Brief Overview of Collection, MC65

Name:
Southeastern Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons Archives

Dates:
1958 to present

Extent:
30 boxes (equivalent to 21 cubic feet)

Historical Note:
At the 1957 American Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons meeting in California, an organizational meeting was held for a Southern-focused plastic surgeons organization. As a result of this organizational meeting and the work of Dr. McCarthy DeMere of Memphis, Tennessee, the Southeastern Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons held its first meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana, on April 17-18, 1958. Thirty-one people attended the meeting which included scientific presentations as well as business meetings devoted to the adoption of a constitution and by-laws. The Great Arms and Seal of the Society was presented during the third annual meeting in 1960. Today, the Southeastern Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons meets annually and, since 1985, also sponsors an annual breast surgery symposium.

Scope and Contents:
Contains correspondence, pamphlets, brochures and other publications, photographs, slides, scrapbooks, audio and video tapes, and ephemera

Arrangement:
Organized into discrete series: Series 1: Annual Meeting Photographic Scrapbook Albums; Series 2: Annual Meeting Programs; Series 3: Constitution and By-Laws; Series 4: History; Series 5: Publications; Series 6: Ephemera; Series 7: Correspondence and Materials of Members; Series 8: Slides; and Series 9: Audiovisuals.

Accession Number:
M1999-02

Provenance:
In 1998 the UAB Archives was named the official repository for the archival materials of the Southeastern Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons (SESPRS). In January of 1999 the SESPRS materials were received and accessioned.

Copyright:
The UAB Archives has been assigned an exclusive license to any copyrights that may be owned by SESPRS. As some items within the collection may not be covered by this license, please consult the University Archivist for additional details.

Finding Aid:
A printed descriptive guide by Tim L. Pennycuff is available in the repository.

Access Points:
Furlow, Leonard T.
Hamilton, John M.
Mattison, Joel.
Pizzo, Anthony J.
Plastic Surgery x history.
Reeder, Robert.
Southeastern Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons.

Document Types:
Audiotapes.
Bound volumes.
Correspondence.
Photographs.
Reports.
Scrapbooks.
Slides.
Videotapes.

Location:
Manuscript Stacks

Related Series:
n/a

Physical Condition:
The materials have been placed in acid free folders and acid free boxes

Historical Note
In 1957, Dr. McCarthy DeMere of Memphis, Tennessee, wrote Southeastern surgeons stating that he felt the need for a "Plastic Surgery Society for the Southeastern States." Dr. DeMere had traveled widely throughout the region and was convinced that many problems in the area resulted in the fact that the Southern surgeons had not been able to discuss their problems or assist one another in solutions.

During the American Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery meeting, held in San Francisco, California, in November 1957, Dr. DeMere and fellow surgeons held an organizational meeting for a new Southern-focused society. Twenty-three men met in a hotel room and agreed that the first official meeting of a new society should be held the following year during the ASPRS annual meeting, planned for New Orleans, Louisiana.

After the California meeting, Dr. DeMere again wrote his fellow plastic surgeons in the South to explain what had transpired at the San Francisco organizational meeting. He also discussed the plans for a meeting in New Orleans. DeMere and Drs. Robert Meade, Neal Owens, and Robert Hagerty planned the two-day meeting to follow the annual ASPRS meeting.

The first meeting of the new Southeastern Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons was held at the St. Charles Hotel in New Orleans, Louisiana, on April 17-18, 1958. Thirty men and one woman attended, twenty-eight would later become founding members of the Society. Elected as the Society's first officers were: Dr. Greer Ricketson (Nashville), president; Dr. McCarthy DeMere (Memphis), vice president and president-elect; Dr. Grover Austin (St. Petersburg, Florida), treasurer; Dr. John R. Lewis, Jr. (Atlanta), historian; and Dr. Robert Hagerty (Charleston, South Carolina), secretary. Drs. C. G. Coleman, Jr. (Charlottesville, Virginia), James H. Hendrix (Jackson, Mississippi) and Beverly Douglas (Nashville) were also elected Society trustees.

The first day of the New Orleans meeting was devoted to the approval of a constitution and by-laws and was focused on the economic issues confronting the members of the Society. Scientific subjects were the focus of the second day, with the presentation of six papers and one demonstration. Also during the meeting, a committee comprised by Drs. Robert Hagerty, C.C. Snyder, and Greer Ricketson was appointed and charged with developing an appropriate crest and stationery for the Society.

