AACR Timeline—Rapid Growth of Research and the AACR: 1940-1963

1940

• On March 18, at a Business Meeting held during the 33rd Annual Meeting, the first AACR Board of Directors is elected.
  
  • 1940-1941 
    Elexious T. Bell
    George H.A. Clowes
    Clarence C. Little
    William H. Woglom
  • 1940-1942
    James Ewing
    James B. Murphy
    George M. Smith
    Carl Voegtlin
  • 1940-1943
    Howard B. Andervont
    Halsey J. Bagg
    Burton T. Simpson
    Alphonse A. Thibaudeau
    
• On March 19, at the Business Meeting, the AACR’s certificate of incorporation is adopted.
• The American Journal of Cancer ceases publication with the December issue. Editor-in-chief Francis Carter Wood writes a farewell editorial.

1941

• In January, the inaugural issue of Cancer Research is published. The chair of the Editorial Committee, James B. Murphy, serves as editor.
• In April, at the 34th Annual Meeting, the first AACR Bylaws are adopted. (Bylaws are revised periodically over the years to today’s version.)

1943

• The Annual Meeting is suspended from 1943-1945 because of World War II. The proceedings from the canceled 1943 meeting are
  published in Cancer Research in 1945.

1947

• At the 38th Annual Meeting, May 16-17, a policy presentation is made: “On the Organization and Support of Cancer Research” (proceedings page 739), which concludes that the AACR should advocate for increased funding.

1952

• A registration fee of $3.00 is introduced for the Annual Meeting.
• Hugh J. Creech is appointed Secretary-Treasurer (chief administrator); he serves the AACR in that position until 1977.

1953

• Annual Meeting attendance is recorded for the first time. A total of 487 people attend the 44th Annual Meeting.

1957

• Elizabeth C. Miller is the first woman elected to the AACR Board of Directors.

1959

• AACR membership exceeds 1,000.

1961

• The first AACR award, the G.H.A. Clowes Award, is presented to Renato Dulbecco, who presents the first award lecture.

• The first position paper, “Guiding Principles in the Care and Use of Animals in Cancer Research,” is published in Cancer Research in response to proposed legislation.

• The first woman president of the AACR, Thelma B. Dunn, is inducted.

• The first history of the AACR is published in Cancer Research.
  Triolo VA, Riegel IL. The American Association for Cancer Research, 1907-1940: Historical Review. Cancer Res. February 1961;21:137-67.
• Triolo VA, Riegel IL. Postscripts to the history of the AACR. Cancer Res. December 1961;21:1595-6.

1963

• Cancer Research moves to publication by a commercial publisher (Williams & Wilkins, later Waverly Press).