British Society of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (BSAC)

Arranged in sections as follows:

A. Minutes and associated papers of the BSAC

B. Meetings programmes

C. BSAC newsletters

D. BSAC working party reports and publications

E. Conference

F. Ephemera

The BSAC was founded in 1971 as a result of a general feeling that an interdisciplinary forum was needed in Britain for the discussion and development of antimicrobial chemotherapy, a field dealing with the treatment of parasitic infections using antibacterial drugs. The Society's Council meets several times a year, as do its Committees and working parties, the minutes of which can be found in this collection (Section A). The reports of these working parties have proved to be very influential in the field of chemotherapy, several having been published in major medical journals. This collection contains examples of some of these (Section D). The spring and autumn meetings of the BSAC, as well as the joint meetings and international symposia have also been important in publicising the field and forging links with other bodies (see Section B). The Society hosted the ninth International Congress of Chemotherapy (ICC) in 1975 and has recently been successful in its bid to host the 21st ICC in Birmingham in 1999 (see item E.6).

The recent past has seen the Society's membership and influence grow. The inauguration of the L P Garrod annual lecture in 1982, named after Lawrence Paul Garrod (1895-1979), a renowned bacteriologist and world figure in the study of hospital infection and antibiotics, as well as the awarding of the international Umezawa Prize of the International Society of Chemotherapy to a BSAC Council member in 1990, demonstrate the Society's growing importance. The development of the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy and the newsletter (sections A.5 and C) have added to the Society's national and international prestige.

For a more detailed history of the society, with lists of the members of Council and of the Editorial Board of the "Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy", details of the L P Garrod lectures and of the various working parties, see item F.4 , David Speller and Jenny Andrews, "The BSAC: The first 21 years...", Jul 1993.

Chronology of important dates in the Society's history:

1971 The Society was founded, Officers to the Council appointed and Constitution formed.

1972 First Scientific meeting, Extraordinary General meeting and AGM.

1973 Negotiations begin to start a journal and find an editor. Agreement to host the 1975 ICC.

1974 First working party set up on antibiotic assay methods. Arranged for Academic Press to publish the "Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy".

1975 Ninth ICC held in London. "Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy" launched.

1977 Joint meeting with the Infectious Diseases Society of the Netherlands. Registered charity status.

1978 Honorary Membership introduced. Newsletter launched.

1979 Travel grants for the ICC introduced.

1980 L P Garrod Lecture inaugurated. National and international joint meetings planned. First British-Hellenic meeting.

1981 Endocarditis working party created. BSAC tie design adopted.

1982 Publications working party. Revised constitution.

1983 Breakpoint (later sensitivity test) working party created. Support of first European Congress of Clinical Microbiology, Bologna. Major Research Fellowship.

1984 Clinical evaluation working party created.

1985 Publications Committee created. Methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus working party created. Meetings in Beijing and Hong Kong.

1986 Garrod medals introduced and awarded to the first five Garrod Lecturers. Overseas scholarships begun.

1987 Scandinavian Society joined British-Hellenic Association. Discussions of purchase of property.

1988 Research (Grants) Committee created. Negotiations with possible London headquarters.

1991 G N Rolinson gives Umezawa lecture at the ICC in Berlin. Record of early history of Society initiated.

1992 Joint meeting with Hospital Infection Society, Association of Medical Microbiologists and the Irish Society. Education Committee created. 21st birthday meeting and dinner. Constitution updated. Council rejects London premises proposal.

1993 Bid to host 21st ICC in Birmingham in 1999 succeeded. Society co-founder of the Federation of Infection Societies.

At Wellcome Collection:

Copies of the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy and the published proceedings of two BSAC symposia can be found in the Wellcome Library's published holdings.

The following is an interim description of material that has been acquired since this collection was catalogued. This description may change when cataloguing takes place in future:

Two boxes of files were received in July 2000 (acc. 845), consisting of: meetings of programmes, photographs, memberships directories, newsletters 1990s-2000 (SA/AMC) and papers relating mostly to the 4th International Conference 1998.