"Firsts" from the First

The field of alcohol studies, like many academic disciplines, has its pioneering moments that often remain obscure even to experts. In its early years, the Quarterly Journal of Studies on Alcohol highlighted early writings about alcohol and addiction in order to provide scholars with a historical perspective in a series called the Classics of the Alcohol Literature, which became the primary source of many seminal articles related to Alcohol Studies. According to the introduction to the reprints:

There are some "firsts" in the alcohol literature which are known to many students of alcoholism only by a few sen­tences handed down from one textbook to another.

Established in 1940 at Yale, the journal and the center that evolved around it were part of a larger international revival of alcohol studies that started after World War II, resulting in the launching of many of the "firsts" in alcohol studies.

The first research institution of its kind, the Center of Alcohol Studies, first called the "Section of Alcohol Studies," evolved at Yale University over time at the Laboratory of Applied Physiology, directed by Howard Haggard. 

As alcohol increasingly became the focus of research within the Laboratory, its approach expanded to a multidisciplinary perspective extending far beyond just physiology. In 1940, the staff grew to include a psychologist, statistician, psychiatrist, and general physician. The year 1942 saw an economist, a lawyer, and a sociologist join the staff. This maturation beyond basic physiological research led to the creation of the Section of Alcohol Studies within the Laboratory of Applied Physiology around 1943. Jellinek became director of the section.

--Adapted from Candon, P. M., Ward, J. H., & Pandina, R. J. (2014). The Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs and the Rutgers Center of Alcohol Studies: a history of the evolution of alcohol research. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs. Supplement, 75 Suppl 17(s17), 8–17.)