Following a planning meeting of the new executive committee, held in St. Petersburg, Florida, in February of 1959, the second annual meeting of the Society was held in Charleston, South Carolina, on March 20-21, 1959. New officers elected were Dr. Neal Owens, president; Dr. Greer Ricketson, president-elect; Dr. McCarthy DeMere, vice president; Dr. Grover W. Austin, treasurer; Dr. John R. Lewis, Jr., historian; and trustees Drs. G. G. Coleman, Beverly Douglas, and James H. Hendrix.

The Great Arms and Seal of the Southeastern Society of Plastic Surgeons was formally presented during a banquet at the third annual meeting, held in St. Petersburg, Florida, February 11-14, 1960. Dr. Robert Hagerty and his family based the design of the seal on a figure from Andreas Vesalius' Epitome, first published in 1543. The male figure stands before a crossed bar containing eleven mullets, representing the members states of the Society, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.

A new Constitution and By-Laws was adopted at the Society's sixth annual meeting in Memphis, Tennessee, held June 13-15, 1963. It was later amended in 1964, 1965 and 1969, and a revised Constitution and By-Laws was adopted by the Society membership at the 1973 and 1974 annual meetings.

During the early years, Society meetings were held around the eleven member states. To celebrate the end of the Society's first decade, however, the tenth annual meeting was held April 30-May 6, 1967, at the Grand Bahama Hotel, West End, Grand Bahamas. Dr. Paul Brand, a special guest at the meeting, became the first honorary member of the Society.

The Society again returned to a Southern rotation for its meetings during its second decade. The resident competition papers were first presented at the twelfth meeting held in Hot Springs, Arkansas, March 30-April 3, 1969. Membership grew during this period, from 150 members in 1968 to over 220 members by 1972. Ian Jackson of Canniesburn, Scotland, delivered the first Samuel E. Upchurch Memorial Lecture at the Society's eighteenth annual meeting in Point Clear, Alabama, on May 25-29, 1975. Named in honor of the Society's seventh president, the Upchurch Lecture was established with a generous gift of his widow, Mrs. Ann Upchurch. Dr. Upchurch (1909-1968) was the first physician to practice plastic surgery in Alabama and served from 1962 until 1966 as founding director of the plastic surgery division at the University of Alabama Medical Center - now part of the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB).

The Society celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary by again holding an annual meeting outside of the U.S. The meeting was held in Bermuda on June 20-24, 1982, and a history of the Society was first made available to members during this silver anniversary meeting.

Three years later, the Society sponsored its first Breast Surgery Symposium in Atlanta, Georgia, on February 22-24, 1985. Dr. Carl Hartrampf, Jr., performed a unilateral TRAM breast reconstruction that was televised live to a classroom in St. Joseph's Hospital.

The Kenneth L. Pickerell Award was first presented at the twenty-ninth conference, held on May 5-9, 1985, in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. The award was named in honor of Dr. Pickerell (1910-1984), a Society member and the former professor and chairman of plastic surgery at Duke University. It is awarded for outstanding contributions in the teaching of plastic and reconstructive surgery. Dr. Andrew M. Moore was the recipient of the first Pickerell Award.

The thirtieth annual meeting was held on May 31-June 4, 1987, in Point Clear, Alabama. During the thirty-fifth annual meeting, held in Amelia Island, Florida, June 7-11, 1992, the Society president, Dr. Norman M. Cole, also served as president of the American Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.

Feeling that additional educational opportunities were needed at the annual meetings, the Society sponsored a pre-conference symposium in 1993 at the Westin Resort on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. Twenty-eight physicians participated in this Basic Facial Rejuvenation Symposium, and, following the symposium, over 480 people attended the thirty-sixth annual meeting held at the same hotel on June 5-6.

Sources of information
History of the Southeastern Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons 1958-1997.[The Society: s.l., 1998].

Manuscript Collection 65, Southeastern Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons Archives, the University of Alabama at Birmingham Archives, Birmingham, Alabama.

