NAWSA    SUBJECT FILE     New York Infirmary

see picture attached*

DR. ELIZABETH BLACKWELL

    "Photograph from a sketch of Dr. Elizabeth
Blackwell, made in 1859 by the Countess Clarice de
Charnace.  I had never seen the sketch, but heard much of
it.  In 1885 we were in Paris and met Madame De Charnace.
I asked her if she still had the sketch.  She said yes, 
and asked us to come out to Versailles, where she lived.
On entering her drawing room, I at once saw the picture,
on the further side of the mantelpiece.  Madam De Charnace
obligingly had her sketch photographed for me.  This
photograph is an improvement on the one taken in Paris for
me; but there is a still more perfect photograph taken by
the order of Dr. Elizabeth Garrett Anderson's son, Sir Alan
Garrett Anderson.  Miss Anna Blackwell was governess to the
Countess's children for several years.  The sketcher was
particularly charmed by Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell's delicate
hand; hence the attitude of the sketch.  Dr. Blackwell was
38 years old."

(This information was copied from the back of a picture owned
by Mrs. Florence Blackwell Mayhew of Chilmark, Martha's 
Vineyard, Massachusetts.  It was written in the hand of Alice
Stone Blackwell (niece of Dr. Elizabeth) and was dictated to
her by Miss Katherine Barry of August 7, 1928.  Miss Barry
was the adopted daughter of Dr. Elizabeth, and came to America
to live with Miss Alice immediately after Dr. Elizabeth's death.)
Edna L. Stantial, Editor
Blackwell Family Archives

"We take up the task of eternal and the burden and the lesson
Pioneers, O Pioneers;"
Walt Whitman.

Elizabeth Blackwell        Elizabeth Garrett Anderson        Sophia Jex-Blake

1866 Jubilee Appeal 1916
The New Hospital for Women, London.

New York Infirmary

    Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell was the first woman physician in the
modern world.  She graduated at the Geneva Medical School in 1849.  She
had applied for admission to many better known schools of medicine and
had been refused everywhere.  She graduated at the head of her class of
one hundred and fifty students, the only woman student the school ever
had, and her name was entered in the special Honor Roll.  At the graduation,
the President in charge was somewhat embarrassed as to the disposition
of the first lady student.  The class walked forward in fours and received 
diplomas from Dr. Hale, the President, who remained sitting but removed
his hat.  Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell was last in the procession and came to the
platform alone.  The President arose and presented her diploma with a bow.
She bowed in acceptance, but, when half turned to retire, she suddenly
turned back and spoke: " Sir, I thank you.  By the help of the Most High,
it shall be the effort of my life to shed honor on your diploma."  She
was treated politely by her class who seemed proud of her attainments.
Yet, shortly after her graduation and despite her record as an honor
student, the faculty decided that no other woman should ever be admitted.
    Emily Blackwell, her sister, applied for admission to study
medicine at ten Eastern institutions and all refused.  She then turned
to the West and was admitted to Rush Medical School in Chicago where
she studied for one year.  Then the Illinois State Medical Association
voted to recommend to all medical colleges that women should not be
admitted.  The Rush Medical School accepted the resolution and Emily
could not continue there.  She found a medical school in Cleveland where
she completed her course.
    In May, 1857, the two Blackwell sisters and Dr. Marie Zakrzewska
also graduated at Cleveland, united in establishing an infirmary for women
and children.  It was formally opened in May by a public meeting at which
the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher and others spoke.  Dr. Emily Blackwell served

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as surgeon, Dr. Jackrzewaka, resident physician.  It was the first attempt
to establish a hospital conducted entirely by women.  At that date,
although college instruction was being given to women students, here and
there, no hospital was anywhere available either for private instruction or
the exercise of the women physicians' skill and women were not permitted by
men physicians to place their patients in existing hospitals.  To supply
these needs the hospital was established.  It seems incredible in these
in these days that such an institution should have met the objections that
poured upon it from all directions.  It was said that, "No one would let a
house for the purpose; that female doctors would be looked upon with so much
suspicion that the police would interfere; that if deaths occurred, their
death certificates would not be recognized; that it would be resorted to by 
classes of persons whom it would be an insult to be called upon to deal with;
that without men as resident physicians, they would not be able to control
the patients; that if any accident occurred, not only the medical profession
but the public would blame the trustees for supporting such an undertaking,
and finally, it would never be able to collect money enough to support so
unpopular an effort.  In truth, the pecuniary support of the institution,
owing to the objections raised against it, was difficult.  For many years,
a bazaar was held in its behalf and lectures, concerts, and every other
available means of collecting funds was resorted to.  Nevertheless, the
Institution has been maintained with increasing honor and respect.  It
should stand through coming years as a highly deserved monument to
Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell and her sister Emily, the women who opened the
gates of the world amid great hardships and sacrifices to women physicians.
No human being ever more richly deserved a memorial than those fearless
leaders and no monument could be so significantly worthy of them as a 
woman's and children's hospital.  No woman at this time should fail to
contribute to its continuation.




    In 1848 a few women, led by Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth
Cady Stanton, called the first woman's convention ever held and it
met in Seneca Falls, New York, in July of that year.  Its object was
to organize women for the purpose of repealing the code of laws which
assigned women to a form of absolute subjection and to consider how
to obtain for women more rights and privileges.  At that time, no
married woman could control her own property or use its emoluments.
She could not make a will, collect her own wages, or have guardianship
over her own children, who might be willed away by her husband, even a
child unborn.  Women were not permitted to enter the professions and,
in all the world, there was no graduated woman physician.
    In the middle centuries, from 1,000 to 1,300, women, in
increasing members, attended medical schools and practised upon the
same terms as men.  Women, also, were professors in universities in
Italy, Southern France and Spain.  The faculty of the University of
Bologna issued a compulsory declaration that women should be denied
the privilege of attending or teaching in the universities, and all
liberal privileges, allowed for two hundred years, should be denied to
women.  From that time, no woman was privileged to have the education
provided by medical schools for men doctors.
    Shortly after 1845 Elizabeth Blackwell, one of a family of nine
children, determined to study medicine.  She applied for admission at
the leading medical schools which was denied.  She then applied to a 
small and independent medical school at Geneva, New York.  The faculty,
somewhat embarrassed by her application, called the class together, of
which she would become a member if admitted, and asked it to make the
decision.  With a single exception, the class voted to admit Miss
Blackwell and evidently thought a woman classmate would be something of
a joke.  They plagued the man who had voted "no" until he changed his
vote and, therefore, by unanimous consent, she was admitted.

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    At her boardinghouse, the women treated her with disdain and
avoiding speaking with her.  Nevertheless, she finished her course and
performed the remarkable achievement of graduating at the head of her
class.  The boys, however, had not liked her presence there and, as soon
as she had graduated, a resolution was passed to the effort that no
other woman student should be admitted.
    Therefore, when Emily, her sister, applied for admission there,
it was denied.  Emily applied to ten Eastern institutions and all refused
her admission.  She then turned to the West and was admitted to the Rush
Medical School in Chicago.  She attended it without any outstanding 
incident having occurred when the State Medical Association of Illinois
voted to recommend to all medical colleges that women should not be
admitted to them and sent a copy of that resolution to the Rush Medical
College.  The College therefore asked Emily Blackwell to leave.  Again,
she hunted for a medical school willing to admit her and found one in
Cleveland.
    When Emily had finished her studies, she went with Elizabeth to
Europe and they did post graduate work there wherever they could find an
opportunity.  Elizabeth graduated at Geneva in 1849.  In 1857, the two
Blackwell sisters and Dr. Marie Jakrzevski, formerly of Poland, founded
the New York Infirmary for Women and Children.  The reason for doing so
was that women physicians were not permitted to place their patients in
hospitals managed by men.  Nor were they eligible to participate in 
other facilities.
    The New York Informary for Women and Children, for a long time,
was the only hospital entirely under the direction of women.  Here, also,
they established a woman's medical college which stood for the most
thorough preparation and the highest professional honor for all students
who might graduate from its courses.  They established this college
because it was almost impossible for women medical students to find





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colleges willing to accept them.  Philadelphia, Boston, and Chicago
also opened women's medical colleges for the same reason.
    Elizabeth shortly went to England and never returned to make
her home in this country again.  She not only had been the first woman
in the United States to graduate in medicine and, therefore, to become
a physician on the same terms with men, but in England she was the first
woman to inscribe her name on the British Medical Register and this she
did in 1859.  She became the first woman physician in America, the
first in England, and the first in the entire world.  She lived to be
eighty-nine years of age and when she died, very many medical schools
in all countries had opened their doors to women and some thousands of
women physicians and surgeons had been graduated.
    There were five sisters in the Blackwell family.  None of them
married, but, among them, they adopted five children and each one had
chosen to follow a career.
    It is clear that if the custom, now thousands of years old,
shall continue and occasional human beings of rare achievement shall
have monuments, and should be erected to Elizabeth Blackwell to
perpetuate their names and deeds.  In days gone by, monuments for men were
usually given to kings and emperors and later to military heroes.
Women have had none.  Would could be more practical and more honorable
than that a hospital big enough, fully equipped, and thus worthy to rank with
other great hospitals should be the monument to honor the first woman
physician?  The New York Infirmary for Women and Children had stood,
a quiet, struggling institution, cared for by gifted, conscientious
women physicians, for very nearly eighty-four years.  It should now
be rebuilt in honor of the first woman who made it possible for women
of today to practice medicine if they wish, to be surgeons if they 
choose, or to be patients of women doctors if they prefer.  It should
commemorate other women who followed Elizabeth Blackwell, suffering

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persecution and hardship, but sustaining with vigor and determination
the principles of their first leaders.  Let it be a proud monument,
erected by the emancipated women of our day, to the brave woman who
opened the profession of medicine to women.  Every woman in this country
ought to be able to find some contribution which she could make to the 
rebuilding and modernizing of the New York Infirmary for Women and
Children.


Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell

For the
New York
Infirmary

This special Gravure Section is devoted 
to benefit advertising for The
New York Infirmary.  All of the
photographs were posed exclusively
for The Infirmary.  The board of 
trustees wishes to take this opportunity 
to thank the men and women
who have purchased advertising
space, posed for photographs and
worked untiringly to make this
special Gravure Section a success.

Pioneer in The Infirmary

THE FIRST AMERICAN WOMAN DOCTOR, Elizabeth Blackwell,
founded The New York Infirmary in 1854.  Today the women of the hospital, heiresses 
of her pioneering spirit, carry forward unceasingly the battle against human pain
and suffering.  Upholding their skilled hands, helping them bring comfort, warmth,
and healing to the sick are the harnessed forces of gas, electricity and steam provided
by the CONSOLIDATED EDISON COMPANY OF NEW YORK, INC.



    After you have read this report,
suggest your letting Alice Blackwell
read it, as she will be interested to
know that the hospital is doing.

(COPY)

NEW YORK INFIRMARY FOR WOMEN AND CHILDREN



June 29, 1932.

