Forest Grunigen files on the California Osteopathic Association, 1901-1990, bulk 1941-1963

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Summary

Creators:
Grunigen, Forest
Abstract:
This collection comprises files on the California Osteopathic Association (COA) that were accumulated by Forest Grunigen, a California osteopath who was an active member of the organization and served as its president in the 1940s. Materials include correspondence, meeting minutes, photographs, news clippings and reports. The bulk of the material covers the COA/California Medical Association (CMA) merger, in which Grunigen was a key figure. Also in the collection are the files of Dain Tasker, who served as the Historian of COA in the 1950s. His files include an unpublished manuscript of his history of the osteopathic profession in California.
Extent:
3.7 Linear Feet (5 boxes)
Language:
English .
Preferred citation:

Forest Grunigen files on the California Osteopathic Association. AS-083. Special Collections and Archives, The UC Irvine Libraries, Irvine, California. Date accessed.

For the benefit of current and future researchers, please cite any additional information about sources consulted in this collection, including permanent URLs, item or folder descriptions, and box/folder locations.

Background

Scope and content:

This collection comprises Forest Grunigen's files on the California Osteopathic Association of which he was an active member and served as president in the 1940s. Materials include correspondence, meeting minutes, photographs, news clippings and reports. The bulk of the material covers the COA/CMA merger of which Grunigen was a key figure. Also in the collection are the files of Dain Tasker who served as the Historian of COA in the 1950s. His files include his unpublished manuscript of the history of the osteopathic profession in California.

Biographical / historical:

Forest Grunigen served as president of the California Osteopathic Association (COA) in 1943 and played a leading role in establishing the medical school at UC Irvine. COA was established in 1900 as an affiliate of the American Osteopathic Association (AOA) and, along with the College of Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons (COPS), was a figurehead of the osteopathic tradition in California.

Osteopathy, from the Greek osteon (bone) and pathos (to suffer), was coined by Dr. Andrew Taylor Still who, in the late 1800s, sought a more holistic approach to curing disease than the traditional medicine that he and his fellow medical doctors were practicing. He believed that disease interrupted the flow of blood and nervous impulses but, through manipulation of the bones, one can restore that flow and, thus, restore health to the patient.

This non-traditional approach to curing illness was suspect to many in the medical community. Osteopathy struggled to gain credibility. In 1922 California passed State Measure 22, the Osteopathic Initiative Act. It established a board that had jurisdiction over examination and licensure of Doctors of Osteopathy (D.O.) and legally recognized it as a distinct medical profession.

In the mid-1940s, the COA, led by Forest Grunigen and the COA's Fact Finding Committee, began talks to merge with the California Medical Association (CMA), led by Wayne Pollack and CMA's Committee on Other Professions. The terms of the merger included granting D.O.s M.D. degrees, elimination of the osteopathic licensing boards, and conversion of the College of Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons into a medical school.

In 1960, the AOA revoked COA's charter when it defied AOA's request to cease merger talks. This action left California without a licensing board. A splinter group of osteopaths who opposed exchanging their D.O.s for M.D.s, formed in 1960, naming themselves the Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons of California (OPSC). In 1961, an agreement between the CMA and COA was reached. The OPSC filed suit alleging that the merger was a conspiracy to destroy the osteopathic profession in California. Two more suits followed, later in 1961 and in 1962, but in all cases, the court found in favor of the defendants.

In the midst of all these events, Dain Tasker, historian of the COA, was working on his history of the profession in California. Tasker had long been involved in osteopathic professional activities in California, having been the president of the first board of osteopathic examiners in 1901. This gave him a unique perspective into the topic. The manuscript was never published but there are extant copies, one of which is included in this collection, another of which is included in AS-027 (California College of Medicine records).

COPS, now renamed the California College of Medicine (CCM), became part of the University of California system in 1963. Forest Grunigen, who was so instrumental in the COA/CMA merger, and Warren Bostick, the new dean of CCM, recognized that CCM would be better served if it were associated with on of the UC campuses. On April 5, 1967, CCM officially became a part of the University of California, Irvine.

Chronology
Date Event
1900
California Osteopathic Association established
1940
Negotiations between California Osteopathic Association (COA) and California Medical Association (CMA) begin
1943
Forest Grunigen elected president of the COA
1943
Grunigen appoints Fact Finding Committee to lead merger talks with CMA
1952
Cline Committee report completed
1960
Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons of California (OPSC) is formed in opposition to the merger
1961
COA/CMA merger is successful
1963
California College of Medicine joins the UC system
1968
CCM relocated to UC Irvine campus
1999
Forest Grunigen dies
Acquisition information:
Gift of Forest and Dolores Grunigen, 1995.
Processing information:

Processed by Anne Mar, 2004.

Arrangement:

This collection is arranged in five series.

  • Series 1. California Osteopathic Associaiton/California Medical Association merger, 1941-1962. 1.0 linear feet
  • Series 2. California Osteopathic Association, Board of Trustees meeting materials, 1951-1962. 0.3 linear feet
  • Series 3. Dain Tasker writings, correspondence and other materials, 1950s. 0.4 linear feet
  • Series 4. Photographic material, 1901-1989. 1.6 linear feet
  • Series 5. Scrapbooks, 1912-1961. 0.4 linear feet

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

The collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

Property rights and copyright reside with the University of California. For permissions to reproduce or to publish, please contact the University Archivist.

Preferred citation:

Forest Grunigen files on the California Osteopathic Association. AS-083. Special Collections and Archives, The UC Irvine Libraries, Irvine, California. Date accessed.

For the benefit of current and future researchers, please cite any additional information about sources consulted in this collection, including permanent URLs, item or folder descriptions, and box/folder locations.

Location of this collection:
Special Collections and Archives
The UCI Libraries, P.O. Box 19557
Irvine, CA 92623-9557, US
Contact:
(949) 824-3947
spcoll@uci.libanswers.com
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