This PowerPoint presents the 43 panels in detail that makes up the 150th Anniversary of the AVMA Official Display.

1. As in Britain, few considered veterinary medicine a fit
pursuit for educated persons, and by 1850 only a dozen
or so graduate veterinarians practiced in America.
Before the Civil war, the veterinary profession was
small in number, unorganized, diverse and poorly trained.
They made up of a group of men who were farriers,
blacksmiths, foreign trained veterinarians and physicians
(both schooled and unschooled), with little regulation and
largely urban.

2. By 1850, fewer than two dozen veterinarians had
immigrated from Europe to America, there still were no
veterinary medical schools in the United States. During
the last quarter of the nineteenth century, however, the
number of veterinarians in the U.S. increased. Some were
European immigrants, others came from schools in Canada
(and for the first time there were graduates from schools
on this continent).

3. During the 1850’s things began to happen in
American veterinary medical circles. Only a handful of
veterinarians were listed in the census of 1850,
yet hundreds of “practitioners” decided they were
veterinarians and belonged in the field of veterinary
medicine by the census of 1860.

4. “Organized veterinary medicine had its shaky
beginning in Philadelphia in 1854, when Robert Jennings,
a non-graduate practitioner, helped found the American
Veterinary Association. This group was superseded in
1863, when a separate group founded the United States
Veterinary Medical Association (USVMA) in New York.”
In 1863, there were only about 400 veterinarians in
seven eastern states.

5. The United States Veterinary Medical
Association was formed at the
organizational meeting on June 9-10,1863
at the Astor House in New York City
Built in1836, this photo
was taken early in 1913
before June, when the
furnishing were auctioned
off and raised in December
of that year.

6. The minutes of the first meeting
are in the handwriting of Dr.
Alexandre Liautard, secretary. Four
pages were removed from the front
of the book and the following notation
appears inscribed along the narrow
margins left when the four pages
were removed: “Margin of leaves on
which Dr. Jennings inserted minutes
of meetings held in Philadelphia
previous to the formation of this
Assoc. and while acting as
secretary.”

7. This historic document was signed
by the following: Josiah H. Stickney,
Boston, MA; George W. Bowler,
Cincinnati, OH; Arthur S. Copeman,
Utica, NY; Isaiah Michener, Bucks
County PA; R. H. Curtis, Brooklyn,
NY; John Busteed, New York, NY;
William A. Wisdom, Wilmington, DE.
(For some reason the signature of R.
H. Curtis had been crossed out).

8. At this organizational meeting in June of 1863, a
group of 40 delegates representing seven states: New
York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Delaware,
Pennsylvania, Maine and Ohio.

9. The USVMA was founded for the purpose of promoting quality
veterinary medical services, humane treatment and self-improvement
through education. At the first meeting, which was held on September 6,
1864 in New York City, NY, the organization adopted its seal, featured
Chiron the centaur (the teacher of Aesculapius) – symbolic of the antiquity
of veterinary medicine; established its motto, “Non Nobis Solum” [Not
For Us Alone].” In its first 10 years, the USVMA got off to a rough start,
as it grew very slowly, gaining only one new member in its first decade.

10. The exact date of this publication
is unknown, as the list bears no date.
However, the officers whose names are
shown on the left-hand page served for
the year 1887-1888, so it is reasonable
to presume that the list was published
sometime during 1888. There are 171
names on the list of regular members.

11. The United States Veterinary Medical Association was
formed with 38 charter members from seven eastern states. The
first president was Dr. Josiah H. Stickney, at the age of 37, a
graduate of Harvard Medical School in Boston and qualified at the
Royal Veterinary College, London as a Veterinary Surgeon.

12. Born in Paris, in 1835, obtained
his veterinary medical degree from
Toulouse Veterinary College in 1856.
He received his MD from Univ.
Medical College, New York City in
1865. Served as the Dean of the
New York University Veterinary
Medical College for twenty-five years
(1864-1889). Considered by many
as the “Father of American veterinary
profession.”

