The Center of Alcohol and Substance Use Studies’ efforts to document the history of the field precede the existence of the Center itself, dating back to a 1939 Carnegie Corporation grant to review the literature on the effects of alcohol on the individual. This project, led by E.M. Jellinek, was so successful that the staff of scholars and documentalists was invited to continue the operations at the Laboratory of Applied Physiology at Yale.

Established at Yale by pioneering researcher E. M. Jellinek, the Summer School of Alcohol Studies (1943 - present) was the first of its kind, connecting addiction professionals with practical training informed by the latest research. It quickly became an important educational resource and revolutionized the relationship between scholarship and therapeutic practice in the alcohol and addictions field. 

The former Special Collections at the Information Services Division are now housed in the Rutgers University Annex, with the exception of the Ralph G. Connor Alcohol Research Reference Files (CARRF).

This page honors some of the founders of CAS, as well as others who contributed to its success over the years. Browse our resources related to notable scholars in the history of alcohol studies.

The Center of Alcohol Studies was a pioneer in publishing both scholarly and lay literature related to the use and misuse of alcohol. Among the many "firsts" the Center is famous for is the Quarterly Journal of Studies on Alcohol (now under the title of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs), the oldest substance-related journal published in the United States.

The Center of Alcohol & Substance Use Studies is the first interdisciplinary research center devoted to alcohol use and alcohol-related problems and treatment. Emerging in the late 1930s and 1940s out of the Yale University Laboratory of Applied Physiology and Biodynamics, which was directed by Yale physician Howard W. Haggard, the Section on Alcohol Studies (later the Center of Alcohol Studies), under E.M.

Welcome to the Digital Alcohol Studies Archives! This site hosts the digitized collections formerly held by the Rutgers Center of Alcohol and Substance Use Studies (CAS). Also available is the Alcohol Studies Database containing over 80,000 citations from 1956 to 2007 for journal articles, books, book chapters, dissertations, conference papers, and audio-visual materials.