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Become a member and receive career-enhancing benefits

Our top priority is providing value to members. Your Member Services team is here to ensure you maximize your ACS member benefits, participate in College activities, and engage with your ACS colleagues. It's all here.

Become a Member
ACS Home
My Dashboard
Donate to the foundation
Quality Programs
For Medical Professionals
For Patients
Advocacy & Policy
About Us
Become a member and receive career-enhancing benefits

Our top priority is providing value to members. Your Member Services team is here to ensure you maximize your ACS member benefits, participate in College activities, and engage with your ACS colleagues. It's all here.

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ACS

ACS Archives

Preserving our past, inspiring our future

Visit the Archives Catalog
ACS Archives

Documenting History

Our Archives serve as the institutional memory of the ACS. We collect and preserve records of enduring value and make them available for research. These records contain roughly 400 linear feet of material, chiefly paper records, but also images, motion pictures, sound recordings, and artifacts.

Access Policy

The ACS is committed to providing maximum access to its research materials. It is our responsibility to balance the researcher’s need for access with the needs for the privacy and confidentiality of those in the materials. As a result, there may be restrictions.

How to Access
Access Policy

Featured Highlights

Here we showcase glimpses into College history, from prominent surgeons, to ACS programming, to the broader history of surgery. Who was the first Black woman surgeon to become an ACS Fellow? You’ll find out here.

ACS Spring Meeting
Past Highlights

ACS Spring Meeting

Learn about the history of the ACS Spring Meeting, an annual gathering from the early 1970s until the late 2000s.
Julius Jacobson II, MD, FACS
Past Highlights

Julius Jacobson II, MD, FACS

ACS Archive Highlight about Dr. Julius Jacobson II, the father of vascular microsurgery.
Cine Clinic
Past Highlights

Cine Clinic

Cine Clinics, special sessions featuring films of surgical procedures, were an important step in expanding access to what has become an important educational tool for watching live surgeries.
Past Highlights

Search the ACS Archives

Access online materials and learn about our physical collections.

History and Archives Committee

Organized at a breakfast meeting at Clinical Congress 2013, the committee believes that knowing the surgical past serves as a guide to the future. Today the group is an integral part of Clinical Congress, sponsoring a poster competition, a breakfast presentation, and a panel session.

Learn More
History and Archives Committee

Invaluable Collections

The Papers of Franklin H. and Isabelle H. Martin

The founders of ACS. Read more


The Resources of Eleanor K. Grimm

The private secretary of Dr. Martin. Read more


The Orr Collection

Books on the history of medicine and surgery. Read more


Selected Films

Surgical procedures dating back to the 1920s. See more


Bulletin Indexes

Bulletin of the American College of Surgeons (1913-2016). Read more

 

Collections

Recognition of Fellows

The ACS began formally recognizing Fellows celebrating their 25- and 50-year Fellowship anniversaries. These Fellows have provided ongoing support to the College. They are an inspiration to our new Fellows and to us all.

25-and 50-Year Fellows Recognition
Recognition of Fellows

Icons in Surgery

This series is presented at Clinical Congress, honoring the lives and accomplishments of noteworthy Fellows.

Icons in Surgery
Icons in Surgery

Over 100 Years Old and Still Going Strong

Our Centennial celebration was launched during our 2012 Clinical Congress, and featured special sessions, exhibits, and commemorative publications that paid tribute to the College’s commitment to quality care for surgical patients. Other Centennial highlights included a video about the future of surgery.

Recommended Resources

American Association of Plastic Surgeons (AAPS)

The Icon Project created by the AAPS preserves the history of plastic surgery through the words of the pioneers, leaders, and renowned educators in plastic surgery.

American Society of Transplant Surgeons (ASTS)

ASTS started their “Chimera Chronicles: Great Stories in Transplant Surgery” program in 2008. It captures video profiles of 32 transplant surgeons, many with the initial leadership of ASTS.

The Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma (EAST)

EAST Storycasts is a series of audio interviews with prominent trauma surgeons that discuss important events, discoveries, and people in trauma and emergency surgery.

LIMITLESS Project

LIMITLESS is a docuseries featuring inspiring stories from women plastic surgeons who broke the glass ceiling and rose to prominence within their field as society presidents.

Society of Vascular Surgery (SVS)

SVS’ The Giants of Vascular Surgery oral history program contains more than 80 interviews of significant vascular surgeons and makes them available online.

Duke University - David C. Sabiston Oral History Project

The David C. Sabiston Oral History Project at Duke University set out to capture information about the life of Dr. Sabiston, chair of the department of surgery at Duke for 30 years. Dr. Sabiston was an active member of the American College of Surgeons, including serving a term as president from 1985-1986.

Contact ACS Archives

If you have questions about ACS Archives, please contact the ACS Archives team.