13. Dr. Daniel Salmon, first Chief of the
Bureau of Animal Industry in 1884, and was
the last USVMA president 1897-1898.
The first D.V.M. degree from Cornell
University was awarded in 1876 to Dr.
Salmon, which was the loose equivalent of a
PhD in today’s standards. This D.V.M.
degree, incidentally, the first such degree
ever to have been conferred in North
America and possibly in the entire world.

15. After thirty-five years, the renaming of the USVMA as
the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) took
place at the USVMA 35th Annual Veterinary Convention in
Omaha, Nebraska, in September 6, 7 & 8,1898.
The USVMA changed its name when extending its
sovereignty beyond adjacent international boundaries. Thus
its name was changed to the American Veterinary Medical
Association.

16. Dr. Albert W. Clement became the
first president of the newly named
organization, the American Veterinary
Medical Association, at the age of 41.
Graduated from McGill University in 1882.
He was born in 1857 and died in
1899, the year after his presidency.

17. Dr. Roscoe Bell earned his D.V.S.
degree from the American Veterinary
College in 1887, was on the faculty of
the American Veterinary College and the
New York-American Veterinary College.
He served as president of the AVMA in
1903–1904. Dr. Bell was the co-editor
with Dr. Liautard of the highly acclaimed
medical journal, American Veterinary
Review.

18. Dr. James Law, a distinguished
veterinarian and teacher, received his
training at Edinburgh Veterinary College in
Scotland, was hired in 1865 to establish a
veterinary school at Cornell University in
Ithaca, New York.
Dr. Law began teaching students in
1868, thus the first veterinary students at
a university in the United States.

19. Dr. John Gunion Rutherford was born
in Scotland, graduated from the Ontario
Veterinary College, was Veterinary
Director General of Canada from 1902-12,
and Livestock Commissioner of Canada
from 1906-12. Early in the century,
Rutherford was instrumental in
establishing the policies and procedures
that would lead to the eventual eradication
of glanders.

20. Dr. Alonzo Melvin graduated
from the Chicago Veterinary
College in 1886, was the second
Chief of the Bureau of Animal
Industry from 1905 to 1917 and
AVMA president 1909–1910.

21. Dr. Elinor McGrath was the
first woman to graduate from the
Chicago Veterinary College in
1910. Dr. McGrath was the first
woman to be admitted to
membership at the 53rd annual
meeting of the AVMA in Detroit,
1916. She practiced small animal
medicine in Chicago for more than
35 years in a neighborhood largely
filled with immigrants from all over
Europe.

22. Dr. Bobbye Alexander Chancellor was
the first woman elected Vice-President of
the AVMA in 1978, for two terms, making
her also the first to sit on the AVMA
Executive Board.
Dr. Chancellor transformed the Vice-
President's role into the Board's Liaison
to veterinary medical students.
No other woman was elected to the
Executive Board until 1990.

23. Dr. Mary Beth Leininger was the first
woman AVMA president in 1996. Dr.
Leininger was a small animal practitioner
in Plymouth, Michigan. Her main issue
was greater communication from
members to the leadership. Her
campaign was the first to use electronic
media, a Q&A on NOAH. Earlier, Dr.
Leininger had served for nine years on
the AVMA Council of Public Relations.

24. With the pressing need for veterinarians created by an
ever increasing demand for horse power, private American
veterinary medical colleges grew rapidly.
During this time, many private veterinary colleges were
offering two year programs (four months per year), which
culminated in granting the degree of Veterinary Surgeon
(VS). A large percent-age of draft and pleasure horses
made up the largest part of the veterinary medical
practices in the U.S., at that time.

25. A general education was required and was proven by an
admission examination. Their curriculum consisted of a four
month session each year, over a two year period, they were
referred to as ”two-year” men.
The Chicago Veterinary College was the largest of the 26
private veterinary medical colleges, with a total of 2610
graduates over a period of 37 years.

