title: Rejected applications: an early American Academy of Neurology struggles to define its membership.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To review membership application materials (especially rejected applications) to the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) during its formative years (1947-1953).
  
  
  METHODS
  Detailed study of materials in the AAN Historical Collection.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The author identified 73 rejected applications. Rejected applicants (71 male, 2 female) lived in 25 states. The largest number was for the Associate membership category (49). These were individuals "in related fields who have made and are making contributions to the field of neurology." By contrast, few applicants to Active membership or Fellowship status were rejected. The largest numbers of rejectees were neuropsychiatrists (19), neurosurgeons (16), and psychiatrists (14).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The AAN, established in the late 1940s, was a small and politically vulnerable organization. A defining feature of the fledgling society was its inclusiveness; its membership was less restrictive than that of the older American Neurological Association. At the same time, the society needed to preserve its core as a neurologic society rather than one of psychiatry or neurosurgery. Hence, the balance between inclusiveness and exclusive identity was a difficult one to maintain. The Associate membership category, more than any other, was at the heart of this issue of self-definition. Associate members were largely practitioners of psychiatry or neurosurgery. Their membership was a source of consternation and was to be carefully been held in check during these critical formative years.
authors.affiliation: From the GH Sergievsky Center, the Department of Neurology, and the Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging Brain, College of Physicians and Surgeons, and the Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY. EDL2@columbia.edu.
authors.forename: Elan D
authors.initials: ED
authors.lastname: Louis
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009462:Neurology / Q000266:history* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D009493:Neurosurgery; D011570:Psychiatry; D012955:Societies, Medical / Q000266:history* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014481:United States