title: The society that almost wasn't: issues of professional identity and the creation of the American Phytopathological Society in 1908.
abstract: The creation of The American Phytopathological Society (APS) in 1908 was a response to the developing professionalism in the biological and agricultural sciences in the United States between 1880 and 1920. During this period, a new generation of plant pathologists emerged in the United States Department of Agriculture, agricultural colleges, and state agricultural experiment stations with a methodological and theoretical framework to determine the cause and nature of disease and make control recommendations based on experimental evidence. These plant pathologists, in turn, became eager to establish a professional identity, for some an identity separate from traditional botany and mycology. For these scientists, the goal would be facilitated by establishing a new society for plant pathologists. The story of the creation of APS is best understood within the nature of the ensuing debates over identity and the merits of forming a new society among its first generation of scientists.
authors.affiliation: Department of Entomology, Soils, and Plants Sciences, Pee Dee Research & Education Center, Clemson University, Florence, SC 29506-9706, USA.
authors.forename: Paul D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Peterson
authors.forename: Karen-Beth G
authors.initials: KB
authors.lastname: Scholthof
mesh_terms: D049673:History, 20th Century; D010935:Plant Diseases; D012958:Societies, Scientific / Q000266:history*; D014481:United States