The AANS Archives Committee enjoyed ample space and presented an exhibit on the History of Aneurysm and Microneuro-surgery at the Orlando Convention Center. The Exhibit was made possible through instrument and book donations to the Archives through the membership and educational grants made by the corporate exhibitors who exhibited in the Archives Booth – Aesculap, Codman/Johnson & Johnson Professional, Inc., Midas Rex, and Carl Zeiss, Inc.
The AANS Archives portion of the exhibit included the first surgical microscope used in a neurosurgical case in August 1957; photographs from the first course in microneurosurgery which was presented by UCLA; an assortment of pre-1970 aneurysm and microsurgical instruments; prototype aneurysm clips developed by Milton D. Heifetz; a pilojector instrument; photographs of many of the pioneers in aneurysm and microneurosurgery accompanying pages from instrumentation catalogs depicting the instruments they developed; a video of J. Lawrence Pool doing aneurysm surgeries during the 1960s; and various selections from the “Leaders in Neuroscience” video-interview series. An important component of the exhibit was a booklet with recollections from many pioneers about their roles in the development of the fields of aneurysms and microneurosurgery.
A highlight of the exhibit was a book signing with Dr. Peter McL. Black of “Harvey Cushing at the Brigham” and the “Surgical Art of Harvey Cushing”. Neurosurgeons who had previously purchased the books were notified prior to the meeting of the book signing and invited to bring their copies to the Archives Exhibit for Dr. Black to autograph and books were available for the signing on-site. We appreciate Dr. Black’s participation in this increasingly popular portion of the Archives exhibit activities.
The Archives Committee would also like to thank neurosurgeons who provided assistance in the “Photo Identification Project.” There are people who have not been identified in some of the photographs maintained by the Archives. Laser copies of these photographs were displayed in the exhibit with an entreaty to identify previously unrecognized individuals. Thanks to our knowledgeable visitors, many new identifications were made. Photos with unidentified individuals remaining will be taken to the next Annual Meeting with the hopes of attracting more neurosurgeons to this endeavor.
The AANS Archives Committee would like to thank the following companies and individuals for their contributions and support of the 1995 History of Aneurysm and Microneurosurgery Exhibit.
Corporate Sponsors:
- Aesculap
- Codman & Shurtleff
- Midas Rex
- Carl Zeiss, Inc.
Donors of Displayed Items:
- Baxter/V. Mueller
Niles, IL - Barton A. Brown, MD
Mariposa, CA - Codman & Shurtleff
Braintree, MA - Ralph Cloward, MD
Honolulu, HI - Joseph F. Dorsey, MD
Belmont, MA - Milton D. Heifetz, MD
Beverly Hills, CA - Peter J. Jannetta, MD
Pittsburgh, PA - Franklin Jelsma
Louisville, KY - Theodore Kurze, MD
Newport Beach, CA - George C. Manning, MD
Fort Wayne, IN - Fred Murtaugh, MD
Philadelphia, PA - T. Glenn Pait, MD
Little Rock, AR - J. Lawrence Pool, MD
West Cornwall, CT - Emil Seletz, MD
Los Angeles, CA
Booklet Contributors:
- Jules Hardy, MD
Montreal, PQ, Canada - Milton D. Heifetz, MD
Beverly Hills, CA - “In Memory of Frank Mayfield”
John Tew, Jr., MD
Cincinnati, OH - Sean Mullan, MD
Chicago, IL - J. Lawrence Pool, MD
West Cornwall, CT - Albert L. Rhoton, Jr., MD
Gainesville, FL - Oscar Sugar, MD
San Diego, CA - “In Memory of Thoralf Sundt”
Edward R. Laws, Jr., MD
Charlottesville, VA - Gazi Yasargil, MD
Little Rock, AR
Additional Support:
- Peter McL. Black, MD
Boston, MA - Charles Drake, MD
London, ON, Canada - Freeman Decorating
Braintree, MA - InfoMedix
Garden Grove, CA - Leonard Malis, MD
New York, NY - James L. Stone, MD
Chicago, IL - The Upjohn Company
Kalamazoo, MI
A Tale of an Uncompromisingly Civilized Gentleman
Ferenc Aladar Gyorgyey, MA, ABD, Historical Medical Librarian for one of the most remarkable collections in the world, retired after thirty-five years at Yale University, in June, 1994. I served as his secretary and aide-de-camp for twelve years. I was the only person, in his entire life, to whom he ever raised his voice. He never forgave me that, and I must always carry this burden.