Dear Mr. - - -:

    Usually we send our annual report to every contributor, but
this year we are saving every possible expense and so are not having
the report printed.  You have helped make possible the work of the New 
York Infirmary for Women and Children, and we want you to know at least
briefly about the accomplishment of the past year.

The Dispensary.  During the year the Dispensary served 37,650 out-pa-
tients.  The doctors, practically all of whom give their services free,
are doing a wonderful piece of work in spite of overcrowded conditions.

The Hospital.  The Infirmary last year gave 36,398 hospital days to
2,663 in-patients and has been running to capacity day after day.
We have increased our facilities from 130 to 155 beds and are forced
to turn patients away for lack of space.  Patients have never been re-
fused because they could not pay.

Operations.  An interesting feature is that the number of operations
has increased enormously -- almost 100% in the last three years --
showing that the old prejudice against women surgeons is disappearing.

Records.  We are proud of the hospital's record last year.  In spite of 
overcrowding and of our old-fashioned buildings, which are a disadvan-
tage to the work of our doctors, the following figures are striking:-

    In the Infirmary there were only 1.8 maternal deaths per 1000
    women confined, while the average for the City was 6.04.

    In the Infirmary the stillborn rate was 25. per 1000 births,
    while the City average was 48.3.  Our infant death rate was 34.
    per 1000 births, and the City average was 56.

        During the past year, we have also made many physical im-
provements in the old buildings since our hope of a new building must
be postponed.  We fireproofed the elevator shafts, installed large
fireproof doors with automatic safety devices where advisable, and
erected a fire-escape on the nurses' home.  We have painted and re-
plastered the old buildings and repaired them throughout.  Steam from
the New York Steam Company, which is being put in, will give us as
good service and will reduce the fire risk, noise, dirt and expense.

        New offices have been arranged for administration purposes;
locker and dressing rooms for staff and nurses have been made possible


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by a gift of new plumbing equipment from Mr. Clarence Woolley; the garden has been
attractively landscaped with tiles, trellises, gravel and several hundreds of addi-
tional plants, all of which were donated.

        An Auxiliary has been organized to give personal service and to help raise
funds.  The members have already done excellent work.

        We have improved the Cystoscopy Department, and we have been forced by the
increase of work to install new X-ray machines and a deep-therapy room.  A new cancer
department, which is being donated by Dr. Elise l'Esperance, is now being equipped.
Complete new equipment for the Eye Clinic has been contributed by Dr. John W. Brannan.
   
The Infirmary has been inspected recently by the Department of Social
Service of the State of New York and by the American Medical Association, and has
received most flattering reports from both.  All the recommendations of the American
College of Surgeons have been carefully carried out and have their approval.
   
Best of all, we balanced our budget in 1931, and reduced our per capita per
diem cost of patients to $4.52 -- which is very low, the average for the City being
$6.06.  Our expenses and receipts were as follows:

Expenditure for hospital activities in 1931  . . . . . $226,362.44
                    for other expenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . .     15,491.50
                                                                               _____________
                                                Total expenditures $241,853.94

 Receipts from hospital activities (patients) . . . .  $100,539.01
                from investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .     36,227.00
                from rent of Infirmary property . . . . . . .         837.82
                Interest from Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .         129.85
                from contributions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .    43,891.95
                from benefits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  60,638.66
                                                                                 ______________
                                                Total receipts          $242,264.29
 
                                                     Surplus . . . . . . .         $410.35
  
    But we are worried over our financial prospects for this year.  Our various
benefits are bringing in a fraction of what they did last year, although we seem to be
working twice as hard.  We have as yet received almost no contributions, but we shall
keep all our hospital and dispensary activities going fully because they are so desper-
ately needed now, trusting our friends and contributors will help to support them.
The auditors tell us it was really remarkable to balance our budget last year.  We are,
of course, making every economy, one of which is not printing our annual report.  If it
would interest you to look over the full report, we should be glad to send you one of
the mimeographed copies.

   With best wishes and renewed thanks for your interest and help,

   Yours most gratefully,

   (signed)  Narcissa Cox Vanderlip

   (Mrs. Frank A. Vanderlip)
   President..

The New York
Infirmary

A CENTURY OF DEVOTED SERVICE 1854
                                                        1954

Copyright 1954, by the New York Infirmary

The New York Infirmary
A CENTURY OF DEVOTED SERVICE 1854
1954

CONTENTS:
Dedication 2-3
The First Hundred Years 4-46
The New Hospital (Picture Story) 47-61
Statistics 62
Elizabeth Blackwell Citations 63
Trustees 64
THE NEW YORK INFIRMARY, Stuyvesant Square East between 15th and 16th Sts., N.Y. 3

Dedication
THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED to all the men and the women who, during the past hundred years, have unstintingly devoted their time and their resources to the welfare of the New York Infirmary. At many times during our history, these efforts have been directly responsible for our survival as an institution. It is not possible to list all these individuals by name, although we a profoundly grateful to everyone of them. In this memorial book, however, we pay a special tribute to the following persons, each one of whom has made a contribution of extraordinary significance to our development.

New York, December, 1954
NARCISSA COX VANDERLIP
President, Board of Trustees

Achmuty, Mrs. Richard
Agnew, Dr. C. B.
Allen, Mrs. V. Beaumont
Altschul, Mr. and Mrs. Frank
Annenberg, Mrs. Sadie
Annenberg, Mr. and Mrs. Walter H.
Aronson, Dr. Emma

Bacon, Mr. George Wood
Baird, Mr. David
Baker, Mrs. George F.
Baker, Dr. S. Josephine
Bakwin, Miss Barbara Swift
Bakwin, Mr. Edward Morris
Bakwin, Dr. Ruth Morris
Baldwin, Dr. Helen
Bancroft, Mrs. Thomas M.
Barringer, Dr. Emily Dunnington
Barton, Mr. and Mrs. Bruce
Baylis, Mrs. Henry
Beecher, Rev. Henry Ward
Bennett, Dr. Alice
Bingham, Mr. and Mrs. Harry Payne
Birch, Mrs. Frank H.
Blackwell, Dr. Elizabeth
Blackwell, Dr. Emily
Blair, Mrs. Wolcott
Blount, Mrs. William A.
Blum, Mrs. Henry L.
Bogatko, Dr. Frances
Booth, Miss Mary L
Booth, Mrs. Willis H.
Boudin, Dr. Anna
Bourne, Mrs. Saul

2
Bowne, Mr. Richard H.
Bowring, Mrs. E. Bonner
Brandt, Mr. Harry
Brannen, Dr. John W.
Bregman, Dr. Balbina
Brownell, Dr. Katherine
Bruce, Mrs. Mellon
Bryson, Mrs. P. M.
Butler, Dr. Muriel Morris

Cammann, Dr. George Philip
Campbell, Mrs. Robert
Carnegie, Margaret
Catt, Mrs. Carrie Chapman
Chamberlain, Mr. Thomas G.
Chapin, Mrs. Augusta C.
Chapman, Cecil
Chard, Dr. Marie
Chrysler, Mr. and Mrs. Jack
Churchill, Mr. Edward J.
Clark, Mr. F. Ambrose
Clark, Mrs. Florence L. Stokes
Crandall, Mr. Lou R.
Clarke, Mrs. Lewis Latham
Clarke, Mrs. Thomas Ludlow
Cole, Dr. Rebecca
Coleman, Mr. Stewart P.
Collamore, Miss Betty
Collins, Miss Gertrude
Collins, Mr. Stacy B.
Cooper, Mr. Peter
Corrigan, Mrs. Laura Mae
Cowdin, Mrs. J. Cheever
Cowles, Mr. and Mrs. Gardner
Crandall, Mr. Lou
Crowell, Miss Ida E.
Curtis, Mrs. F. Kingbury
Cushier, Dr. Elizabeth
Cutler, Miss Constance

Dana, Mr. Charles A.
Daniel, Dr. Annie S.
de Forest, Miss Julia B.
Dey, Mr. Anthony
DeLong, Mrs. George B.
David-Weill, Mr. and Mrs. Pierre
Dillon, Mr. C. Douglas
Douglas, Mrs. Archibald
Douglas, Mrs. James
Douglas, Mrs. Lewis W.
Dodge, Mr. Cleveland E.
Draper, Mr. Simon
Dubinsky, Mr. David

Ecker, Mr. Fedrick H.
Edward, Dr. Mary Lee
Ewing, Dr. James

Felt, Mr. James
Field, Mr. Cyrus West
Field, Mr. and Mrs. Marshall
Finley, Dr. Caroline
Fischer, Martha M.
Flanders, Mr. Benjamin
Flint, Dr. Austin
Foy, Mrs. Byron C.
Frank, Mrs. Sydney
Fribourg, Mr. Michael
Friedman, Mr. and Mrs. Leopold

Garbisch, Mrs. Edgar W.
Goldberg, Mrs. Rube
Grant, Mr. M. Donald
Greeff, Mr. Charles A.
Greenough, Mrs. Edmee Busch
Guion, Dr. Connie
Greeley, Mr. Horace
Gregory, Dr. Alice
Gutenstein, Dr. Erna

Hanger, Mr. William Arnold
Harris, Mr. Dennis
Harris, Mrs. George U.
Hartford, Mr. john A.
Haydock, Mr. and Mrs. robert
Hecksher, Mr. August
Helm, Mr. Harold H.
Henderson, Mr. and Mrs. Edward C.
Hepburn, Mrs. A. Barton
Hickox, Mrs. Charles V.
Hitchcock, Mrs. Sarah M.
Hoes, Mrs. Robert
Howard, Mr. and Mrs. Roy W.
Howe, Mrs. Deering
Hubert, Dr. Anna
Hutton, Mrs. Edward F.
Hyde, Mrs. Lillia Babbitt

Iselin, Mr. Oliver

Jacobi, Dr. Abraham
Jacobi. Dr. Mary Putnam
Jackson, Miss Lillian
Jaffe, Mrs. William B.
James, Mr. Arthur Curtiss
Jennings, Miss A. B.
Jex-Blake, Dr. Sophia
Jones, Mr. Samuel T.
Jones, Mr. W. Alton
Juhring, Mr. John C.

