filed in Series V.\n\t\t\tMembership records (Series III), include list of members, statistics, curriculum vitas, as well as two bound volumes of Directories of Anatomy Departments. Membership for the AAA is open to undergraduates, graduate and medical school students; postdoctoral fellows; medical residents; educators; researchers; and retirees.\n\t\t\tThe financial records of the AAA (Series IV) include records related to the financial running of the AAA. Records include budgets, cash and log books, Journal Trust Fund registers, information about grants, and Business Committee meeting minutes.\n\t\t\tSince 1888, the AAA has held annual meetings (Series V). Proceedings from these meetings were first published in 1901 after the fifteenth annual meeting. In 1996, AAA began hosting their annual meeting as part of Experimental Biology (EB), a large, interdisciplinary, multi-society annual conference. AAA is one of six sponsoring societies of EB, the others being the American Physiological Society, American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Americans Society for Investigative Pathology, American Society for Nutrition, and American Society for Pharmacology & Experimental Therapeutics. This annual conference attracts approximately 14,000 scientist and exhibitors, and features award lectures, oral and poster presentations, and exhibits relating to anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, pathology, nutrition, and pharmacology. Records in this series include the Proceedings and Annual Meeting abstracts, and documents regarding the planning of EB, in addition to information about awards, presentations, meetings, and EB events.\n\t\t\tThe AAA distributes a number of awards and grants each year (Series VI). Records in this series include nominations for the Bensley and Mossman awards (which are both now part of the Young Investigator Award), as well as the 2010 Outreach Grant Report. Additional information about awards, including travel awards, can be found in Series V.\n\t\t\tSeries VII includes the three peer-reviewed journals that the AAA publishes: The Anatomical Record, Developmental Dynamics, and Anatomical Sciences Education (Series VII). The Anatomical Record is a forum for research relating to the organization of biological structure and its functional significance. Developmental Dynamics relates to the work of developmental biologists who study the emergence of form during animal development and the mechanisms that control morphogenesis. Anatomical Sciences Education offers an international forum for the exchange of ideas related to education in the anatomical sciences. In addition to these journals, this series also includes the AAA newsletter, American Association of Anatomists News. In addition, within this series is the 1987 book The American Association of Anatomists, 1888-1987: Essays on the History of Anatomy in America and a Report on the Membership–Past and Present, which was edited by John E. Pauly in honor of the hundred anniversary of AAA.\n\t\t\tThis collection also contains digital scans of AAA photographs, largely from EB 2003-2011 (Series VIII).<\/p>

TThis collection is organized into eight series: I. Board of Directors, II. Committees, III. Membership, IV. Financial, V. Conferences, VI. Awards, VII. Publications, VIII. Photographs.\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tSeries I. Board of Directors\n\t\t\t\tMeeting Minutes\n\t\t\t\tExecutive Committee\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tSeries II. Committees\n\t\t\t\tCommittee Rosters\n\t\t\t\tMembership Committee\n\t\t\t\tNominations Committee\n\t\t\t\tJoint Steering Committee for Public Policy\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tSeries III. Membership\n\t\t\t\tMembers Lists\n\t\t\t\tData\n\t\t\t\tCurriculum Vitae\n\t\t\t\tDirectory of Anatomy Departments\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tSeries IV. Financial\n\t\t\t\tBudget\n\t\t\t\tCase and Log Books\n\t\t\t\tJournal Trust Fund Registers\n\t\t\t\tBusiness Committee\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tSeries V. Conferences\n\t\t\t\tPublications of the AAA Annual Meeting\n\t\t\t\tExperimental Biology\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tSeries VI. Awards\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tSeries VII. Publications\n\t\t\t\tThe Anatomical Record\n\t\t\t\tAnatomical Sciences Education\n\t\t\t\tDevelopmental Dynamics\n\t\t\t\tAmerican Association of Anatomists News\n\t\t\t\tInstitutional History\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tSeries VIII. Photographs<\/p>

Provenance Information<\/h2>

All the materials were created by the American Association of Anatomists. This collection arrived in three different accessions: SARCV 2004-04, SARCV 2010-01, and SARCV 2011-08. In 2004, the AAA donated thirteen boxes, largely relating to EB, as part of SARCV 2004-04. The AAA donated an additional two boxes in 2010 (SARCV 2010-01) that contained records relating to awards, membership, and minutes. In 2011, the AAA donated six boxes (SARCV 2011-08), which included AAA publications, old cash and log books, records of the Board of Directors, and records relating to the Annual Meeting. Records were stored and maintained by the Science Archives and access was granted to researchers prior to processing.<\/p>

The American Association of Anatomists records were processed by graduate assistant Johanna Schein under the supervision of the Special Collections Archivist Lindsey Loeper in the Spring of 2012.\n\t\t\tThis collection was processed to the folder level. Materials originally housed in binders were removed from the binders and placed in folders, with the original order maintained. Publications were arranged chronologically and placed in format specific storage. When more than two exact copies of a document were found, the additional duplicates were destroyed. Records with social security numbers on them were copied so that the numbers were no longer visible, and the original documents were destroyed. Oversized or physically compromised materials were transferred to appropriate storage.<\/p>

Access & Use<\/h2>

Materials less than 5 years old require permission from donor.<\/p>

Reproductions allowed for research purposes. Copyright maintained by the creator.<\/p>

Subject Headings<\/h2>