S. Joseph Lewis, Jr. was born on November 3, 1918 to Samuel Joseph Lewis, M.D. and Mary Scheetz Lewis. He graduated from the Academy of Richmond County in 1935 and from the University of Georgia (UGA) in 1941 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. After service in the military during World War II, Lewis earned a Master of Arts from UGA in August of 1947. Lewis taught history in the 1950s at Staunton Military Academy in Virginia and for two years at UGA.

Lewis’ father was a 1911 graduate of the Medical College of Georgia (MCG) and as a practicing physician in ophthalmology and otolaryngology, Lewis, Sr., MD was a clinical professor at MCG. An interest in the epidemics that once ravaged across the South led Lewis to research southern medical history in general. During this research he recognized names associated with MCG and realized the significance of the history of MCG. He commenced to write a book on MCG’s history in 1963. “The more I dug, the more I found out and finally it just seemed to me that a complete history of the school should be written,” said Lewis in an article published in The Augusta Chronicle, August 10, 1964. More information about Lewis and his research can be found in the December 1963 issue of the Foundation and Alumni News.

As a trained researcher in history, Lewis was meticulous in recording his notes and the primary sources he researched. He began his research using the records at MCG before spending several months reviewing microfilmed copies of The Augusta Chronicle. He did not limit his research to local institutional sources, but investigated information held elsewhere.

Lewis was given office space in the library at MCG while he worked on his manuscript regarding the history of MCG. He held a two-year appointment as an instructor in Medical History at MCG. During the time he was writing his manuscript, he contributed articles to the MCG publication Foundation and Alumni News. He also gave a speech regarding MCG’s history at the institution’s Alumni Day in 1966. Lewis completed his manuscript, but for various reasons the book was not published before his death on October 9, 1969. His research notes and drafts of his manuscript were retained by the MCG Library and managed by Dorothy Mims, a reference librarian who had assisted Lewis in proof-reading his manuscript. At some point in the late 1960s to early 1970s, photocopies of Lewis’ last draft were distributed to various members of the MCG community. One copy of the draft was even bound into two volumes (due to the size of the manuscript) and added to the Library’s catalog of circulating material.

Through the efforts of Augusta University’s Medical Historian in Residence, Lois Ellison, MD, and Sarah Braswell, Historical Research Coordinator, Lewis’ book – The Medical College of Georgia from 1829-1963: Chronicle of an Institution – was published in 2011 (ISBN: 978-0-9834202-0-0) by the Georgia Health Sciences University, the name of the institution at that time. As of 2016, the institutional name is Augusta University