The History of the American College of Rheumatology Image Library
Dr. Lockshin recalls spending long hours with other committee members debating the merits of slides and working with the Bergmans to make the collection as visually attractive and informative as possible. He praised the Bergmans for their esthetic sense—eliminating extraneous details in photos, such as bedclothing and patient jewelry, to focus on the teaching point—as well as their careful attention to light distribution and tint.
Fulfilling the adage that no good deed goes unpunished—but certainly makes a good story—Dr. Lockshin recalls being “rewarded” for his role in assembling the 1972 collection by being asked to present the collection formally during the 1973 International League Against Rheumatism (ILAR) meeting in Kyoto, Japan. Circumstances led to the ACR financing his travel by designating him the official travel guide to the other Americans traveling to the meeting.
“One of the travelers (a prominent rheumatologist whom I shall not name) decided, on his own, that my duties included personally picking up his very large, very heavy, aluminum suitcase from the luggage belt and delivering it to the transportation truck and from there to the hotel,” says Dr. Lockshin, who remembers the unnamed person smiling as he struggled to lift the luggage. The result? Dr. Lockshin ended up on the floor in his hotel room with “exquisite back pain.” Dr. Lockshin adds, “Forty-seven years later I remember this, including his maddening smile. I didn’t pick up his luggage when we returned to New York.”
Joseph Croft, MD, clinical professor of rheumatology at Georgetown University Medical Center and past president of the ACR, overlapped with Dr. Lockshin’s term on the Audiovisual Aids Subcommittee from 1974–88. Dr. Croft served as committee chair from 1975–82.
During his tenure, Dr. Croft led major revisions to the Clinical Slide Collection that culminated in the publication of a second edition in 1981, called the Revised Clinical Slide Collection on the Rheumatic Diseases. He remembers fondly the long hours spent with the Bergmans in dark rooms using Kodak Carousel projectors to review Kodachrome 35 mm color slides for the smallest of details in background colors, content accuracy and avoidance of visual distractions to ensure the highest quality.
“We spent nights in dark rooms going over hundreds of slides, changing bulbs in the projector to see what light worked to obtain the best reproductions,” he recalls. “We were all astonished at what just subtle changes in light could [do].”