An Introduction to Project Bionics’ “Guide to Collections Relating to the History of Artificial Organs”

In 1996, the Board of Trustees of ASAIO recognized an ad hoc “History Project Working Group” that later became Project Bionics. After observing first generation pioneers nearing or at the end of their careers, John Watson, Jean Kantrowitz, Leonard Golding, and Steven Phillips became concerned that important oral histories and memorable speeches by individuals within ASAIO’s membership had not been recorded and that prototype devices and papers were at risk of being discarded. These materials represented irreplaceable records often conveying the creativity and process of discovery. At that time, Dr. Willem Kolff urgently wrote ASAIO colleagues for help in preserving historical artifacts from his laboratory. John Watson persuaded staff from the Smithsonian Institution to visit Dr. Kolff. This visit led to the Smithsonian’s acquisition of the “Kolff Collection.” It was these events that galvanized the formation of the work group. Robert Bartlett, a pioneer in clinical use of membrane oxygenators and a passionate historian, readily agreed to serve as Chair, with Jean Kantrowitz as Co-Chair. Committee membership from the outset was open to all individuals interested in the history of artificial organs. Its purpose then, as it is now, was “to preserve and present artificial organ developments by emphasizing the people, ideas and devices instrumental in the innovation and realization of artificial organs.” The working group met with representatives of the Smithsonian and the National Library of Medicine. Both welcomed the concept that workers in the field would bring their expertise to the collections of these institutions. At the urging of both institutions and with funding from the ASAIO Board, Project Bionics recruited Shelley McKellar, a professional historian from Toronto, and named her the Project Bionics Scholar. The first goal of the group was to identify which artificial organ devices, equipment, and historical papers had been preserved and the location of these materials. Ms. Judy Chelnick and Dr. Ramunas Kondratas at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History, Behring Center, and Dr. Paul Theerman at the National Library of Medicine’s History of Medicine Division at the National Institutes of Health became collaborating members of Project Bionics with sponsorship from their respective institutions and aided Dr. McKellar in her search for repositories. This article introduces readers to the product of Dr. McKellar’s work entitled, “A Guide to Collections Relating to the History of Artificial Organs,” which was first published in booklet format in two editions (2001 and 2002). It has since been updated and is now available in its entirety online at the ASAIO website (www.asaio.org/) under the Project Bionics subheading, which is linked to the National Library of Medicine website (www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd/manuscripts/asaio/index.html). Numerous repositories are listed, including museums, laboratories, and societies at which a variety of artificial organ devices and historical materials are located around the world. The Guide is a living document, and Project Bionics welcomes corrections and additions for subsequent updates. Although a complete listing of repositories is beyond the scope of this article, information on one notable collection, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, Washington, DC, is included as an example (see Appendix A). Purpose of the Guide As written in Dr. McKellar’s Foreword to the Guide, the Guide should be considered an introduction, not an inventory, to the papers, records, films, tapes, interviews, and artifacts relevant to the history of artificial organ developments. Its purpose is to bring attention to the need to preserve recent medical science history before documents and devices are lost. It is hoped that more individual and corporate contributors in the field will be motivated to save significant records and prototypes and deposit these items in appropriate repositories. Equally important, Project Bionics hopes that the Guide will encourage education, scholarship, and research on artificial organ history. The Guide is focused upon historical resource materials, defined as the papers, records, films, tapes, interviews, and artifacts relevant to the history of artificial organ developments. For the purposes of the Guide, artificial organs have been broadly defined to include any biomedical replacement part for the human body, internally or externally. The Guide is organized alphabetically into three repository groupings: (1) museums, libraries, and archives; (2) industry and laboratories; and (3) professional societies and agencies. General information on each repository is contained within each citation, including location, telephone and fax numbers, website URL if available, contact person’s name and title, hours of operation, and a brief abstract on the holdings, and mandate of the repository in general. The value of the Guide is the description of each collection as it relates to the history of artificial organs. Each collection entry includes title, date, quantity, biographical/historical note, collection description, finding aid, restrictions, and related material. The biographical/historical note provides background information on the individual or institution or general history directly related to the origins and evolution of the collection. The collection description summarizes the content of the collection and, when possible, includes a listing of collection items directly related to the history of artificial organs. The collection entries vary in length, reflecting the size and information available on each collection. A listing of collections identified to date is included in Appendix B. The information collected for the Guide was structured using the Encoded Archival Description (EAD) format. The project staff gathered data on access and services, location, quantity, subject contents, restrictions, and other pertinent information. It is hoped that this format will allow for standardization across varying types of materials as well as repositories at which these records are located. The EAD format also facilitates the production of an online searchable version of this Guide. People and Institutions Contacted for the Guide A great number of public repositories, corporate offices, professional societies, and individuals were contacted throughout the course of compiling the Guide in an attempt to be as comprehensive as possible. The next step is to identify any other collections—public and private—that could contribute to knowledge of artificial organ history. Hopefully, the Guide will encourage institutions and individuals to contact Project Bionics regarding objects, personal papers, photos, or other historical material not presently included in the Guide. Closing Project Bionics welcomes your assistance in identifying additional public and private collections relating to the history of artificial organs. This is a crucial step towards ensuring that the preserved historical record will be as complete as possible for future researchers and historians. Artificial organ research is a relatively young field, and as a result this project has the opportunity of capturing history as it is being made. Enlisting the cooperation of the historical participants at this stage will contribute to the integrity of the historical record, an aim of Project Bionics that cannot be accomplished without the support of this community. Acknowledgment The authors thank all of the people and institutions that were contacted, and Project Bionics appreciates their assistance in providing information and directing us to additional historical materials. Most of these people and institutions are listed in the Guide as individual entries. Our hope is that they will use the Guide and contact Project Bionics when the time comes to revise information regarding the collections. Some people and institutions that were contacted for information for the Guide did not have any relevant material and thus are not listed. We thank them nonetheless and hope that they will contact Project Bionics if this changes. It is the intention of Project Bionics to include any new materials that relate to the history of artificial organs that it might acquire in updates to the Guide. The following societies and repositories were contacted, but were not included in the Guide for reasons already identified: American College of Cardiology, American College of Surgeons, American Society of Nephrology, Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, The Alan Mason Chesney Medical Archives, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Institute Archives and Special Collections, Medical History Museum of Nova Scotia, Rockefeller University, Rockefeller Archive Center, Society of Thoracic Surgeons, Society of Vascular Surgery, Surgical Historical Society, University of Miami, Transplantation Society, University of Minnesota, Wangensteen Historical Library History of Medicine Collection, and World Heart Corporation (see University of Ottawa Heart Institute, which is included in the Guide).

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