HINDSIGHT: Journal of Optometry History 27

FROM THE EDITOR: HONORING THE OHS CO-FOUNDERS
In the last issue of Hindsight 

we highlighted the fact that the 
Optometric Historical Society had 
been founded 50 years ago, and we 
featured articles on the history of 
the OHS and on the circumstances 
surrounding its formation. In this issue 
we continue the commemoration 
of the 50th anniversary of OHS by 
bringing you articles honoring the 
OHS co-founders Maria Dablemont 
and Henry Hofstetter.

Dablemont and Hofstetter each 
brought to the OHS a combination 
of professional skill, passion for the 
history of optometry, and a desire 
to involve others in that history. 
Dablemont served as Secretary of 
OHS for its first 18 years and Treasurer 
for its first 17 years. Hofstetter was 
President of OHS for its first five 
years and variously editor, co-editor, 
or contributing editor of the OHS 
newsletter for over 30 years.

Important in their leadership was 
their conviction that optometry has 
a grand history. Dablemont declared 
that optometry has a “glorious past.”1 
Hofstetter wrote that optometry 
has “an honorable heritage,…a 
truly proud history which includes 
many prominent and accomplished 
personalities.”2 Together they got the 
OHS off to a good start. We hope 
you find these articles about Maria 
Dablemont and Henry Hofstetter to be 
informative and inspiring.

References

1. Hofstetter HW. For the record. 
Hindsight 1995;26:25-27.

2. Hofstetter HW. The OHS mission. 
Hindsight 1996;27:17-18.

David A. Goss, OD, PhD
Editor, dgoss@indiana.edu

EDITORIALS

David A. Goss, OD, PhD

GUEST EDITORIAL: MARIA DABLEMONT’S MUSEUM

“I didn’t know you had all this stuff!” is the most common 
reaction of visitors to the Archives & Museum of Optometry 
(AMO). The truth is that, up until recently, even we did not 
know what we had, but we knew that we needed to find 
out, and that it needed to be shared. Since I joined the staff 

of Optometry Cares – The AOA Foundation in 2013, I have 
seen how the artifacts in the museum never fail to inspire 
astonishment and fascination in seasoned optometrists, 
students, and members of the public alike. I also have come 
to understand that our ability to unlock their full potential for 
increasing public awareness of optometry is limited without 
the assistance of the academic community.

In this issue, we focus on one of the first collaborations 
between organized optometry and academia to build 
the infrastructure for preserving optometry’s historical 
legacy—the relationship between the American Optometric 
Association’s Maria Dablemont and Indiana University’s 
Henry W Hofstetter. Among the many projects undertaken 
by the co- founders of the Optometric Historical Society, the 
construction of a pipeline for channeling donations from 
private collectors to the International Library, Archives and 
Museum of Optometry (ILAMO) may be one of the least 
known but most important. Sometimes in drips and drabs, 
and at other times as a flood, the ILAMO correspondence 
files between 1965 and 1990 chronicle the steady flow of 

Maria Dablemont, Librarian, contemplates an optometry history exhibit 
at the International Library, Archives & Museum of Optometry, 1971.

doi: 10.14434/hindsight.v50i2.27027