The Research Council on Problems of Alcohol (RCPA) as a freestanding
organization expired in 1949.  At that point its monies, ongoing research
administration, and future prospects were transferred to the National
Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences.  The RCPA's files,
according to the NRC archivist I've corresponded with, were lost somewhere
along the way.  The activities, history, and fate of what after '49 was
renamed the "Committee on Problems of Alcohol" (CPA) has been exceedingly
vague, too.  Last week, in an old file of materials sent me some years ago
by Robert Straus, I stumbled upon a 27-page, single-spaced document titled
"Committee on Problems of Alcohol : A Report of its Activities from 1949 to
1955, the Research Work it has Supported and the Place of this Work in the
Field of Alcoholism."  This document was authored by Jonathan O. Cole,
M.D., and it offers nice overviews of both the CPA's ongoing research and
Cole's sense of the alcoholism field and problem as it appeared in the
mid-1950s.  And here's the surprise:  A little searching on the internet
produced the distinct possibility that this Dr. Cole may be the same Dr.
Cole who still keeps consulting hours at the psychiatric unit of St.
Elizabeth's Hospital in Boston every Wednesday.  Unfortunately, I have not
been able to reach the good Dr. Cole by phone yet.  Still, he may be the
best prospect for discovering the whereabouts of the RCPA's long-missing
files and learning something about the RCPA/CPA's history in the 1950s and
beyond.  I don't suppose any ATHGers on this list in the Boston area might
be interested in contacting Dr. Cole and taping some now-or-never oral
history?  If so, please contact me!

Ron Roizen