Working with Ferenc was never prosaic. The endless inquiries and requests to be answered; the mountain of book catalogues that arrived; the memos and scribbled notes from telephone conversations- all with tasks attached; the constant arrival of visitors, researchers, scholars, and students seeking books, letters, papers, pictures, direction, empathy, essences, of a particular or of a general nature; all the flotsam and jetsam, he met with his particular wit, charm, and elegance of manner.
Organizing his oceanic-depth desktop, in the age before this simple architectural surface became an icon on the computer screen, was like sweeping the beach. Eventually we commissioned a dropcloth painted to resemble the desktop, and covered it.
His philosophy of the ideal library can now be revealed: a library that no one used, so he could pursue his personal bibliophilic pleasures. Ferenc had a simple solution to library security: a German shepherd. His strategy was to allow unmonitored access to the closed stacks for any clothed individual. Upon leaving the locked collections, they would be sniffed by a dog trained to smell books. Unrestricted access with infallible security. Who knows, one day his idea might prove indispensable. It certainly is cost effective.
Gyorgyey Aladar Ferenc, an ex-patriot Hungarian intellectual, arrived at the Historical Library in 1956, following the failed Revolution, and after liberation from eight years incarceration (with Hungary’s finest legislators, literati, and liberals), in an Communist prison camp. He was particularly pleased with the crime which he was accused, ‘a Gaullist spy’; and he was always enormously proud that the authorities closely monitored (bugged) his return visits to his native country, as late as the 1980s. He was still a puissant force.
Ferenc arrived at the Medical Library as a cataloguer, hired by the legendary Miss Madeline E. Stanton, Harvey Cushing’s formidable secretary (who became the first Historical Librarian). His initial task was canvassing the vast collections shipped from Switzerland by Arnold Klebs, a mentor both from Cushing and Fulton, materials that did not arrive until after the war, and after the death of Dr. Klebs. Under Miss Stanton’s strict tutelage, punctuated by her dry wit, he absorbed her immense knowledge of the splendiferous collections, and the individuals -living and dead- that were the ‘guts and gears’ of the Historical Library. He soon became Assistant Historical Librarian, and upon Miss Stanton’s retirement, assumed her title.
A gentleman of the old school, he carried the burden of uncompromising principles. That he was to see Hungary free during his lifetime, and his friend, medical historian and director of the Semmelweis Medical Museum in Budapest, the late Jozsef Antall, elected as Prime Minister was perhaps his greatest joy. At the AAHM banquets in Baltimore in 1990, Ferenc sent round a card for all the membership to sign, congratulating Antall. Oswei and Lillian Temkin signed. It brought 400 individuals a personal connection to the unimaginable events occurring in Eastern Europe at the beginning of the last decade of our century.
He witnessed the old ways pass and the new encroach. He adapted well to some, and would not discuss others. Despite his constant protestations about his artless incompetence when the computer arrived, if you visit him today, you will probably catch him pecking away at the keyboard, blissfully navigating the infobahn.
Beyond the daily business of collection stewardship, reference, and research, the offices were refuge for discussion and debate of every nuance of the human comi-tragedy: foreign affairs, current events, art, literature, the stock market (he never forgave himself for not buying Xerox), politics, medical conditions (i.e. gynecomastia), and the latest jokes. An unparalleled raconteur, his insights profound, his forbearance unbridled, when testing the microphone for lectures and events, he crooned Hungarian torch songs. I believe his secret wish was to have been Hungary’s Frank Sinatra. He is far more accomplished than that.
Shortly after his retirement in June of 1994, he related to me that he could not now imagine how he had previously had the time to work. Ferenc has just returned from several months travel and research in Hungary. I met him before Christmas and he said his largest enterprise just now is growing his mustache. I answered, “But it is definitely grown.” he replied, ” How little you know. It requires so much, and so much more.””
It was my greatest good fortune to have Ferenc Gyorgyey as mentor, confidant, and colleague. I can think of no finer human attainment than to be considered his friend. He is the best company, suffused with solace, wit, and quip. Upon his retirement, the Historical Library has lost its last maestro, and with him, much of its resounding symphony.
Susan Alon
Clinton, Connecticut
1996 Archives Exhibit:
The History of Transsphenoidal and Pituitary Surgery
The Archives Committee has chosen the theme of “The History of Transsphenoidal and Pituitary Surgery” for the 1996 Exhibit in Minneapolis, MN. If you have items that you would like to display in this exhibit with your neurosurgical colleagues, please contact
Archives Coordinator
American Association of Neurological Surgeons
22 South Washington Street
Park Ridge, Illinois 60068
(708) 692-9500