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Histochemistry: An International Venture

Canada was the host for the annual scientific conferences of the Histochemical Societies of America and Japan in 1982 (July 20-24). Scientific communication among the participants was especially effective because of the remarkable facilities of the Conference Center at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. The successful union of these two meetings, however, was due in large part to the extraordinary efforts of the faculty and staff of the University. The long tradition of cooperation between the American and Japanese Societies made such a meeting inevitable. Planning began in 1980 with the informal discussions of Tibor Barka, Paul J. Anderson, Kazuo Ogawa, and Kenjiro Yasuda at meetings in New Orleans and New York. Formal discussions between the American and Japanese delegations continued during the VIIIth International Congress of Histochemistry and Cytochemistry in Brighton, England, that same year when Charles Culling offered to host the meeting at the University of British Columbia. Plans were concluded at the 1981 annual meeting of the American Society in Minneapolis by Samuel Spicer and Kenjiro Yasuda, respective presidents of the American and Japanese Histochemical Societies, respectively. The program of symposia, panel discussions, workshops, and free communications evolved from many suggestions contributed by the officers and council members of both Societies, but the final program was the responsibility of the Program Chairman, Robert E. Smith. No program can be effective without carefully planned arrangements at the meeting site. It was the unusual talent of Charles Culling, Chairman of the Local Organizing Committee, that brought a special quality to these arrangements. Every detail of this complicated meeting was anticipated by Culling's Committee and the resulting orderliness of the presentations provided many opportunities for improved communication among the participants. Charles Culling's death, only several days before the meeting convened, was a special loss to all who knew him. Yet his planning was so focused on the success of this conference that his Organizing Committee continued to meet the high standards of performance that were so characteristic of his work. The participants at this meeting owe a special debt of thanks to the members and staff assistants of the Local Organizing Committee: Philip E. Reid, William K. Ovalle, Charles Ramey, Dorothy Stanfield, Betty Coret, Rolf Muelchen, and all of the university students who gave so much time to assist the speakers. This supplementary issue of the Journal of Histochemistry and Cytochemistry contains many of the symposia, panel, and workshop presentations from this meeting. The range of subjects accurately reflects the research interests of histochemists and their approach to problem-solving. The organizers of these sessions were concerned with the scientific content and timeliness of their subjects; publication was an option offered to each speaker and was not a condition of participation in the program. The format and content of the submitted manuscripts varied considerably, as one would expect from such an international conference. Variations in format were adjusted to the style of the Journal by our managing editor, Neil Singer. Content editing was skillfully performed by the Journal's freelance copy editor, Sharon Rule. During the course of the five-day meeting, a consensus developed among all participants of both Societies: that this supplementary issue should be dedicated to the memory of Charles F. A. Culling, who made things work so well.