History
The Polish Society for the History of Medical Sciences continues the traditions of dating back to 1920, when Prof. Władysław Szumowski and Prof. Adam Wrzosek established two different societies of enthusiasts of medical history in Poznań and Krakow. In 1924 in Poznań, Prof. Adam Wrzosek founded the quarterly „Archives of the History and Philosophy of Medicine”. The journal was a treasury of knowledge about the history of Polish medicine. Articles published in it were usually based on hardly available archival sources. After the Second World War, the history of medicine also developed in Łódź, Warsaw and Wrocław.
During the 8. Congress of Polish Medical Historians, which took place on June 10-14, 1957, in Warsaw, the Polish Society for the History of Medicine was established. In September 1982, „and Pharmacy” was added to the name of the Society. The period of political and economic transformation of Poland, initiated in 1989, turned out to be difficult for the Polish Society of the History of Medicine and Pharmacy. The journal was deprived of any support and the attempt to re-register the Society failed. In 2016, participants of the 24. National Congress of Historians of Medicine, Pharmacy and Allied Sciences decided to change the name of the Polish Society for the History of Medicine and Pharmacy to the Polish Society for the History of Medical Sciences (PSHMS). In 2017, it was registered to meet legal requirements. Currently, the PSHMS includes scholars and enthusiasts of the history of medical sciences from Białystok, Bydgoszcz, Kraków, Poznań, Szczecin, Toruń, Warsaw, Wrocław and Żory. The next national congress will be organized in 2022 in Bydgoszcz.
