Founders of the Association for the History of Chiropractic, 1980

1980 — The Digest of Chiropractic Economics reported the founding of the Association for the History of Chiropractic (AHC).

Established by chiropractors, chiropractic educators and several friends of the profession, the nonprofit membership society committed itself to discovering, preserving and telling the rich lore of the chiropractic profession. Organized at Spears Chiropractic Hospital in Denver in October 1980, the AHC held its first annual Conference on Chiropractic History at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. in 1981.

Each year since, the AHC has co-sponsored an annual history conference, either in collaboration with one of the chiropractic schools, or in conjunction with the annual meeting of the Association of Chiropractic Colleges.

The society established its scholarly periodical, Chiropractic History, in 1981. The journal was subsequently indexed by the National Library of Medicine in its Bibliography of the History of Medicine (replaced by Histline, a digital indexing source).

The late William Rehm, DC, former editor of the Maryland state society’s journal, is acknowledged as the founding father of the AHC, while Mr. Russell W. Gibbons was the founding editor (1980-1995) of Chiropractic History. The AHC leadership were very influential in the planning for the profession’s centennial festivities in 1995. The Association has published several books, including a biography of B.J. Palmer, a history of chiropractic education in North America, and a history of chiropractic in New Jersey. They can be contacted at www.chirohistory.org/