Kelly, Dr. Gertrude
Kimball, Dr. Grace
Kissam, Dr. Richard S.
Knowlton, Dr. Isabel
Kollstede, Mr. Charles A.
Kress, Mr. Rush
Kuhner, Dr. Anne Elizabeth

Lambert, Dr, Adrian
Lambert, Dr, Alexander
Lamont, Miss Elizabeth K.
Lamont, Mr. Thomas W.
Lape, Miss Esther
Leidlich, Dr. Katherine B.
L'Esperance, Dr. Elise
Lewi, Dr. Emily
Lexow, Miss Caroline
Loomis, Dr. Alfred L.
Lovejoy, Dr. Esther

Magowan, Mrs. Robert
MacGregor, Dr. Mary Childs
Manning, Mr. Richard Henry
Manter, Dr. Marion
Marks, Mr. J. T.
Mauze, Mrs. Jean
McAneny, Mrs. George
McBride, Miss Mary Margaret
McCluskey, Mrs. Ellen Lehman
McCready, Dr. B. W. 
McIntosh, Dr. Harriet
McKean, Mrs. Hugh
McNutt, Dr. Sarah J.
Merrill, Mr. and Mrs. Charles E., Jr.
Miller, Mrs. Gilbert
Mills, Mr. and Mrs. David Bloss
Morch, Mrs. Edward J.
Morris, Mrs. John A.
Morris, Mr. and Mrs. Nelson
Morris, Mr. and Mrs. Edward
Morris, Mr. Ray
Moskowitz, Mr. Charles
Mott, Miss Lucretia
Mott, Dr. Valentine
Murray, Mr. and Mrs. Arthur

Nayfack, Mrs. Bertram S.
Nesbitt, Mr. and Mrs. Richard
Neustadter, Mrs. Catherine
Nichols, Mrs. Charles W., Jr.

Ong, Mrs. Eugene W.

Pardee, Mrs. Harold E. B.
Parker, Dr. Willard
Parry, Dr. Angenette
Phelps-Stokes, Miss Caroline
Pink, Mr. Louis H.
Prudhomme, Mrs. Rhoda
Putnam, Mrs. Irving

Ragland, Dr. Wilhelmina
Ramsaier, Mrs. Betty
Raymond, Mr. and Mrs. Henry J.
Reid, Dr. Ada Chree
Reid, Dr. Georgia
Reid, Mr. and Mrs. Ogden
Reisinger, Mr. Curt
Richman, Dr. Alfred
Rickenbacker, Mrs. Edward V.
Rockefeller, Mr. Laurance S.
Rogers, Colonel H. H.
Roof, Mr. Clarence Hamilton
Rosenstiel, Mr. Lewis S.
Rosenwald, Mrs. William
Roosevelt, Mr. George Emlen
Rubin, Mr. and Mrs. J. Robert
Rucker, Dr. Augusta
Rushmore, Dr. Mary

Sabine, Dr. Gustavus A.
Sage, Mrs. Russell
Salmon, Mrs. Walter J.
St. John, Dr. Samuel
Sarnoff, Brig. Gen. and Mrs. David
Sachs, Dr. Vera
Satterlee, Miss Marion
Saucier, Mrs. ted
Saunders, Miss Anna
Schenck, Mr. and Mrs. Nichols
Schiff, Mrs. Mortimer
Sedgwick, Mr. Theodore
Selch, Mrs. F. R.
Senie, Mrs. Clare
Sharaga, Dr. Leontine
Shattuck, Mrs. Harold
Shostac, Dr. Frances
Silver, Dr. Henry Mann
Skouras, Mr. and Mrs. Spyros P.
Slater, Mr. H. Nelson
Sloan, Mr. and Mrs. Alfred P., Jr.
Sloane, Mrs. Dodge
Smith, Miss M. Marion
Smith, Dr. Stephen
Smithers, Mr. and Mrs. Christopher D.
Speaks, Mrs. Charles
Spitz, Dr. Sophie
Spring, Mr. Marcus
Stevens, Mr. John P., Jr.
Stevens, Mrs. Lillia
Stimson, Mrs. Edith Parker
Strang, Dr. Albert
Strang, Miss May
Swift, Mr. Harold, H.

Talbot, Mr. and Mrs. Harold E.
Tatham, Mr. Charles E.
Taylor, Dr. Isaac E.
Thelberg, Dr. Elizabeth Burr
Thompson, Mrs. Mary
Thorne, Mrs. Phebe Anne
Thorne, Mr. and Mrs. Samuel, Jr.
Tiffany, Mr. and Mrs. Louis C.
Tiffany, Mr. Louise wakeman
Timken, Mrs. William R.
Torrance, Mr. Bascom H.
Toscanini, Maestro Arturo
Tower, Mr. Joseph C.
Townsend, Mrs. Peter
Trimble, Mr. Merritt
Tuckerman, Mr. and Mrs. Lucius
Tyng, Rev. Dudley Atkins

Van Bomel, Mrs. Catharine B.
Vanderlip, Mr. and Mrs. Frank A.
Villard, Mrs. Henry H.
Von Sholly, Dr. Anna I.

Walker, Mrs. Evan T.
Walker, Mrs. Mary J.
Walter, Dr. Josephine
Wallin, Dr. Mathilda K.
Warfield, Mr. David
Warren, Mr. George E.
Watson, Miss Emily A.
Watson, Dr. John
Watson, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas J.
Weeks, Mr. and Mrs. George K.
Wedgewood, Miss Esme
West, Mr. Edward C.
Whalen, Mr. Grover
White, Mr. Robert
Whitehouse, Mrs. Norman de R.
Willetts, Mr. Samuel
Wood, Dr. James Rushmore
Wright, Mrs. James B.
Wynne, Mrs. Jefferson

Zakrzewska, Dr. Marie
Zeckendorf, Mr. William

Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell receives a patient in her one-room dispensary near Tompkins Square. 

The First Hundred Years

THE BEGINNINGS

ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO, in a small, sparsely-equipped room on East
Seventh Street, near Tompkins Square, Elizabeth Blackwell open the 
New York Infirmary, primarily to provide "medical and surgical aid to
such persons as may be in need thereof, and unable, by reasons of poverty to
procure the same...."

The New York Infirmary of 1954, rising ten stories high on the East of
Stuyvesant Square, is a superb general hospital, equipped with all the resources
of the 20th century science and technology, still dedicated to the same tradition of
helpfulness which motivated its founding. 

The story of these hundred years is an eventful one. It is the story of how
devotion to a vision has repeatedly overcome ignorance, bigotry, shortages of
physical resources and crushing financial burdens. 

It is the story of great medical and social progress: of how the bright beams
of hygiene have been brought to bear on the city's darkest slums; of pioneering
in pediatrics, in cancer detection and prevention, in treating diseases of women. 

It is also the story of the emergence of the woman physician as an accredited
practitioner of medicine, no longer regarded with hostility and prejudice, but
able to devote her natural talents for healing to the service of humanity. 

The story beings with Elizabeth Blackwell, who was born in Counterslip, 
England, in 1821. Her father, Samuel Blackwell, brought up his children in an


atmosphere of liberal thought, being himself a champion of electoral reform, of
equal rights for men and women and of the abolition of slavery. 

Mr. Blackwell, a sugar refiner, came to America in 1835, and three years
later, like many of his contemporaries who were seeking fame and fortune in the
west, moved with his large family to Cincinnati. 

The day before the Blackwells left for Ohio, the Great Western steamed
into New York Harbor on her maiden voyage. The arrival of this famous steamship, 
the first of the great transatlantic liners, presaged the invasion of immigrants
who were to form the bulk of Elizabeth's future medial practice. 

In the west the young girl came under the influence of Catherine Beecher, 
with her advanced views on women's education; of Harriet Beecher Stowe, then
at work on Uncle Tom's Cabin; of the Transcendentalists. 

One autumn day in 1844, while she was living in Cincinnati, Elizabeth
called on a close friend who was dying of cancer. The sick woman looked at her
visitor's strong purposeful countenance, and said: 

"You are fond of study, Elizabeth. You have health, leisure and a cultivated
intelligence. Why don't you devote these qualities to the service of suffering
women? Why don't you study medicine? Had I been treated by a woman doctor
my worst sufferings would have been spared me." 

This was the park which lighted Elizabeth's consuming ambition for a
medical career. 

She wrote to 29 medical colleges and applied to twelve before she was finally
accepted, in 1847, by Hobart College at Geneva, New York. The students of
this College, who had been consulted as whether she should be admitted,
gave their approval, more from a desire to be amused by her presence, than from
belief in the seriousness of her motives. 

When she walked into her first class, on a November day in 1847, a slight
figure in a Quaker bonnet, blue-eyed, fair-haired and determined, she was
greeted with uncouth jests and a shower of paper darts while her professor
looked on in helpless embarrassment. 

But Elizabeth was neither embarrassed nor shaken in her resolve. Soon she 
had won them all, professors and students alike, by her common sense and her
industry. The gruesome sights of the dissecting room and the earthly language
of the medical students did not appear to bother her a bit. 

Elizabeth Blackwell was graduated from Hobart in 1849, the first accredited
woman physician in the United States, and with the best record in her class. She 
stepped forward to receive her diploma with great dignity, amid a rustle of 
crinolines and to the applause of all her colleagues. She accepted the scroll in
silence, bowed, and started to go back to her place. With a sudden change of
mind, she turned back and said: 

"Sir, I thank you. By the help of the Most High it shall be the effort of my

6

Paper darts and rude jokes greet Elizabeth on her first day in medical school. 

life to shed honor upon your diploma."

That same year she went to Europe to continue her studies. 

In Paris, she served in La Maternité, where 2,000 babies were delivered
each year, and where she lost an eye while treating an infant with ophthalmia. 
Her status here was that of a midwife, not a physician. On One occasion, she
was smuggled into a morgue, disguised in a long dark cloak, so that she might
have the opportunity of dissecting a cadaver. 

In London she was accepted as a doctor. Here she walked the wards of St. 
Bartholomew's with Sir James Paget, "no longer regarded with suspicion, bu protected by the highest medical sanction." She had access to every department
of this hospital except--ironically enough--the department of female diseases,
from which she was barred by the Professor of Midwifery who could not approve
of a "lady's studying medicine." 

Elizabeth's career had been discussed in London's scientific and literary
circles, and soon she met important members of these groups. She discussed
the stars with Sir John Herschel, ions with Michael Faraday, and magnetism
with Lady Byron. Many times that winter Florence Nightingale, the wealthy, 
restless young women whose name was to become immortal, sat by Elizabeth's
fire in Thavies Inn, or walked with her in the Nightingale gardens at Embley, 
discussing sanitation, nursing, medicine and the intellectual starvation which

7

was then the lot of many women. This was to be a life-long friendship from
which both women were to obtain a great benefit. 

Elizabeth returned to America in 1851. By this time she was a woman of
30, tiny buy stately, with smoothly waved hair, a frank and charming smile,
a thoughtful manner of address and a deep sense of her mission. In a letter to 
her mother she explained that she had chosen America, rather than England, 
for her medical practice because in the new land "women will first be recognized
as the equal half of humanity. Many of the best thinkers in the country are prepared 
to give the matter their earnest attention and sympathy." 

The New York in which Elizabeth sought to set up her practice was not
the quiet town she had seen when she arrived from Europe as a little girl. 
Willow trees still brushed the banks of the Hudson, but the building outlines
had changed since the reconstruction following the great fire of 1835. Trinity
spire was still the quiet beacon of the waterfront and Castle Garden its fortress,
but rows of new houses had risen between weathered rose brick facades and
scattered Dutch frame buildings. 

The city's greatest change had been in the character of its population. Immigration 
from Europe had begun in earnest. From Germany, Italy, Ireland,
Holland, and other areas of political and social ferment, hundred (and later
thousands) of new settlers were pouring in each month. 

