Battling a diploma mill: The early fight to preserve
the osteopathic principles of A.T. Still
The Journal of the American Osteopathic Association
Two graduates from the second class of the American School of Osteopathy (ASO) in Kirksville, Missouri, Elmer Barber, DO, and Helen Barber, DO, opened the «second school of osteopathy,» the National School of Osteopathy (NSO). The NSO’s guiding principles were vastly different than those of the ASO. ASO founder Andrew Taylor Still, MD, DO, saw the Drs. Barbers as a threat to his founding osteopathic philosophy, and he viewed their school as a «diploma mill.» In this first-place essay in the American Osteopathic Association’s 2013 history essay competition, Academy member and former librarian Laura Jordan, OMS III, MA, MLS, MS, uses primary historical documents to detail the battle between the ASO and the NSO, providing a snapshot of the ASO’s early fight to gain respect within the rest of the medical community. (This is an abstract. To view the full article, you will need to log in using your standard AOA username and password.)
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