Fonds Gayle Stephens

CHFM OBTAINS G. GAYLE STEPHENS, M.D. COLLECTION

The Center for the History of Family Medicine (CHFM) has obtained a significant new donation in the form of the papers of G. Gayle Stephens, M.D.

Widely regarded as one of the pioneering leaders in the specialty, Dr. Stephens was the founding director of one of the nation’s first Family Practice residency programs in  Wichita, Kansas, and was instrumental in the formation of  a residency program at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.

A prolific writer and recognized scholar in the specialty, Dr. Stephens’1982 book The Intellectual Basis of Family Medicine has been hailed by many as one of the most influential works on Family Medicine ever written.  According to family physician and Family Medicine scholar Dr. Joseph E. Scherger, “the history of family practice has been chronicled by many writers, notably John Geyman and Robert Taylor, but the clearest description of the theoretical basis of the new specialty belongs to Gayle Stephens. Always a humble man from Kansas who counted his blessings as a witness to history, Gayle became the towering voice for family practice as a reform specialty within medicine.”

The G. Gayle Stephens, M.D. Collection at CHFM consists of approximately 4  linear feet of material relating to Dr. Stephens’ career and service in Family Medicine, and includes correspondence and professional papers, published and unpublished works, speeches, awards and other materials. His collection also includes files related to his work establishing residency programs in Wichita and Huntsville.

The donation, a generous gift to the Center from Dr. Stephens, is one of the most significant major collections from a past leader in the specialty to be donated to the Center in its more than two decades of operation. “As one of the premier leaders in the specialty, we are very excited to receive the papers of Dr. Stephens and include them in our permanent collections,” said CHFM Manager Don Ivey. “I cannot emphasize enough how important preserving these papers will be to the future; in fact, I don’t believe that we could truly tell the story of the history of the specialty of Family Medicine in America without them.”

Housed at AAFP headquarters and administered by the AAFP Foundation, the Center for the  History of Family Medicine serves as the principal resource center for the collection, conservation, exhibition and study of materials relating to the history of Family Medicine in the United States.  For more information on the Center, please contact Center staff via telephone at 1-800-274-2237 (ext. 4420 or 4422), via fax at (913) 906-6095, via e-mail at chfm@aafp.org, or visit our web site at http://www.aafpfoundation.org/chfm ( http://www.aafpfoundation.org/historycenter.xml ).