In September, 1851, Elizabeth opened an office at 44 University Place and
hung out her modest shingle. The New York Tribune noted at the time that Dr. 
Blackwell was prepared to practice in every department of her profession. "This
announcement is made without her knowledge or request but in justice to one
whose past carer and eminent qualifications entitle her to public consideration
and encouragement." 

The traditional shingle was out, but Elizabeth still had a long way to go. 
In an age when women's contribution to medicine was limited to the roles of
midwife, abortionist or mesmerist, the new "lady doctress" was treated with suspicion 
and contempt. 

She was jeered at in the streets, as she moved about modestly in her doctorial
sack. She was the target for insulting letters. In spite of her splendid
credentials, she was refused a place as assistant physician at one of the largest
city dispensaries. In answer to her argument that she could be useful in the department
for women and children, she was scoffingly advised to open her own
dispensary. When she sought permission to visit the women's wards of a city
hospital, her letter was ignored. 

In desperation she filled the empty hours by preparing a series of six lectures
on the physical education of girls. On March 1, 1852, the New-York Daily 
Times announced the course, which was to be delivered in the basement of Hope
Chapel (admission: $2 per lecture). 

8

These lectures proved sound, scholarly and quite sensational for the times. 
They were well received: reform was in the air and here was a new voice--
cool, literate and informed. The Quaker ladies who listened were impressed as
Elizabeth described the process of birth, enlightened them on the functioning of
their muscular and circulatory systems and explained the principles of hygiene. 

These talks, later collected and published under the title The Laws of Life
with Special reference to the Physical Education of Girls, helped dent the wall
of social and professional antagonism which faced Elizabeth. The medical profession
took note of her book and could not help but approve its clarity and its
good sense. 

In 1853, after a final fruitless attempt at attaching herself to a dispensary, 
Elizabeth Blackwell decided that the only way to realize her ambitions was to
open an establishment of her own. For this enterprise she obtained the backing
of a group of prominent citizens. Her first trustees were all men of affairs, forward
thinking and devoted to philanthropic causes. Charles Butler, Theodore
Sedgwick, Richard H. Browne and Edward C. West were lawyers; Robert Haydock, 
Simeon Draper and Charles W. Forster were auctioneers;  Horace Greenley, 
Henry J. Raymond and Charles A. Dana were editors; Stacy B. Collins was a
publisher; Richard H. Manning and Marcus Spring were merchants; Cyrus W.
Field was a well known philanthropist, Dennis Harris a sugar refiner, Robert
White a farmer and Benjamin Flanders a sailmaker. 

Greeley and Raymond gave strong support to Elizabeth's venture in the columns 
of the Tribune and the Times. Theodore Sedgwick drew up the certificate 
of incorporation, which read, in part: 

That the particular business and object of such Society shall be the providing 
and furnishing medicines and medical and surgical aid to such persons
as may be in need thereof, and unable by reason of poverty to procure
the same; also the training of an efficient body of nurses for the service
of the community; and also the employment of medical practitioners of
either sex, it being the design of this Institution to secure the services of well 
qualified female practitioners of medicine for its patients. 

The employment of "medical practitioners of either sex" involved a group
of top rank male physicians who welcomed the opportunity to serve as consultants
on Elizabeth Blackwell's staff. They included Dr. Valentine Mott, Dr. 
Willard Parker, Dr. Richard S. Kissam, Dr. Isaac E. Taylor and Dr. George P. 
Cammann. 

The Eleventh Ward, where the dispensary was situated, ran from Fourteenth
Street south to Rivington Street. Its eastern boundary was the East River and to
the West it ended at Avenue B and Clinton Street. Three-quarters of its population
were foreign-born; many of its residents knew no English, and their region

9

lacked medical service of any kind. Babies were born and died in filthy cellars. 
Typhoid, diphtheria and other infectious diseases raged. 

The new dispensary, which opened in March, 1854, consisted of one room
at 207 East Seventh Street, near Tompkins Square. Mrs. Cornelia Hussey had
helped Dr. Blackwell cover a screen and put up a shelf on which were arranged
her few simple drugs. Total capital at the time was $150. Elizabeth announced
that she would receive patients three afternoons a week. 

The idea that women now had an opportunity to consult a physician of
their own sex was so novel, and therefore suspect, that the neighbors, no matter
how sick or destitute, stayed away at first. In the long run, however, their
needs proved more compelling than their misgivings. Dr. Blackwell's first
patients began to arrive. As one woman received kindly and efficient treatment
at the dispensary, she told another. Word got around that there was help to be
had on Seventh Street. It was thus, by word of mouth, that the reputation of the strange little "doctress"--a word despised by Elizabeth--began to spread. 

Appalled at the wretched conditions in which most of her patients lived, 
Elizabeth followed up her medical counsel with advice on the importance of
cleanliness, fresh air, and wholesome food. She urged mothers to get their
children out into the sun and to free their bodies from cumbersome wrappings.
Never had there been a neighborhood whose residents needed so badly to be
taught the principles of hygiene and sanitation. 

Soon patients were crowding the dispensary--200 were treated in the first
year--and Elizabeth became desperate for extra hands to help. But for the most
part, applicants for the job of assistant turned out to be sorry misfits. 

One day, however, a tall, strong-faced Polish girl named Marie Zakrzewska
called to offer her services. She was promptly accepted. 

It was a memorable meeting. Elizabeth soon learned of Marie's long family
tradition in medicine. She was the great-granddaughter of Marie Elizabeth
Sauer, a gypsy queen of the Lombardi family and a famous 18th century midwife
whose father had been a surgeon in the army of Frederick the Great. Marie's 
grandmother was a veterinary surgeon, her mother an educated midwife with a
large practice in Berlin. At the age of eleven she was reading books on surgery
and for the better part of a year, before deciding to seek her fortune in America, 
she had served as accoucheuse-en-chef at the Royal Charité Hospital in Berlin. 

Marie helped at the dispensary for several months, improving her English, 
and training, under Elizabeth, to enter the medical school at Western Reserve 
University, Cleveland, Ohio. She obtained her degree from this institution in
1856 and came back to resume her place on Elizabeth's little staff. Very quickly
she absorbed the energy and vision of the Blackwell sisters and developed unusual
organizing ability. 

At the same time, the progress of another young medical student was also

10

an object of Elizabeth's major interest and attention: that of her younger sister, 
Emily, whom she had long regarded as a potential partner. 

Emily, ambitious, strong-willed, scholarly, had gradated with distinction
from Western Reserve in 1854 and gone to Europe where, after a
tour of leading clinics in Paris, Berlin and Dresden, she was gaining invaluable 
experience in obstetrics and gynecology under Sir James Simpson in Edinburgh. 
Sir James was one of the few men of his era who could see no reason why women
should not make successful doctors. 

Emily returned to America early in 1857. Admirably trained, endowed
with a strong administrative sense, her interest in medicine was primarily
clinical, where Elizabeth's was principally humanitarian. Emily was a perfect
complement to her sister. 

She arrived just in time: Elizabeth's hospital was about to materialize. 

Early in their professional careers, Elizabeth Blackwell and her associates
saw that the realization of their ambitions would depend in large part on their
ability to raise money. They also began to appreciate how valuable the press
could be in bringing their plans to fruition. 

In 1855, only a year after she had opened the Dispensary, Elizabeth was
already making plans for the hospital she wanted to add to the establishment. 
She had her eye on an old Dutch house at 64 Bleecker Street, which belonged
to Mrs. Harriet Roosevelt. Elizabeth estimated it would require $5,000 to 
buy and remodel the house, and appointed a special committee to study methods 
for raising this money. 

As a result, the good Quaker ladies organized sewing circles, where 
pincushions, mats, baby bootees and hair tidies were turned out by the score, 
and then sold at fair meetings held every Thursday. 

The practical Marie viewed these proceedings with a skeptical eye. In
her opinion, it would be a long time before these modest efforts could build
a hospital. She, in turn started casting about for more effective ways of raising
money. This search led Marie to New England, where she studied the fundraising
methods used there by women working for anti-slavery organizations. 

The ladies of Boston were surprised that in rich New York the women
doctors could not raise sufficient money for such a worthy cause. Marie replied
that of the many wealthy women in New York City "only a few dare connect
themselves with such radical reformers as we appear to be." 

She discussed her problem with such eminent individuals as Wendell
Phillips, Theodore Parker, William Lloyd Garrison, Ralph Waldo Emerson and
Dr. Harrier K. Hunt, and returned to New York with fresh ideas, plus $650
contributed to the cause by the generous Boston ladies. 

As one result of the New England visit, it was decided to hold a fair
patterned after the bazaars which had been such a success in Boston. Horace

11

Greeley did his best to insure the success of the occasion by running the following
account in The New York Tribune of December 5, 1856:

A noteworthy characteristic of our day is the re-entrance of women into
medical practice. In the early days of the profession, before it had yet
become science, women were foremost among those skilled in the care of
the sick and in the healing virtues of the simples, then for the most part
composing the materia medica. Within the past twenty years they have
manifested the capacity and the inclination to resume their old place in
the modern profession. This may be immediately owing to the efforts of a
few able women, thoroughly in earnest, to find a field commensurate with
their aspirations; but, doubtless, the ultimate impulse of their enterprise
is traceable to the inherent fitness of the healing art to the capacity and
tastes of the sex and to the pressing need now experienced by many women
for fresh and wider avocations.

... It is now proposed to advance the establishment of a Hospital in addition
to the Dispensary by adding to the outside advice and medicine given,
rooms for the reception and treatment of the worst cases that apply. This
is sought to be done on a scale justified by the means actually contributed,
to be extended and improved as these shall increase. To this end, weekly
meeting have been held throughout the past year by a number of our
ladies who will offer the products of the industry at a Fair to be held at
the Stuyvesant Institute, No. 659 Broadway, commencing Thursday, December
11th. They will welcome assistance for this Fair and all contributions
in aid of the establishment of this Hospital.

Another member of the press who helped greatly to publicize the Fair was
a reporter on the staff of the Times, Mary L. Booth, a sister of one of Elizabeth's
patients. It was Miss Booth, incidentally, who, in the course of her extensive
reportorial work on behalf of the women doctors, finally managed to kill off the
epithet "doctress."

Elizabeth raised $600 at the Fair, which, in spite of ultimate success,
had got off to a difficult start. No one would give the women doctors space for
the occasion until Robert Haydock came to their rescue, with the loan of an
unfinished loft at Stuyvesant Institute and the offer of his services as auctioneer.
His wife Hannah lent one of her crystal chandeliers. Connected to the gas
piping, it shed a soft glow over the evergreens and flowers that concealed the
more inelegant spots. Women flocked to the Fair, setting a tradition for the successful
benefits and drives that sustained the Infirmary through the years.

