British Association of Sport and Exercise Medicine

The archives document the work of BASM/BASEM and consist mainly of minutes of the Executive, AGMs and Council meetings; executive correspondence; conference programmes; as well as personal papers collected by BASM officers. There is also a section on the National Sports Medicine Institute (NSMI), an organisation established to co-ordinate all organisations with an interest in sports medicine, and who provided financial and administrative assistance for the running of BASEM Education courses.

1952-2003

10 boxes

The collection is arranged in sections as follows:

A. Minutes and associated papers

B. Correspondence of the Executive

C. Administrative and Subject files

D. Congresses and Conferences

E. Membership

F. National Sports Medicine Institute (NSMI) files

G. Personal Papers of BASM/BASEM officers

These papers were given to the library at Wellcome Collection in March 2009 by Dr Neil Carter of De Montfort University Leicester

The British Association of Sport and Medicine (BASM) (renamed the British Association of Sport and Exercise Medicine (BASEM) in 2000) was founded in 1953 with the aim of making it the authoritative body on every medical aspect of athletics and exercise. The association's foundation was instigated by Sir Adolphe Abrahams (the first President) and Sir Arthur Porritt (the first Chairman); Dr. W.S. Tegner became the first Secretary-Treasurer. Membership was to be open to medical representatives nominated by all national sporting bodies, medical men and women with a qualification acknowledged in the United Kingdom and an interest in sport, and other scientists with similar interests; today membership of the association is open to all those who are suitably qualified and involved in the care and welfare of the exercising individual.

The intentions and aims, laid out in the first AGM, were to advise on all the general principles of athletic training and upon the various medical conditions which would and would not prohibit participation in sport; study the inevitable injuries of sport and its dangers, particularly those associated with violent exercise and the dangers of boxing; and to investigate the fitness of women and girls to take part in vigorous exercise. Research was also to play an important part in the Association's activities and it was hoped that this would break new ground. Today, the Association aims to promote and study methods for the protection and improvement of public health and fitness amongst members of the public participating in sporting, recreational and other leisure-time activities, as well as to promote research into the causation and treatment of medical problems arising from such activities and into the scientific and psychological aspects of athletic and sporting achievement.

BASM also became the responsible organisation for co-ordinating Sports Medicine in the United Kingdom with other institutions and associations and since 1975 provided sport medicine education. Today the association continues to provide introductory courses and clinical skills courses to GPs, Specialist Registrars and Physical Therapists who have a special interest in Sports Medicine.

BASM became a Company Limited by Guarantee in 1985 and a Registered Charity in 1986. The official journal of the Association is the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

This collection has been catalogued and is available to library members. Some items have access restrictions which are explained in the item-level catalogue records.

During arrangement of the collection the major records groups, including minutes, correspondence and administrative files, which were easily discernable were sorted into sequence. A certain amount of weeding took place of ephemeral correspondence relating to BASEM membership and conference travel arrangements, as well as material relating to membership subscriptions and renewals. The material was re-filed in acid free files and boxes.

The archives were in the custody of Patrick Milroy (Secretary of BASEM between 2002 until 2006); they were collected by Dr Neil Carter (Research Fellow of the Wellcome Trust-sponsored "A History of Medicine" project) in 2006.