Guide to Bexar County Medical Society Records

Administrative History Note

On September 22, 1853, the Texas State Medical Association issued a charter to the Bexar Medical Society, located in San Antonio, Texas. It was the first county medical society in the State of Texas and included as members physicians in Bexar and Medina Counties. Its founders included Drs. George Cupples, J.H. Lyons, Ferdinand Herff, and F.M. Giddings. The first officers were Dr. George Cupples, President; Dr. E. G. A. Schaffter, Secretary; Dr. J. H. Lyons, Treasurer; and Dr. F. M. Giddings, Librarian.

Organized medical meetings were disrupted by the advent of the Civil War and practically nothing was heard of the county medical society. While the State Medical Association was reorganized after the Civil War and annual meetings were resumed in 1869, organized medicine in San Antonio was slow to recover until 1876 when the Western Texas Medical Association was incorporated by George Cupples, Ferdinand Herff, and others, with meetings held in San Antonio. Its charter expired in 1902 with the creation of the West Texas Medical Association. This new association was short-lived as the plan of organization by counties sponsored by the American Medical Association was accepted by the State Association on April 27, 1903. At a meeting of the physicians of Bexar County on July 9, 1903, the Bexar County Medical Society was organized. The first permanent home for the society was purchased in 1919 at 123 Lexington Avenue.

The Bexar County Medical Society is now the 8th largest county medical society in the United States. The mission of the BCMS is to support activities that result in the best medical care to patients served by Bexar County physicians operating in the optimal physician practice environment. It acts on behalf of medicine in general, acting in the best interests of physicians, patients, and the public.

Sources:

Nixon, Pat Ireland. A Century of Medicine in San Antonio : the Story of Medicine in Bexar County, Texas. San Antonio, Tex: Privately published by the author, 1936.

Scope and Contents

The Bexar County Medical Society Records contain membership directories, membership registrations, member photographs, committee reports, newsletters and other serial publications, reports, obituaries, physicians' case books and ledgers, and historical photographs relating to medicine and hospitals in Bexar County and to the Bexar County Medical Society and the Western Texas Medical Association. The records also contain inventories of various book collections previously owned by the Bexar County Medical Society.

Restrictions

Access Restrictions

The collection is open for research use. Materials may be viewed in the reading room of the P. I. Nixon Medical Historical Library, located on the 5th floor of the Briscoe Library at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. Access to patient records is restricted.

Use Restrictions

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Physical Access

Some materials are very brittle or torn on the edges and may require an electronic copy or photocopy for use.

Related Material

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the Bexar County Medical Society Records, AR 61, University Archives, UTHSC Libraries, The UT Health Science Center at San Antonio.

Provenance

Materials in this collection were donated in 1970 to the library of the University of Texas Medical School at San Antonio by the Bexar County Medical Society.

Collection History

Received as part of donation of manuscripts and historical books from Bexar County Medical Society Library in 1970.

Processing Information

Finding aid created by: Anne Comeaux, March 2011.

Detailed Description of Collection