The idea of the theatrical benefit, for which today's artists and performers
gladly and generously offer their services to the Infirmary, also came

into being during the 1850's, when Elizabeth made an unsuccessful attempt at
enlisting the aid of the famous Fanny Kemble. Elizabeth had met Miss Kemble
during her visit to England. She sought the actress with confidence when she
in turn visited America, giving Shakespearean readings and often turning over
the proceeds to benevolent institutions. Miss Kemble listened to Elizabeth with
charming attention until she "caught the point that the Infirmary was run
entirely by women." At once she sprang to her feet. Her magnificent eyes
blazed as she towered over the small doctor and said, in the deep tones she usually
reserved for Shakespeare's more tragic scenes: "Trust a woman as a
doctor — never!"

Rebuffs of this type would have permanently discouraged women more
faint-hearted than the Infirmary doctors. But they continued to work at fundraising,
trying out new schemes, making new friends, moving in the city's ever-
multiplying social, intellectual, religious and political groups. Finally, there
was sufficient money in hand to finance the new hospital, and the Bleecker
Street property was acquired. These early off-duty activities on the part of the
staff and their friends have found their counterpart repeatedly throughout the
past century, whenever a need of any sort arose.

BLEECKER STREET

THE DUTCH HOUSE AT 64 BLEECKER STREET was crowded on May 12,
1857, when the New York Infirmary for Indigent Women and Children
opened with full hospital status. It was Florence Nightingale's birthday —
Elizabeth's tribute to her friend. Dr. Henry Ward Beecher sat on one of the
beds in the converted drawing room on the second floor. Peter Cooper watched
the scene with interest. Robert Haydock, in Quaker garb, presided.

As usual, the helpful sum of journalism glowed on the sisters. Reporters
sent by Mr. Greeley, Mr. Dana, Mr. Raymond and James Gordon Bennett
were on hand to record this milestone in woman's history.

Elizabeth stepped forward in her doctorial sack to read her report. Quietly
and with great dignity she told of the work already accomplished, of the
hundreds of ill and needy who had been cared for since the opening of the
Dispensary three years before. She pointed out that in three respects — providing
women physicians, training women medical students and training nurses,

the new Infirmary would stand alone, not only in New York but in the entire country. She added: 

The full thorough education of women in medicine is a new idea, and 
like all other truths requires time to prove its value. Women must show
to medical men, even more than to the public, their capacity to acct as
physicians; their earnestness as students of medicine before the existing
institutions with their great advantages of practice and complete organization
will be opened to them. They must prove their medical ability before 
expecting professional recognition...

Dr. Beecher recalled that one of his women ancestors had practiced medicine
in Connecticut many years before and that he considered women particularly
fitted for the study of medicine. Elizabeth knew that Goodwife Beecher 
had been a midwife in the early New Haven Colony, who rode through the
woods handing out syrup of violets, roses, mint and anise to her patients. But
this was hardly the time to point out, in the midst of so much good-will, that
the Infirmary was founded partly to help ring down the curtain on midwifery. 

Dr. William Elder, an advocate of free soil, free speech and free men, was
an old friend who had come from Philadelphia to share in the opening ceremonies. He condemned "fogeyism and humbug" which he said characterized
the medical profession generally. 

The Reverend Dudley A. Tyng, a Philadelphia minister ousted from his
church for his anti-slavery sermons, rushed in at the last minute, clutching his
carpet bag, to close the meeting with prayer. The institution would profit, he
said, from the fact that the "ladies conducting it proposed to accompany their
medical ministry by spiritual aid." 

The audience was seated among the "snowy while beds," as Dr. Zakrzewska
recalled it, while, after Elizabeth's speech, the three women doctors remained
in the background, modest in appearance, yet in the most elated spirit." 

Everything has been lovingly arranged for the ceremony. Curtains and
plants brightened the scene, and the entrance had been dressed up with a few
antiques and brocaded settees donated by friends. 

The Bleecker Street house had four floors. The dispensary occupied the
lower front room. It contained a consulting desk, an examination table behind
a large screen, shelves for medicine and a table for making up prescriptions. 
The front and back parlors had been thrown together to make wards. 

There were two more wards, with six beds apiece, on the second floor;
the third floor houses the maternity department, and the attic floor served as
living quarters for servants and for four medical students. One small bedroom
was converted into an operating room by replacing a tiny window with a 
larger multi-paned one. Grate fires furnished the only heating throughout the

14

hospital. To assure proper ventilation, the skylight above the center was open
at all times, except during a storm or very cold weather. 

"These apartments were furnished with such materials as benevolence
provided," Dr. Zakrzewska recalled in her memoirs. "It was the most curious 
mixture of elegant old furniture and cheap stands and chair, without any
comfort or system, each of us doing the best we could with our belongings
as the house was almost entirely devoid of closet room. 

"A sign on the front door told the purpose of the house, and very soon
our old patrons of the Tompkins Square Dispensary found their way to the 
new and, comparatively speaking, quite stylish place. Before a month had 
passed, we had our beds filled and a daily attendance of thirty or more dispensary 
patients. Drs. Elizabeth and Emily Blackwell and myself each attended
the dispensary two mornings in the week, from nine to twelve." 

Elizabeth was the director, Emily and Infirmary surgeon, Marie the resident
physician, superintendent, housekeeper and instructor of students. These were

Guests gather for the ceremonies which opened the hospital on Bleecker Street. 

15

their official titles and duties. In reality all three pitched in and attended to
any piece of work which needed doing, regardless of its nature. 
       Marie started out at 5:30 a.m., once a week, in an omnibus, to visit the
wholesale market to buy provision. Daily, after an eight o'clock breakfast,
accompanied by two of the students, she visited the patients. The other two
students attended Dr. Blackwell in the dispensary. Two other regular morning
duties which had to be performed by Marie were visits to the kitchen to study
the diets and a trip, also by omnibus, to the wholesale druggist "to beg and buy
needed articles for the dispensary and hospital." 
       Dinner was at one o'clock. Afterwards, Marie attended to her private
patients. Later on, after tea, the staff and students gathered in the little hall
sitting room reserved for their use on the maternity floor. Here they cut out
towels, pillow cases or other needed articles, the students folding and basting as 
 they recited their lessons. The day's work ended at 11:30.
       There were mishaps in these early days, some comical, some serious. When 
livery stables to the rear of the building caught fire one afternoon and forty
horses stampeded, the three young doctors had their hands full, preventing panic
among their patients and finding volunteers to man the roof and put out sparks
as they fell. By good luck the wind blew the flames in the opposite direction. 
       On another occasion Hannah and Robert Haydock, approaching the
entrance for a quiet evening call, were horrified to find fumes pouring from the
Infirmary and no one inside to answer their knocks. It developed that to check
an outbreak of puerperal fever the doctors had decided to fumigate the entire
hospital. Patients and workers had been transferred to other quarters, windows
and doors sealed, and quantities of sulphur ignited in each room. Satisfied with
a brief explanation, the Haydocks went home reassured. 
       "Oh happy days. Springtime of life!" wrote Dr. Zakrzewska in her diary
for the year 1857. "Youth was with us all, and our hopes of success knew no
limit. We were the happiest, even if materially the poorest, of a group of women
which included friends engaged in different lines of work, such as journalism, art
and music...."
       The fee for patients who were able to pay was $4 a week, although any
poor woman or child was received free of charge, "so far as the limited funds at
the disposal of the managers" would permit. Mr. Haydock allowed the sum of 
$22 for weekly expenses, including groceries, gas, wages and food. Donations, 
from friends, of items such as crockery, toweling, stationery, were accepted with
gratitude. 
       An Infirmary innovation which created much interest at this time was a
tight system of record keeping, both for hospital cases and in the dispensary. 
Neat records and books have remained an Infirmary specialty to this day. 
       Of the five distinguished male physicianS who consulted and taught at the
16


Infirmary, the most faithful was Dr. Richard S. Kissam of Bellevue, who served
the Infirmary from 1853 to 1861. The infirmary report of 1861 mentions "the
steady kindness and skill of the services which he so long rendered the institution." 
Aside from treating the women students with great kindness, he gave
everyone to understand that the three doctors running the institution were 
exceptions to all womankind. 
       Prejudice against the Infirmary flared into hostility and open violence
shortly after its opening. A patient had died there of childbed fever and her
relatives claimed that the Blackwell sisters were killing women in childbirth. 
An angry crowd surrounded the hospital. There was no way of summoning help.
Luckily an Irish laborer, whose family had been treated at the old Tompkins
Square dispensary, came to the rescue. This doughty soul first made a speech, 
telling the crowd about his family's wonderful experience with the women
doctors. Then he scattered the stubborner members of the mob by waving a
shovel. 
       A second mob scene occurred when a patient died of a ruptured appendix. 
A crowd stormed the Infirmary with stones. Dr. Kissam saved the day. He
persuaded the group to suspend judgement until a coroner had performed an
autopsy before a just composed of twelve of their members. When the inevitability 
of the patient's death was proved, the crowd's mood changed from
anger to remorse. 
       Seven years later, in July, 1863, the Infirmary's very existence was threatened 
by the draft riots which, for three terrible days, made a shambles of New
York City. The armed mobs, ostensibly protesting against conscription, spread
throughout the city, burning and looting. Many Negroes and abolitionists were
beaten to death or hanged, and a Negro orphanage was fired, leaving hundreds
of children homeless. The disturbances were especially violent in the Eleventh 
Ward area. 
       It was well known that the Blackwell sisters had always opposed slavery. 
Moreover, there were some Negro refugees from the South in the Infirmary, 
awaiting confinement. The white patients demanded that the Negro women be
ousted from the hospital. This the sisters categorically refused to do. Meanwhile
the riots raged on. Flames licked the New York skyline at a hundred different
points. On the second night the rioters burned eleven houses only a block north
of the Infirmary, while its doctors comforted the terrified patients and helped
them cover their faces with sheets to shut out the awful glare. By a miracle, 
the Infirmary was not attacked. 
       Despite all difficulties -- acts of God, acts of man, and the day-to-day
struggle to make ends meet -- the Infirmary remained where it was and what 
it was, constantly broadening the scope of its activities and deepening the affection
in which it was held by the community. 

