John P. McGovern Lecture in the History of Medicine: "Control of the Medical Press: Medical Journals and the Moral and Therapeutic Identity of the American Medical Profession, 1892-1924"

We’ll examine the rise of U.S. state medical society journals as a deliberate attempt to challenge proliferating (and patent remedy-supported) “independent” medical journals at the turn of the 20^th century. This largely ignored domain of medical literature, alongside the development of the Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry and the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act, would represent an important attempt to transform the linked therapeutic and moral identity of the American medical profession. This talks further explores the relationships among the editors of such journals and the AMA (and JAMA) and the “independent” medical journals and their editors, as well as the impact and ultimately, transformation, of such state medical society journals.