Past Presidents of the 1950’s

1959 – 1961   Mary Converse, RRL

1957 – 1959   Jean Poor, RRL
1955 – 1957   Ruth Glavey, RRL
1953 – 1955   Dorothea Howe, RRL
1951 – 1953   Dorothy Martyny, RRL
1949 – 1951   Edith Bayers, RRL


By the 1950’s the members of the Massachusetts Association of Medical Record Librarians knew who they were professionally and the role they played in health care facilities. They were also aware that they needed to make their profession better known to the public. The public relations committee sent fliers about the profession to Massachusetts high school guidance counselors. Northeastern University broadcast information about the profession on its radio program “Career Forum”. Articles on the profession appeared in the Boston Globe and in the Boston Evening American.

In 1954 the St. Joseph’s Hospital School for Medical Record Technicians in Lowell opened, becoming the third school of its kind in the United States to be approved by the Council on Medical Education and Hospitals of the A.M.A. The first class was composed of three women, and subsequently seven students were accepted annually. Sister Marie Roger, SGC, RRL was the director of the program from its conception until 1970.

The association appointed a committee in 1958 to investigate the possibility of university affiliation for courses in medical record library science. The object was to arrange an educational opportunity for a person who worked in the medical record department allowing them to work while learning. Northeastern University Evening Division agreed to have a program beginning in September 1959.

During this decade:

  • In 1950 Grace Whiting Myers died at the age of 97.
  • Louise Seymour, Director of Medical Records at the New England Deaconess Hospital was elected president of AAMRL in 1953.
  • The first issue of “Channel MAMRL” was published in June 1957.
  • In 1958 the AAMRL annual meeting, celebrating its thirtieth anniversary was held in Boston.