17

TRAINING NURSES
IN 1858, DURING A VISIT TO ENGLAND, Elizabeth Blackwell conversed at length 
with her friend, Florence Nightingale, about the latter's plans for the Nightingale 
Training School for Nurses. This school opened a short time later at 
St. Thomas Hospital and became the pattern for modern nursing practice. 
       On her return from England, inspired by what she had learned, Elizabeth 
started to train nurses on a limited scale, with the inauguration of free courses 
lasting four months. Three nurses were trained in 1858, ten in 1859. By 1860, 
the course had lengthened to 13 months of training in the wards, under the 
supervision of the head nurse and the resident physician. 
       The Blackwells had thought that the nursing profession would have a 
great appeal to intelligent and humanitarian women. They were therefore disappointed 
by the preponderance of inferior and drunken individuals who applied 
and had to be rejected. Gradually, however, the sisters were successful in obtaining 
suitable candidates. By the time the Civil War broke out, the Infirmary 
had been geared for the program of training which was to help answer the 
Union's tragic lack of nurses. 
       In April, 1861, shortly after the surrender at Fort Sumter, Dr. Elizabeth 
Blackwell called a meeting at the Infirmary to discuss the shortage of nurses. 
This meeting, an outgrowth of an earlier gathering at the home of Mrs. Henry 
J. Raymond, was announced in the Times. As a result, the hospital was jammed 
to the doors and many persons had to be turned away. At the meeting the 
Blackwell sisters offered the facilities of the Infirmary to the cause, and Dr. 
Elisha Harris and Dr. Henry W. Bellows composed a letter calling for a public 
meeting at Cooper Union. From this resulted the United States Sanitary Aid 
Commission, the aim of which was coordination of nationwide efforts in providing 
assistance of all kinds to the soldiers. At the same meeting, Dr. Blackwell 
was appointed chairman of the registration committee of The Women's 
Central Relief Association. This organization, with headquarters at Cooper 
Union, received and distributed supplies for military personnel, but one of its 
primary duties was to provide nurses. 
       Dr. Blackwell helped screen the candidates and assign them for a month's 
training to Bellevue, New York Hospital or her own Infirmary. A number of 
these women had already had three months of Blackwell training, but Elizabeth's 
system had had to be curtailed and modified to meet the Army's pressing needs. 
       Soon after assuming the chairmanship, she gave a series of nine lectures to 
fifty of the candidates. The subjects for these lectures were Ventilation, Cleanliness,
18


Food, Care of Helpless Patients, Observation of Symptoms for Report to 
Physician, Surgical Dressings, Bandaging, Personal Habits and Precautions for 
Nurses, and Moral and Religious Influence of Nurses.
       On January 27, 1862, these women, completely trained, outfitted and 
ready for service, were sent on to Dorothea Dix, the newly-appointed Super-intendent 
of Nurses, in Washington.
       Following the Civil War, the Infirmary offered a number of courses for 
nurses, including a 3-month course in obstetrics attended by a group from the 
New York Hospital. It was not until 1883, however, that a Superintendent of 
Nurses was appointed. The training course, lengthened to two years in 1885, 
was reorganized, in 1894, to cover obstetrical, gynecological, medical and 
child nursing. During the last six months of this course the candidates served as 
head nurses in the wards. They received bedside instruction, and their training 
included practical demonstrations with the use of manikins, as well as 
lectures by prominent physicians. In 1904 the school was registered with the 
Regents of the State of New York, thereby achieving official recognition. 
       Following the First World War the shortage of nurses was particularly 
critical, and the Infirmary was forced to rely largely on outside agencies for its 
graduate and undergraduate nurses. This shortage was temporarily alleviated 
when, in 1922, a bequest of $700,000 from Mrs. Olivia Sage made possible 
the creation of a School of Practical Nursing which bore her name. Fourteen 
students, wearing the distinctive sage green uniform of the school, enrolled for 
the first session of its one-year course. The school continued until 1931. 

TRAINING DOCTORS
       ONCE THE NURSE TRAINING PROGRAM had been launched successfully 
Elizabeth Blackwell's ever-active mind turned to her long-cherished plans 
for a women's medical college. On December 19, 1863, she held a meeting 
at the Infirmary to consider the organization of such an institution. 
       "The practice of medicine by women is no longer a doubtful, but a settled 
thing," she told the group. "But there is not in the whole extent of our country 
a single medical school where women can obtain a good medical education." 
       She spoke of the fruitless attempts made by herself and by her sister to 
induce a reputable medical school to train women guaranteed by the Infirmary. 
She outlined her ideas on what, to her, constituted a good medical education: 
years of study, clinical observation and practical experience. She commented
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on what passed for training at some of the schools then in existence: the loophole-ridden 
examining system, the granting of degrees to men who had had but
ten months of study and not a day of practical experience.
     This discussion was followed by corporate action. On April 13, 1864, the
Infirmary's charter was amended, enabling it "to grant and confer the title
of Doctor of Medicine."
     Early in November, 1868, the first winter session of the Women's Medical
College of the New York Infirmary opened at 128 Second Avenue.
     The new institution received much publicity, some of it facetious, more of
it serious.  The concept of women students at work in the dissecting room, with
aprons over their hoop skirts, delighted cartoonists.
     In an address delivered on November 2, 1868, at the opening of the College,
Dr. Willard Parker pointed out that a doctor was born, not made, and the
natural doctor was common to both sexes.  He wished the new College Godspeed,
adding that since "woman was taking her true and proper place as
co-worker with man he, in the name of his profession, stretched out to her the
right hand of fellowship."
     The original faculty consisted of:

ELIZABETH BLACKWELL, Professor of Hygiene
A. B. BALL, Professor of Materia Medica
G. H. WYNKOOP, Professor of Physiology
SAMUEL B. WARD, Professor of Anatomy
ARTHUR MEAD EDWARDS, Professor of Theoretical and Practical Chemistry
ROBERT F. WEIR, Professor of Principles and Practice of Surgery
EMILY BLACKWELL, Professor of Obstetrics and Diseases of Women
JAMES R. LEAMING, Professor of Principles and Practice of Medicine
CHARLES T. TERRY, Lectures on Pathological Anatomy
LUCY M. ABBOTT, Assistant to Chair of Obstetrics, Teacher of Clinical Midwifery
ALBERT STRANG, Demonstrator

     Dr. Strang, the first instructor in anatomy, had two daughters who were to
serve the Infirmary for many years: Dr. Elise L'Esperance and Miss May
Strang. Dr. L'Esperance graduated from the Women's College in 1899.
     The members of the Board of Examiners were:

DR. WILLARD PARKER, Surgeon
DR. ISAAC E. TAYLOR, Obstetrics
DR. AUSTIN FLINT, Principles and Practice of Medicine
DR. STEPHEN SMITH, Anatomy
DR. B. W. MCCREADY, Materia Medica
DR. A. L. LOOMIS, Physiology

20

DR. SAMUEL ST. JOHN, Chemistry
DR. C. B. AGNEW, Hygiene
     The Special Examination Board, one of whose duties was to pass on
requirements, constituted an important innovation and originated long before
this became a compulsory state measure.  Other innovations brought about at
the Women's College included the establishment of the world's first Chair of
Hygiene and, later on, the extension of the medical training course from two
to three and then four years.
     A good general education was required for admission.  Before receiving
their diplomas the candidates (who has to be at least 21 years old at the time
of graduation)  were asked to present a certificate from a clergyman, physician
or other responsible person, testifying to their moral character.  A full year's
course of lectures cost $105, plus $5 for the Demonstrator's fee.  Graduation fee
was $30 and a Matriculation ticket cost $5.
     In 1870 the Board of Examiners reported that they had never examined a
class more fully grounded in the theory of medicine, adding that they were
"much in advance of the majority of male students."  The Examiners could
only account for this by speculating that the students "must be more than
average specimens of ability of their sex" but gave due credit to "the faculty
and college which had so well prepared them for their coming duties."
     There were seventeen students in the first class. One of these, a British
girl named Sophia Jex-Blake, left diary notes which give an idea of the student's
daily existence:  "My routine is pretty regular throughout the week. I go to
the dissecting room at 9 A. M. and work to about 11:15.  At 11:30 comes a
lecture on Anatomy and Physiology on alternate days, and I get home for
lunch a little before one. The afternoon lectures begin at 2 P. M. and continue
(except Saturdays) until 5, three lectures of an hour each.  I have just put in
a petition to Dr. Emily Blackwell (who manages everything and is very nice)
for a five minute space between each two lectures, for opening windows and a 
walk up and down the corridors, to which she instantly assented as desirable."
     Dr. Emily Blackwell was named Dean of the Medical College after
Elizabeth's retirement in 1869.  Serving also as President of the Medical Board
and as Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Emily had opportunity to
make full use of her excellent administrative ability and steady judgment, choosing
candidates with care and building up a teaching personnel comparable to
that of the best medical schools of the time.
     A brilliant addition to the staff was the gifted, hard-working Dr. Mary
Putnam, of the well-known publishing family.  Dr. Putnam, later the wife of
Dr. Abraham Jacobi, father of American pediatrics, taught at the College from
1870 to 1889 and remained with the Infirmary until 1896.

21

A cadaver is dissected during an early anatomy lesson at the Medical College.

       Three early graduates to join the faculty were Dr. Elizabeth Cushier, Dr.
Gertrude B. Kelly and Dr. Martha Wollstein. Dr. Cushier was graduated from
the Medical College in 1872, after which she served in the Infirmary as an
interne and later as a resident physician. She then went abroad to study normal
and pathological histology in Zurich and Vienna. On her return, she became a
member of the faculty, and served in turn as resident physician, attending surgeon 
and consulting surgeon in the hospital, achieving an outstanding reputation
in surgery and gynecology.
       A graduate of the class of 1884, Dr. Kelly was for many years director of
surgery at the Infirmary and assistant professor of clinical surgery at the Medical
College. A fiery advocate of Irish independence, she was a well-known figure
in the city's social and political circles. A playground at Seventeenth Street and
Eight Avenue was named for her by New York City.
       Dr. Wollstein, a member of the class of 1889, was instructor in histology and
later director of the Department of Pathology. Her teaching in the comparatively
new field of microscopic research stirred the interest of a number of her students.
       The two institutions, the Infirmary and the College, worked closely together,
the former providing ample clinical material for the students, especially in the
gynecological field, where the wide range of cases made for valuable training.
Bedside instruction was given to small groups two or three times a week and all
candidates had opportunity for practical experience during a period of residency
at the Infirmary.
       A course in hygiene, initiated by Dr. Emily Blackwell, consisted of forty

22

lectures, with practical demonstrations whenever possible. General topics were
the relation of disease-producing micro-organisms to practical hygiene; sanitary
investigation of air, water and soil; ventilation and heating; the study of food
and clothing; sterilization and disinfection; disposal of sewage; climatology;
sanitary relation of habitations to soil, drainage and general household hygiene.
Lectures given under the heading of personal hygiene dealt with the growth,
physical training and hygiene of school children.
       First-year students were given instruction in the elementary branches of
anatomy, physiology, materia medica and chemistry, with practical work in
the anatomical rooms and pharmacy. To these subjects, in the second year,
was added full instruction in medicine, surgery and obstetrics. During the third
year the students engaged in practical medical work, under the direction of
their teachers, and were required to make clinical reports on the cases attended.
       Each member of the class was called on to perform all he principal surgical 
operations on the cadaver, under the supervision of the professor and two
trained assistants. The laboratory had tables accommodating 36 students and
was supplied with gas and with hot and cold water. There were two fume
closets, slate-lined, connected with the laboratory and lecture room. The labora-
tory served as a workshop, in off-hours, for the enterprising Professor of Physiology
who with his assistants, devised and built a number of models and plaster casts
for use in demonstrations. Some of his models contained special mechanisms, air-
pumps, batteries and small engines, which enabled him to illustrate the workings
of the heart, the nervous system, etc.
       The students took turns at being apothecaries. They made their own tinc- 
tures, ointments and suppositories and filled 100 to 200 prescriptions daily.
       "In place of compressed tablets, bought by the thousands from the whole-
sale druggist," recalls an early graduate, Dr. Sarah J. McNutt, "we had to
weigh out and put up bulky packages of simple bitters composed of boneset
leaves, camomile flowers and quassia chips. These packages were much prized
by our old ladies, who, after adding water as directed, stored the brew in the
ice-box and cheerfully drank their cupful three times a day, confident that it
removed all ills."
       By 1877, the graduating class had grown to 42. Of the 53 qualified physi-
cians who had left the Infirmary by tis time, 22 were at work in various
capacities in hospitals and dispensaries around New York; seven were pursuing
their studies in European universities; three held positions at the Infirmary and
Women's Medical College; five were doctors' wives and engaged in practice
with their husbands; six had gone to Asia -- four to engage in missionary
work, one to establish a women's hospital in China, one to India as physician
to the large household of a native prince.
       Dr. Stephen Smith, a member of the Board of Examiners from 1870 to