Scope and Contents Note
During the early 1990s, the Society's executive committee began to search for a permanent home for its historical materials. Early in 1998 Drs. Kenna Given, Anthony Pizzo, and Luis Vasconez toured the Historical Collections facilities at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). Upon their recommendation, the executive committee selected the UAB Archives as the official repository for the Society's archives and historical artifacts. The materials were shipped to Birmingham, Alabama, early in 1999 and placed in an environmentally controlled storage room in the UAB Archives. There, the archives staff accessioned the items and created an inventory of and finding aid to the collection. The staff of the archives has arranged the collection into eight discrete series, each series based on the format or scope of the materials.
Series One contains 34 photographic scrapbook albums that document the annual meetings of the Society. (No album exists for the 1990 33rd annual meeting in South Carolina.) The albums are comprised chiefly of photographic images, but some also contain programs, brochures, tickets and other printed materials made available during the meeting.
Series Two is comprised of the programs of the annual meetings. This series does not contain a program from each of the meetings, only 26 of the 45 meeting programs are included. The series chiefly documents meetings held from the 1980s to the present.
Series Three is comprised solely of the Constitution and By-Laws of the Society, as adopted in 1963 and 1974.
Series Four contains four items that tell the history of the Southeastern Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons and of plastic surgery. Included in this series are copies of the 1997 published Society history, Dr. Anthony Pizzo's 1998 history, an ode written in 1997 by Dr. John Hamilton, and a 1997 panel discussion on the history of reconstructive plastic surgery by Dr. Leonard Furlow, Jr.
Series Five includes several dozen publications, newsletters, magazines, and other materials. Contained in this series are three editions of the Society's Bulletins, eight editions of the Society's Newsletter, a program from the 1998 Breast Surgery Symposium, and four volumes of the Annals of Plastic Surgery that include Society papers.
Items of ephemera are currently contained in Series Six, including an invitation to the black-tie event during the 1998 annual meeting and the name badge of U.S. Senator Tim Hutchinson (Arkansas), a special guest at the 1998 meeting. Also included in this series are a banner (flag) of the society that was retired circa 2000 when a new banner was adopted and two sterling silver bowls engraved with the names of the society’s Outstanding Residents for the years 1977 through 1993.
Series Seven is reserved for the correspondence and materials of Society members. At present, it contains material from Dr. John Hamilton that is dated from 1958 until 1975.
Series Eight contains slides from the presentations of Society members Drs. Anthony Pizzo, Joel Mattison, and Robert Reeder. All three presentations related to the history of the Society.
Series Nine includes three 1/2 inch VHS videotapes and one audiotape of SESPRS meetings and events.

Inventory

Series 1: Annual Meeting Photographic Scrapbook Albums

Album #1
1st 1958 New Orleans, Louisiana (April 17-18)
2nd 1959 Charleston, South Carolina (March 20-21)
3rd 1960 St. Petersburg, Florida (February 11-14)
4th 1961 Williamsburg, Virginia (June 15-18)
5th 1962 Sea Island, Georgia (May 24)
Album #2
6th 1963 Memphis, Tennessee (June 13-15)
7th 1964 Lexington, Kentucky (April 9-11)
8th 1965 Point Clear, Alabama (May 21)
Album #3
9th 1966 Atlanta, Georgia (March 23-26)
10th 1967 West End, Grand Bahama Island
11th 1968 Biloxi, Mississippi (May 29-June 1)
Album #4
12th 1969 Hot Springs, Arkansas (March 30-April 3)
13th 1970 New Orleans, Louisiana (April 1-4)
Album #5
14th 1971 Sea Island, Georgia (May 30-June 3)
Album #6
15th 1972 Williamsburg, Virginia (May 31-June 3)
Album #7
16th 1973 Fort Lauderdale, Florida (May 13-17)
Album #8
17th 1974 Hilton Head, South Carolina (March 10-14)
Album #9
18th 1975 Point Clear, Alabama (May 25-29)
Album #10
19th 1976 St. Petersburg, Florida (April)
Album #11
20th 1977 Hot Springs, Virginia (April 24-28)
Album #12
21st 1978 Boca Raton, Florida (May 14-18)
Album #13
22nd 1979 Sea Island, Georgia (May 27-31)
Album #14
23rd 1980 White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia
Album #15
24th 1981 Sea Island, Georgia (May 30-June 4)
Album #16
25th 1982 Bermuda (June 20-24)
Album #17
26th 1983 Amelia Island, Florida (May 8-12)
Album #18
27th 1984 Williamsburg, Virginia (April 29-May 3)
Album #19
28th 1985 Lake Buena Vista, Florida (May 5-9)
Album #20
29th 1986 Boca Raton, Florida (May 25-29)
Album #21
30th 1987 Point Clear, Alabama (May 31-June 4)
Album #22
31st 1988 Tarpon Springs, Florida (June 5-9)
Album #23
32nd 1989 Bermuda (June 18-22)
[Album Missing]
33rd 1990 Kiawah Island, South Carolina (June 3-7)
Album #25
35th 1992 Amelia Island, Florida (June 7-11)
Album #24
34th 1991 White Sulphur Springs, Virginia (June 9-13)
Album #26
36th 1993 Hilton Head, South Carolina (June 6-10)
Album #27
37th 1994 Boca Raton, Florida (June 5-9)
Album #28
38th 1995 Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida (June 3-7)
Album #29
39th 1996 West Palm Beach, Florida (June 1-5)
Album #30
40th 1997 Williamsburg, Virginia (June 7-11)
Album #31
41st 1998 Naples, Florida (June 6-10)
Album #32
42nd 1999 Boca Raton, Florida (June 5-9)
Album #33
43rd 2000 Bermuda (June 4-8)
Album #34
44th 2001 Orlando, Florida (June 9-13)

