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Guide to the Children's Hospital of San Francisco Photograph Collection [graphic], 1904-1965
BANC PIC 1989.058--PIC
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Collection Title: Children's Hospital of San Francisco Photograph Collection [graphic],
Date (inclusive): 1904-1965
Collection Number: BANC PIC 1989.058--PIC
Creator:
Children's Hospital of San Francisco
Extent:
1 carton, 3 oversize boxes (ca. 1,600 photographic prints), 7 slides, and ca. 210 negatives
Repository: The
Bancroft Library
Berkeley, California 94720-6000
Physical Location: For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
Languages Represented:
English
Collection is open for research, except for negatives, which are restricted. Use of negatives only by permission of the appropriate
curator. Inquiries concerning these materials should be directed, in writing, to the Curator of Pictorial Collections, The
Bancroft Library.
Copyright has not been assigned to The Bancroft Library. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts
must be submitted in writing to the Head of Public Services. Permission for publication is given on behalf of The Bancroft
Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which
must also be obtained by the reader.
[Identification of item], Children's Hospital of San Francisco photograph collection [graphic], BANC PIC 1989.058--PIC, The
Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
Material Catalogued Separately
The Children's Hospital of San Francisco Photograph Collection photographs were transferred from the Children's Hospital of
San Francisco Records, 1875-1988 (BANC MSS 89/97 c).
In 1875, Dr. Charlotte Blake Brown and Dr. Martha E. Bucknell, along with 10 other San Francisco women, founded the Pacific
Dispensary for Women and Children. The objectives of the non-profit organization were to provide women with competent medical
aid by female physicians, to further the advancement of women in medical practice, to educate nurses, and to provide medical
and surgical aid to children. The early years of the dispensary were made difficult by financial hardship, by a continuous
demand to provide treatment to a growing number of patients, and by a widespread prejudice among the local medical profession
against women physicians. Despite the many challenges facing their organization, the early founders of the dispensary persevered
and were able to realize several groundbreaking achievements in the practice of medicine on the West Coast.
In 1880, the dispensary opened its Training School for Nurses - the first such school west of the Rocky Mountains. In 1885
the dispensary was reincorporated as The Hospital for Children and Training School for Nurses. From its first rooms at 520
Taylor Street, the organization relocated five times before moving into its permanent location on California Street in 1887.
During the devastating San Francisco earthquake and fire of 1906, the main structure of the hospital was damaged beyond repair.
The New Main Building, from which the present-day complex has expanded, was completed in 1911.
In 1915, the hospital established an affiliation with the University of California for the purpose of teaching medical students.
By the 1930s, the hospital was one of the leading centers in the nation for the treatment of infantile paralysis. This effort
was aided by the installation of both the Drinker Respirator (popularly known as the "iron lung") - the first to be installed
in the western U.S. - and the Hubbard Tank - the first facility to be designed for the underwater treatment of paralysis and
other deformities. It was also during this period that the hospital admitted its first adult male patients - restricted to
those suffering from polio. During the major polio outbreak of the mid-1940s, the hospital treated approximately ten percent
of California's cases.
In 1955, all restrictions on the admission of adult male patients were removed. In 1959, two years after the closure of the
Training School for Nurses, the corporation changed its name to Children's Hospital of San Francisco. In 1991, after decades
of modernization and expansion, the hospital merged with Pacific Presbyterian Medical Center to form the non-profit California
Pacific Medial Center.
[Sources:
The Story of Children's Hospital,
San Francisco : Children's Hospital of San Francisco,
1973?;
A Century of Service: Children's Hospital of San Francisco,
San Francisco : Children's Hospital of San Francisco,
1976.]
The Children's Hospital of San Francisco Photograph Collection contains approximately 1,600 photographic prints taken by various
photographers from circa 1887 to circa 1985. Approximately 550 of the photographs are contained in 5 albums. The collection
also contains 7 glass lantern slides, a small assortment of periodical clippings and post cards, and approximately 210 negatives.
The collection features many of the buildings associated with the medical center throughout its history; various personnel
- for example nurses, physicians, and board members - affiliated with the hospital and former nursing school; and many patients
treated by the institution. The collection also pictures a miscellany of events related to the hospital and nursing school.
A more detailed description of the subjects pictured in the collection can be found in the series description and listing
of negatives.
Among the photographers featured in the collection are Gabriel Moulin, Charles Weidner, A. Sponagel, Phil Stroupe, Boyé Studios,
Kay Hart Studios, Romaine, Baron Wolman, Dwain Faubion, C.A. Myers, Hugo Weitz, and C.I. Ishiguro.