23

1887, declared that the most brilliant medical graduate he had ever examined was a young Chinese woman of the class of 1885: Dr. Yei Men Kum. Two Blackwell nieces, Dr. Edith Brown Blackwell and Dr. Ethel Blackwell, were graduated from the College in 1891 and 1895, respectively.
     Dr. S. Joseph Barker, a graduate of the class of 1898, went on to a distinguished career in the field of public health. She served from 1903 to 1923 as director of the Bureau of Child Hygiene and played an important role in helping to reduce infant mortality to unprecedentedly low levels. This Bureau, the first department of child hygiene established under government control, served as the model for the present Children's Bureau in the Federal Department of Health Education and Welfare.
     Another early graduate who became active in hygiene and preventive medicine was Dr. Elizabeth Burr Thelberg, professor of physiology and hygiene at Vassar College for 40 years. She worked effectively for sociological advances and influenced a great many future mothers with her explicit teaching.
     Dr. Helen Baldwin, of the class of 1892, did post graduate work at Johns Hopkins Medical School, where she was one of the first women physicians to study under the four brilliant leaders there - Dr. William Osler, Dr. William H. Welch, Dr. Williams S. Halstead, and Dr. Howard A. Kelly. Dr. Baldwin returned to the Infirmary as assistant in medicine, eventually becoming head of the department. She served the Infirmary for forty years, was the author of many medical articles and became an authority in biochemistry.
     The status pf the woman doctor was improving with every passing year. At least she was not being ignored by the general public at the turn of the century, as witness with barroom scene described in 1891 by Dr. Putnam: "One man fought a duel with a woman, she having said that women doctors did not know as much as men. After bar tumblers were used as weapons, the question was decided in favor of women doctors by the man. It seemed but proper that the Lady Doctor was called in to bind up the wounds of her champion, while a man doctor performed the services for the woman."
     The College, like the Infirmary, was forced to move frequently, to find the space needed for its constantly increasing activities. its first location was 128 Second Avenue, with the Infirmary occupying No. 126. When the Infirmary moved to 5 Livingston Place in 1875, the College took possession of both the Second Avenue properties. in 1886 the properties on Second Avenue were sold, and land at the corner of Fifteenth Street and Livingston Place, adjoining the Infirmary, was acquired. The new college was built on this site. It was here, eleven years later, that a tragic fire wrecked the College's physical facilities. The Times, dated April 23, 1897, reports this event as follows:
          Smoke ascending from the elevator shaft was discovered at 2:30 A.M. 
          An alarm was promptly given, but when the engines arrived flames were

24

         seen in most of the windows. Second and third alarms were given. The firemen carried their hose through the hospital 
         building. . . Not a single patient got out of bed, and there was little or no confusion during the two hours the firemen were 
         at work. The splendid discipline at the institution aided the fire-chief and his men greatly.
      With the first alarm, preparations had been made to remove all patients - 40 women and 35 children - from the Infirmary, but the fire and police officials stayed them. The walls between the two institutions were thick, and the Infirmary remained unscathed, even thought the College was destroyed.
     In spite of this heavy loss, the work went on, in makeshift quarters. Within a year an enlarged and better equipped building had been erected and one of the largest classes in the history of the college benefited from the new pathological, physiological and chemical laboratories.
     In 1898, Cornell Medical College received and endowment of $1,500,000, with the proviso that women should be admitted on equal terms with men. This was the college which the Blackwells had originally sought as a point of entry for women. Now the door was open. Dr. Emily summed up the situation in her address to the College's final class, graduated in 1899:
          After full consideration, we decided that. . . a separate woman's college in New York was no longer a necessity, that in this 
         direction our work was done - we had held open the door for women until broader gates had swung wide for their 
         admission.
         Now we should leave this work of undergraduate instruction to those who have the largest means for carrying it on, and 
         concentrate our efforts upon

[drawn picture of building on fire]
In 1987, a quick fierce fire completely destroyed the Women's Medical College.

supplying what is still the greatest need of women physicians, wider opportunities for practical work after graduation. 
         . . . Speaking of the practices of women generally, you will find them everywhere, and in every department; in general 
         practice, in surgery, in specialties, they are working successfully. . . That they fill a place is proved by the fact that during the 
         years of the life of our College their numbers have increased from tens to thousands. . . 
     From 1868 through 1899, 364 women physicians were graduated from the College.

LIVINGSTON PLACE
A GENEROUS BEQUEST from the estate of Samuel Willets, who had served as President of the Infirmary for many years, made it possible to move the hospital, in 1875, from Second Avenue to the wide mansion at 5 Livingstonn Place. The outlook was pleasant at Livingston Place, with Stuyvesant Park in front, a large yard and an open square to the rear. The stairways were broad, the rooms spacious and there was plenty of light and air. Twice as many patients could be accomodated as at the Second Avenue location. Two large twelve bed wards, a spacious and convenient confinement ward, and eight smaller wards and single rooms provided a total of thirty-five beds. There were also comfortable accomodations for the household and medical staff.
     Patients who could afford to, paid $4 a week. Those unable to do so were treated free. A few small rooms accomodated one or two patients at rates ranging gotm $10 to $15 a week.
     Obstertical cases were expected to bring two changes of lined for themselves, as well as clothing and diapers for the new-born infant. No visitors were allowed in the confinement ward. All patients, free or paying, waited on themselves and assisted in light duties arouns the wards if able to move about. No wine, spirit or food ccould be brought without permission by visitors. Every three months the wards were vacated to permit thorough fumigation of rooms, bedding and furniture.
     These were the simple rules of the Infirmary during the 1870's, and the number of patients grew each year. There was a steady inmcrease in surgical work, most of which was gynecological. Many of the patients now consented

to surgery "upon the knowledge obtained that such operation would be performed by a woman." The reputation  of the Inirmary was such that patients came there from outlying districts as well as from the city itself.

OUT-PRACTICE
THERE WERE NO BEDS at the tiny dispensary near Tompkins Square, and accordingly, Elizabeth Blackwell spread the word that ill and indigent women "might leave their names for free attendance at home." From this idea developed the Out-Practice, or Tenement House Service of the New York Infirmary, through which thousands of families of many nationalities and a score of different faiths received tender, loving care in their homes. This treatment was concerned not only with physical ailments, but with the individual's and the family's economic, spiritual and moreal well-being. Perhaps no phase of the Infirmary's activities has drawn the insitution into closer touch with its neighborhood. It constituted the earliest practice of Medical Social Service.
     In 1866, while themiseries that followed the Civil War were in full evidence, Dr. Blackwell reported to her trustees that she was assigning a "sanitary and nursing visitor" to go among the poor and bring them knowledge of hygiene and preventive measures. The procedure was to be simple and unobtrusive:
          The visitor will follow to the home those who obtain medical prescriptions from the 
          Dispensary; and although her visit will be exclusively for sanitary purposes, being entirely 
          distinct from the medical duties of the physicians, the prescriptions will nevertheless serve as 
          an excuse for calling at poor houses without seeming to be rude.
     Soon the "sanitary visitor" had become a familiar sight throughout the Lower East Side, with her bag full of sponges, soap and disinfectants as well as clean linens. Her equipment also included pamphlets on hygiene and the value of fresh air, copies of which were ditributed to householders, read aloud to the illiterat, and translated into various languages for the bnefit of new arrivals from Europe. Aside from the simple principles of ventilation, cleanliness, etc., mothers were taught how air bedding and how to open windows without creating drafts.
     Dr. Rebecca Cole, the first Negro woman physician, and a graduate of the medical College, was active in the work of the Out-Practice Department, which, from 1872 to 1881, was responsible for 10, 442 visits, either by the resident

27




[sketch of family with two children in bed] Doctor, nurse and "sanitary visitor" fight disease in tenement building.

physician or by Infirmary internes. In 1881 this service was taken over by antoher graduate, Dr. Annie S. Daniel, who, for the next sixty years, ran the department with what one of her colleagues has described as an "efficiency and medical acumen that were an inpiration to those who served in this active field."
     Living conditions in the tenement house area were subhuman, and every ship which arrived from Europe brought immigrants who moved in with friends and relatives to add to the indescribable congestion. In those days, the tenement buildings were usually from four to six stories high, and housed as many as 1,000 individuals. One or teo tiny, ill-ventilated rooms were allotted to each family, regardless of their numbers .Lodgers, who brought folding beds for the night, were taken in by many families. Cooking, washing, all the domestic processes, were carried on in one general room. Plumbing facilities consisted of backyard privies and hall sinks whichwere also the repositories for refuse. The sick, often suffering from infectious diseases, lived in the midst of this squalor.
     These conditions, dreadful as theywere, became further aggravated by home manufacturing. In 1890, the average weekly wage of themale worker was $6, and, to survive, the women and children had to supplement the family income by making boxes, baskets, beadwork, neckties and other articles.
     This, then, was the field to which Dr. Daniel was to devote her life. On one visit she found children of three, suffering from pneumonia, being forced to string

