When the small group of men who were the charter members of the American Dermatological Association assembled at Niagara in 1877 for the first annual meeting, they witnessed the termination of an epoch in American dermatology and the beginning of a new era.
The inaugural meeting of the association marks the close of the pioneer period in the history of dermatology in this country. During most of that period dermatology existed in an unorganized state, and its condition was reflected in the restricted practice and in the meager teaching of the day. Its interests were promoted by the individual efforts of a relatively small number of men in general practice, many of them surgeons, whose special dermatologic knowledge was such as the time afforded, but who had few opportunities for personal contact or for professional advancement. The lack in their number was in part counterbalanced by their individual worth. Except