Mission Statement |
|
Rhode Island Medical Society is a voluntary association of physicians, physician assistants and medical students. It supports and advocates for all Rhode Island physicians in their efforts to provide the best possible care to their patients. The Society is the vehicle by which the medical community in Rhode Island meets the evolving challenges of medical practice and quality patient care. The Society represents the interests, values and needs of the medical profession and promotes enlightened public policy in the field of health care. |
|
|
|
|
History |
|
RIMS Seal over the door at 106 Francis Street, circa 1911.
|
Founded in 1812, the Rhode Island Medical Society is the 8th oldest organization of its kind in the nation. |
|
RIMS Presidents 1812–present |
|
The History of the Rhode Island Medical Society and its Component Societies by various authors was published in 1966. |
|
|
RIMS Building (1912–2002) |
The Rhode Island Medical Society building at 106 Francis Street in Providence was constructed as a medical library and conference center in 1911/12. It served as the headquarters of the Rhode Island Medical Society for ninety years, from 1912 to 2002. The historic, Federal-revival building today is the corporate headquarters of Moran Shipping Agencies, Inc., a family-owned Rhode Island company whose sensitive and ambitious 2008 renovation succeeds in highlighting the building's medical heritage while demonstrating the compatibility of historic preservation with green technology. RIMS' former headquarters, now LEEDS certified, is the first geothermally heated and cooled corporate building in Providence. |
A Brief History of the Rhode Island Medical Society Library Building, 1909–1912 |
 |
An architectural rendering of the RIMS Library Buliding, circa 1909. |
|
Library |
|
For more than 160 years, the Rhode Island Medical Society maintained a library, which grew to about 50,000 volumes by 1980. The Society's former headquarters building at 106 Francis Street was built in 1911/12 as a library to house the collection, which resided in the Providence Public Library from 1900 to 1911 and at other locations before that. The collection included medical books and periodicals from the 16th through the 20th centuries. The oldest book in the collection was a 1501 edition of a work by Pliny.
In 1987, the Medical Society made a gift of its collection to Brown University. The most significant historical portions of the collection are now housed together at the John Hay Library of Brown University. Other volumes were interdigitated with the collection in the Sciences Library of Brown University. In return for the gift, all members and employees of the Rhode Island Medical Society have full borrowing privileges for the entire Brown library system in perpetuity.
|
|
|
|
|
Archives
|
|
Archives of the Rhode Island Medical Society and of the Providence Medical Association are under the stewardship of the Rhode Island Historical Society Library, 121 Hope Street in Providence.
|
|
|
|
|
RIMS Seal
|
 |
|
In 2006, RIMS’ venerable seal was updated in conjunction with a new identity program that will carry the Society into its next century. The allegorical figure of Asclepius’ daughter Hygeia, goddess of health and cleanliness, has been the Medical Society’s symbol since 1812. As part of the update, the seal was redrawn to authentically restore its classical imagery. The new design (above right) was inspired by previous renderings of the seal, like the antique embossed version (above left) and other historical references. Rhode Island's Independent Man now appears inthe base of the pedestal.
|
|
|
|
|
