u
March 22, 1939
Dr. 2. 0. Barker
Guthrie, Oklahoma
Dear Doctor Barker:
Please pardon the delay in replying to your letter of a few days ago.
The explanation It that I have not been about our clinic for several days
for very long at a time. _\
Your inquiries will be answered in the order in which you make them, as
follows:
1. Indian Territory Medical Association was organised in May, 189C. The
moving spirits in the organization were Dr. % f. Fortner, Vinita, who was
the first president, and Dr. Francis # Fite, Muskogee. Dr. Fite was elected
to the presidency in 1893. Indian territory Medical Association had an uninterrupted exip.ter.ee, with meetings twice a year, until, and including, 1906,
when, in anticipation of statehood, a committee was created, to confer with
a like committee from Oklahoma Territory Medical Association. The committees
conferred and arranged a merger of the two associations, under the name of
Oklahoma State Medical Association.
2. As far as I know, there were no local medical societies la Indian Territory
until immediately after the merger when, according to the terms of the merger,
districts which had. beta created by act of the Congress cf the United States,
in which courts wer held by United States Commissioners, were organized into
district medical societies to correspond with the county medical societies in
Oklahoma Territory, For example, our society at McAlester was the 23rd District
Medical Society. The district societies continued until statehood, when, as you
know, county societies were formed. About the time of statehood there were other
local r.ccietiea. One of IBM was the Central District Me&ical Society, embracing
McAlester and a large territory about it. •Mf district was presided over by
a judge of the United S+ates Court, and it, and all other districts like it, were
much larger than, the Commissioner districts referred to above, the Commissioner
districts being "practically justice of the peace districts.
3. The date of the organization of the first medical society in Oklahoma City
is not very cl^ar. It is pretty clear, how-ver, that there was an Oklahoma
County Medical Society, or rather, a society practically made up of what is
now Oklahoma ounty, in 1902.
4. It appears that a medical school was established as one of the schools of
the University of Oklahoma in 1900. It was placed under the direction of the
Department of Biology, the head of which was Professor Albert Van fcleet. It
appears that there were some facilities for the study of anatomy, but most