26. Kansas City (MO) Veterinary College was founded in
1891 as a two year college, in 1896 it became a three-year
veterinary medical college. It was considered by many as
the best private veterinary medical college of that day. It
became the second largest with a total of 1789 graduates.
The KCVC main building built in 1903

27. McKillip Veterinary College
(Chicago) was known as the largest
practice in the world; as part of the
class instruction, students would
work with their professors in a
clinical practice outside the college.
Classes started with a course of
three collegiate years of six months
each. This college produced 1223
graduates from 1897 until it
closed in 1920.

28. In 1905, the St. Louis Veterinary Dental College was housed in
this building at 2301 Locust Street. This college offered a short,
popular, practical and scientific course in equine and canine dentistry,
taught in eleven weeks. The first session opened on October 12th,
but closed it’s doors after only six months.

29. In 1868, Cornell University became unique in being a
publicly-funded, but administrated at a private land-grant
university. It was the first university to hire a professor of
veterinary medicine and began teaching veterinary medical
students that year. However, there were only four veterinary
graduates between 1876 and 1894. The degree was
B.V.Sc. for veterinarian and D.V.M. for the loose equivalent of
a PhD for further graduate study.

30. In 1879, Iowa State
College School of Veterinary
Medicine became the first
school to establish a distinct
veterinary college with land-
grant money.
Length of course: 1879-
1886, two years; 1887-1902,
three years; 1903 to the
present, four years. Old Veterinary Hospital, 1885-1912
The first year (1880) there were only 5 graduates.

31. New York State Veterinary
College at Cornell University
was established in 1894. The
nation’s first veterinary DVM
degree was granted at Cornell
in 1876 to Daniel Salmon,
best known as the discoverer
of Salmonella.
James Law
Hall

32. Dr. Benjamin Rush, head of the
Medical School, recommended the
establishment of a veterinary
medical school in 1807.
In 1884, the Department of
Veterinary Medicine was
established at the University of
Pennsylvania with a three year
course. The School of Veterinary
Medicine was developed in 1910,
then in 1916 the school offered a Old Vet Quadrangle at Penn in 1884
four year curriculum.

33. Michigan State College was
founded in 1855 by the State of
Michigan with its own state grants of land, the
of land. Michigan State’s model
provided a precedent for the federal
Morrill Act of 1862. Michigan State
College School of Veterinary Medicine
was established in 1910. Length of
course: four years. The first year
(1913) had one graduate and the
second year had two graduates. Giltner Hall

36. The AVMA held their 75th annual
convention at the Hotel Pennsylvania in
New York City, NY. This meeting would
commemorate the 75th anniversary of
the founding of the Association. It
would return to the city in which it was
organized, to celebrate its Diamond
Jubilee.

37. Record-Breaking Attendance
5,038 veterinarians and visitors
2,243 veterinarians
877 women
483 children
823 exhibitor representatives
168 veterinary medical students
444 guests

39. In 1863, the official symbol of the USVMA was of
the god Chiron as represented by the figure of half man
and half horse. It appeared on the cover of the official
Journal of the AVMA after the AVMA purchased the
American Veterinary Review in 1915.

40. In 1919, both the San Joaquin Veterinary Medical
Association in Fresno, CA and the California State
Veterinary Medical Association adopted the Caduceus
emblem.
Then, at the 59th AVMA Convention in St. Louis,
MO in 1922, the House of Delegates adopted the
Caduceus emblem with the “V” superimposed.

41. For many years, starting in 1933, a small group of
AVMA members proposed changing this emblem.
Even in 1934, numerous journals wrote of concerns
that the Caduceus was confused with the symbol of
Aesculapius which had a medical connection.

42. This small group of AVMA members, lead by Dr. Joseph
M. Arburua, joined later by Dr. J. Fred Smithcors, both from
California, tried to change the official logo of the AVMA.
After four attempts, they convinced the House of Delegates
at the 107th AVMA Convention in Las Vegas, NV in July of
1970, to adopt the Aesculapian image. It was a 37 year
struggle, to prove a point.