Series 2: Annual Meeting Programs

3rd 1960 St. Petersburg, Florida
8th 1965 Point Clear, Alabama
11th 1968 Biloxi, Mississippi
12th 1969 Hot Springs, Arkansas
13th 1970 New Orleans, Louisiana
15th 1972 Williamsburg, Virginia
17th 1974 Hilton Head, South Carolina
22nd 1979 Sea Island, Georgia
25th 1982 Bermuda [2 versions]
26th 1983 Amelia Island, Florida
28th 1985 Lake Buena Vista, Florida
30th 1987 Point Clear, Alabama
32nd 1989 Bermuda
33rd 1990 Kiawah Island, South Carolina
34th 1991 White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia
35th 1992 Amelia Island, Florida
36th 1993 Hilton Head, South Carolina
37th 1994 Boca Raton, Florida
38th 1995 Ponte Vedra, Florida
39th 1996 Palm Beach, Florida
40th 1997 Williamsburg, Virginia
41st 1998 Naples, Florida
42nd 1999 Boca Raton, Florida
43rd 2000 Southampton, Bermuda
44th 2001 Orlando, Florida
45th 2002 Hilton Head Island, South Carolina

Series 3: Constitution & By-Laws

Constitution and By-Laws of the Southeastern Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons, Adopted 1963

Constitution and By-Laws of the Southeastern Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons, 1973-1974 Revision

Series 4: History of SESPRS
Southeastern Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons History, 1958-1997.

1998 SESPRS History, by Anthony J. Pizzo, M.D., 1998.

Ode to the Southeastern Society: Doc's Doggerel, by John M. Hamilton, M.D., 1997.

"Reconstructive Plastic Surgery Over the Last 40 Years," Leonard T. Furlow, Jr., M.D., 1997. SESPRS Panel Discussion, June 8, 1997.

"History of the Southeastern Society Educational Fund," Dr. Ernie Bomar, n.d.

Series 5: Publications
Annals of Plastic Surgery (with SESPRS Papers)
Vol. 36 No. 2, 1996 February
Vol. 38 No. 3, 1997 March
Vol. 40 No. 3, 1998 March
Vol. 42 No. 1, 1999 January

SESPRS Bulletin
Vol. 3 No. 1, 1968 January
Vol. 4 No. 1, 1969 February
Vol. 6 No. 1, 1972 April

SESPRS Newsletter
1997 April
1997 August
1998 January
1998 April
1998 August
2001 July
2001 December
2002 April

SESPRS Breast Surgery Symposium
Program of 14th symposium, 1998

Miscellaneous SESPRS publications, pamphlets, etc.
Abstracts, Sea Island, 1979
Bulletin, May 1965
Recreational Events and Spouse Program, 35th Annual Meeting, 1992

Series 6: Ephemera
Invitation to SESPRS Black-Tie Evening, 1998

U.S. Senator Tim Hutchinson (Ark.) Guest Badge, 1998

Outstanding Residents Award, 1977-1988 (sterling silver bowl)

Outstanding Residents Award, 1989-1993 (sterling silver bowl)

Series 7: Correspondence and Materials of Members
Dr. John M. Hamilton, 1958-1968
Dr. John M. Hamilton, 1969-1975
Dr. John M. Hamilton, undated

Series 8: Slides
Presentation on History of SESPRS made by Dr. Anthony J. Pizzo at the 1998 Annual Meeting [includes transcript]
19 historical slides in slide-sleeve

Presentation on History of SESPRS made by Dr. Joel Mattison, n.d.

Presentation on SESPRS made by Dr. Robert Reeder, n.d.

Series 9: Audiovisuals

½ inch VHS Videotapes

SESPRS 12th Annual Breast Surgery Symposium, St. Joseph's Hospital, Atlanta, GA, January 19, 1996

SESPRS Surgery Panel Discussion on changes in plastic surgery, June 8, 1997

SESPRS 16th Annual Breast Surgery Symposium, 2000

Audiotapes

Lecture presented by Dr. Carl Hartrampf, circa 1997 (includes discussion with Drs. Israel and Murphy)

Return to the Manuscript Collections Page

Maintained and Last Updated by Tim L. Pennycuff, 16 May 2005.
Copyright 1999-2005, The University of Alabama at Birmingham.