The Southern California Medical Museum
Annual Report 2001-2002
The Historical Committee met ten times during 2001/2002. We continue to have excellent attendance at our meetings. Subcommittees conducted their work as needed. The volunteer spirit is alive in our members who are generous with their time and personally pay a yearly stipend for all of their meals.
For a number of years, storage space for our museum items not on display has lessened alarmingly, forcing us to rent an offsite commercial storage unit. The situation became crucial last November when we lost our storage space in the Medical Society building when the Society moved to their new location.
To remedy this critical situation, Dr. Hendrickson, after extensive research, proposed an addition to the northwest corner of the Medical Society building for a storage closet 45’ x 43” which would supply 350 plus square feet of shelving. The estimated cost of $9700 to be paid by the Historical Committee. After discussing in detail with the SBCMS Executive Committee the building plans, this committee agreed on proceeding with the project with certain provisos.
We are both proud and pleased to announce that two of the members of the Historical Committee received honors this year. Dr. Horace D. Orr won the annual prestigious Frederick K.M. Plessner Award for the physician who best exemplified
the practice and ethics of a rural practitioner. This award, consisting of an elegant engraved silver bowl and $1,000 was presented to this pioneering physician at the California Medical Association’s House of Delegates meeting in Anaheim on February 24, 2002. Our Historical Committee was exceptionally pleased of his election seeing that we had been assigned by the Medical Society to compile a dossier, consisting of a biography, etc. of this notable gentleman, to accompany and support his nomination.
Another of our members, Dr. John P. Miller, was the recipient of the Distinguished Service Award 2002 given by the San Bernardino County School Board Association at its April 30, 2002 meeting at the Desert Mountain Education Center in Apple Valley. This award was for the recipient’s contribution in furthering education in San Bernardino County.
The Historical Committee continues to receive donations of medical memorabilia and books. In addition to the SBCMS Medical Museum, we continue to have a fine exhibit of medical items and antique physician’s office furniture at the Colton
Museum, and displays at Redlands Community Hospital, the Lincoln Shrine, and the University of Riverside. We are seriously researching the selling and trading of duplicate or unwanted items and are talking with the Electronic Communication Committee about expanding the Museum page on the Medical Society web site.
The Medical Museum and Library Subcommittees worked very hard this year on the exhibits and the library. The books are all catalogued and placed in the library, and the signs in the cases identifying the items were enlarged and improved. This year we labeled and identified the artists whose artwork is displayed in the museum. To date, members served as docents for student tours on six occasions. Since its inception in 1996, “Friends of the Museum” have contributed a total of $30,126 in support of our sponsorship program.
On February 3 the committee hosted a fifth Open House for the Medical Museum. Our guest speaker was Dr. Larry Burgess, Director of the Smiley Library and Redlands Shrine. He spoke on “President Lincoln’s Autopsy.” Some committee members dressed in Civil War attire and Lincoln impersonator Charles Brame made a repeat visit. We recognized donors, sponsors, and special guests, and offered attendees a tour of the museum. The Open House was, for the second year in a row, a resounding success with standing room only.
We appreciate the efforts of Dr. John Miller for outstanding public relations efforts this year with the Museum Open House. Dr. Hendrickson was interviewed for an excellent article about the Medical Museum that appeared in the Victorville Daily Press newspaper and two major newspapers carried follow up articles.
I would like to recognize and thank all of our active and corresponding members for giving freely of their time and efforts. Thank you again to the SBCMS Alliance for graciously and faithfully providing the refreshments for the museum open house. We especially appreciate the Executive Committee and Board’s continuing support of the committee and our activities, and for giving me the honor of serving as chairman.
ROGER A. SMITH, M.D., CHAIRMAN
