Minutes of the Proceedings of the Medical Society of Tennessee at the Fourth Annual Meeting Held in Nashville

Medical Society of the State of Tennessee. Minutes of the Proceedings of the Medical Society of Tennessee at the Fourth Annual Meeting Held in Nashville. Nashville: W. Hasell Hunt, 1833.

Throughout most of the 1800s, anyone in Tennessee could declare him or herself a “doctor” and practice medicine. Some of these people were in the possession of an MD, which usually required only two years of medical school. Others had only one year of training, while many more had no formal training whatever. In order to address this chaotic situation, in 1830 the Tennessee general assembly established a state medical society, with the express purpose of professionalizing medicine and issuing licenses to practice. While these licenses (rare in fact) lacked rigor and the force of law, membership in the society provided status and a means of sharing information. These proceedings documented the official business of the society, provided for correspondence from its members, and published scientific papers on relevant topics.

Since 1901, medical licensing has been handled by the State Board of Medical Examiners, and the Medical Society (now known as the Tennessee Medical Association) is now a nonprofit advocacy organization for Tennessee physicians.