28

beads. In another home a twelve-year-old girl and her ten-year-old brother finished pants at six cents a pair, while three other members of the family lay ill with typhoid fever. The contemporary cartoons showing children making artificial flowers, instead of smelling real ones in the fields and the gardens, were all to true of Dr. Daniel's experience.
     A typical entry in one of Dr, Daniel's reports of the '90's reads: "Mary G., mothe rof five children. Four dead, one sick."
     For more than half a century, Dr. Daniel devoted her remarkable energies to altering this grim catalogue for the better. Thousands of women in the neighborhood had good cause to remember her with gratitude. She always brought a chicken leg or some other tidbit to replenish a bare cupboard.  When a room was cold, she had an extra quarter to feed the gas meter. She never failed to make a prompt return call when a patient was seriously ill. On her rounds, winter or summer, she never walked less than six miles each day.
     After 1889, a part of their training, students from the Medical College accompanied Dr. Daniel on her tenement tours. She was exacting with the young women, and insisted on absolute precision in their reports, even to the exact number of cubic feet in a tiny room occupied by too many people.
     She taught her pupils how to make do with meagre means, to face death, to meet emergencies, to arrange for funerals, and to deal with the old-country superstitions which so often interfered with effective medical treatment.
     Two experiences of Dr. Sarah J. McNutt, long a member of the Out-Practice staff, vividly illustrate the work of this organization.
     On one occassion she raced through the streets to save the life of a young man who was choking to death. Hi sbrtoher had summoned her and she ran to the house at his heels, clucthing her instrument in her hand. By the time she reached her atient his face was black and his eyes bulging. Sinking to her knees besdie the straw pallet on which he lay, she depressed his tongue and saw a "great black mass - which was both tonsils hugely distended - filling the passage and obsructing the entrance of air.
     She functioned quickly with her knife and, as the youth fell forward on his pallet, she feared the carotid artery might have been cut during her hurried operation. "For an instant I saw the rope dangling before me," she recalled, "but it was only an instant, for my finger was on his pulse and I recognized that the beat was regular and forceful, that his black face was becoming red as air rushed into his lungs, and his agonized expression was gone - in a few moments he could sit back in the corner while I lanced the other tonsil."
     Another time, an emergency rave brought Dr. mcNutt to the rescue of an 18-month-old boy gasping for breath with diphtheric croup. helay in bed with his mother and a baby she had given birth to just a few hours earlier. The door of the room opened directly onto the street. Knowing that the child would die

29



in a few moments if not relieved, Dr. McNutt went directly to work. Her tracheotomy was witnessed by a large audience of passerby, who had gathered outside on the street. 
       Toward evening the other lodgers "glided in like spectres," Dr. McNutt went on to say, "silently arranging themselves on the floor, trying to efface themselves. At early dawn they began to glide out as they had come, and soon only the mother and two children were left." By morning, the little boy's respiration was normal. 
       The value of the Out-Practice Department was never so apparent as in the Depression years. In 1934, Dr. Daniel found that not one of the 1.733 families visited in Out-Practice could afford the services of a doctor or could pay a penny for medical care under any circumstances. During these difficult years, the Social Service Department worked in close conjunction with the Infirmary's medical staff, since relief measures often had to be instituted simultaneously with starting medical treatment.
       By this time, conditions had improved enormously over those which pre-vailed in the early days of Dr. Daniel's career. Hygiene had become an accepted factor in the life of the community. Child labor was virtually abolished. Constructive legislation, much of it enacted as the result of efforts by the Infirmary and other social agencies, had done much good. Some of the old tenements had been torn down. By 1944, when Dr. Daniel died, the Out-Practice Department, as such, was no longer needed, and its remaining activities were taken over by the Social Service Department. 
       But the contributions made by the Out-Practice Department to the community cannot be overestimated. In 1930, Lillian D. Wald, organizer of the visiting nurse service which became the nucleus of the world-renowned Henry Street Settlement, said the Infirmary's Out-Practice Department had been the forerunner of her own organization and a model for similar activities through-out the world. 
        During the Second World War, the work of the Social Service Department increased tremendously, both in volume and variety of service. Social Service helped shorten the average hospital stay by arranging for home convalescent care. Trained women were also provided, to take temporary charge of the house and children during the mothers' illness. 
       During this period, the families of military personnel serving overseas or at remote stations in the Zone of the Interior, presented many serious and complex problems for the Social Service Department to solve. The workers in the department were almost over whelmed with young and inexperienced mothers, some of them unmarried; with wives unaccustomed to attending to their own affairs; with many individuals suffering from emotional and psychological strains caused by loneliness, fear and insufficient funds. The department found itself serving as mother and father, husband or son to helpless people of all ages. This was a period of stimulating challenge. The extraordinary financial demands involved were met through a special fund for the care of the families of military personnel and veterans, given through Mrs. Edward V. Rickenbacker, chairman of the Social Service Committee. 

                                                                                                                                                             TWO WARS
A GALLANT PAGE in the history of the Infirmary concerns the part played in the First World War by a group of its staff physicians. These doctors organized a unit and, with the support of the National Suffrage Party, went overseas to set up a hospital for he care of women and children who ad been driven from their homes by the war. 
      The unit was headed by Dr. Caroline Finley and included Dr. Anna Von Sholly, Dr. Mary Lee Edward and Dr. Alice Gregory. When the arrived in France, they found that their proposed hospital, at Ham had been completely destroyed. With the help of Dr. Alexis Carrel they offered services at French Army headquarters in Paris and secured immediate reassignment to a military installation near the front lines. 
       The doctors set p a field hospital at Chateau de Machy, at Ognon, Oise. Routed out of bed on their very first night by the arrival of 400 wounded, they spent the following months, at Ognon and later at Laon, working re-moreslessly, often 36 hours at a stretch, up until the day Armistice was signed.
       An entry in Dr. Edward's diary, dated June 17, 1918, gives a brief glimpse of the doctors at work in the midst of a bombing attack: " About 11 P.M. con=travois guns, Searchlights everywhere converging on us. Flaming onions nearby and bombs nearer and nearer. A village just beyond Brasscuse on fire. huge flames, horror, then bombs shaking the chateau. Called to operating room. hospital bombed. Thirteen make nurses killed, elven wounded. Aviators wounded. Brought by ambulances ( forty of them)."
       In spite of a second raid which came at 3 a.m. and set fire to 36 planes at the nearby aviation headquarters, the doctors scarcely noticed what was happening. They were too busy giving tetanus shots, applying dressings, performing heavy operative work by the light of  lamp held in a nurse's hand. At seven in the morning the looked out on a scene of horror- legs, arms and personal belongings strewn all around and even tangled in the wire mesh of the tennis court. 
      After the Armistice, Dr. Finley, Dr. Von Sholly and Dr. Edward were transferred for a brief period of service at Nancey, where they helped the British

to identify released prisoners. Later, installed in an old German hospital at Metz, they worked with the British, French and Russian, whose prisoners were being released from German camps. Dr. Gregory had established a hospital for women and childen at Labouheyre before returning to the front. This and a similar hospital set up at Rheims formed the nucleus of the Women's overseas Hospital still operating in the Near East.
     On September 3, 1918, the Infirmary doctors received the Croix de guerre. Dr. Finley's citation from the French Service de Sante read:
         Dr. Finley, head of the American Surgical Mission located at Ognon, a woman remarkable for 
         her sterling moral and professional qualities, has rendered the greatest services to the French 
         and American wounded. She is distinguished with all her staff for her courage and scorn of 
         danger during the bombardment of the hospital by enemy aviators.
     Dr. Finley also received the Order of the British Empire, for aid rendered to the British wounded. This decoration was presented to her on the deck of H. M. S. renown, by the Prince of Wales, now Duke of Windsor.
     In 1940, with another war threatening, the nurses and medical staff of the Infirmary again offered their services to the Surgeon General. Later in the year, their representatives went to Washington to join a large group which had gathered there for hearing a proposal bill to give women doctors official status in the armed forces. Dr. Emily Barringer spearheaded this effort and Mrs. Frank A. Vanderlip, President of the Infirmary, summoned up the argument. The bill was passed, and women physicians and surgeons became eligible for commissions, on the same terms as male doctors, in all the armed forces of the United States.
     During the period 1941-45, the Infirmary, like other hospitals, was set up on a catastrophic basis. A fully organized casualty station, including a 3-room gas decontaminating unit, was established. Intensive fire and evacuation drills were held. Special blood bank arrangements were made, and the staff organized two field units to care for bombing casualties, fully equipped and ready for service wherever needed.
     The Second World War taxed the facilities of the Infirmary to the limit. An acute shortage of doctors and nurses developed, since many members of the staff were called away for military servise. At times, department heads themselves took night duty, and trustees making beds and carrying trays were no an uncommon sight. The harassed professional staff could not conceivably have coped with the successive cries and ermergencies without the devoted help of volunteer workers.
     As early as 1936, the Infirmary was giving Red Cross training courses for nurses aides. When war broke out, graduates of these courses were ready

32

to fill staff vacancies in the wards and clinics, and even in the operating rooms. Other layworkers with speical training did occupational therapy, library and social work. In 1944 alone, the volunteers, under the direction of Mrs. David Sarnoff, contributed 31,904 hours of work and proved the salvation of the hospital.
     During the Second World War, in connection with its public information program, the United State Department made a motion picture short showing the various activities of the New York Infirmary. This film, taken to exemplify the constructive role played by voluntary organizations in this country, was shown to millions of persons in civic and educational groups in Latin-American and other natiuons abroad as a part of our "Good Neighbor" program.

THE INFIRMARY CARRIES ON

THE END OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR found the Infirmary in a most serious situation. in 1906, the Hospital had expanded into the old College building, which included Nos. 2-3 Livingston Place and 321 East 15th Street. To make the buildings conform with the new fire regulations, promulgated in 1917, extensive alterations had to be made. With the cost of building materials at an all-time high, the funds needed for this work were not available. This situation was complicated further by the shortage of personnel and the high price of medication, supplies, etc. It was therefore decided, as of March 1918, to close the Infirmary proper and to concentrate all available personnel and physical resources on the Dispensary and Out-Practice Department.
     The medical staff, aided by the retuning doctors, joined with the devoted trustees and immediately set to work on an intensive campaign to raise $100,000. The necessary alterations to the building were made, and the Hospital reopened in May, 1920.
     The next few years proved a crucial time for the Infirmary. It became more and more difficult to meet the mounting deficits, and finally some of the trustees felt that the only way of solving the problem to merge the Infirmary and its assets with another proposed hospital still to be organized.
      It was clear that, in this merger, the Infirmary would lose its identity and the principles on which it was founded. it would no longer be staffed primarily by women, and its original purpose would be lost. The plan also imperiled a permanent endowment fund established by Louis C. Tiffany with stipulations as to the Infirmary's function.

33



     There was only slight hope that the Infirmary, as such, could be saved, but this hope was kept alive by the doctors and by a few faithful trustees and friends, who went into action and eventually emerged victorious. A small group headed by Dr. Helen Baldwin, Mrs. Irving Putnam, and Miss Esther Lape, held early morning conferences and rounded up all individuals who might give help to their faltering cause. in 1928 the dissenters resigned, and the new trustees moved in to work with the nucleus that favored continuation of the Infirmary.
     Mrs. Frank Vanderlip, the new President of the Board, had worked as a campaign chairman for several counties in the New York State Women's Suffrage Party, had served for three years as the first president of the New York State League of Women Voters, and had headed a committee which rebuilt Tsuda College for Women in Japan. She now dedicated herself to the New York Infirmary, fostering and strengthening the principles on which it was founded.
     Samuel Jones, a nephew of the Blackwell sisters, was appointed treasurer, a post which he held for the next 16 years. Mr. George Warren joined the Board with Mr. Jones. Mrs. Alice Duer Miller and Mrs. Norman de R. Whitehouse, both of whom had been active workers in the suffrage cause, raised enough money to meet the immediate crisis. Mrs. Harold E. Talbott, Mrs. David Sarnoff and Mr. Lou R. Crandall were elected to the Board at this time.
     Thus, a fresh phase in the history of the Infirmary began in 1929, just as financial panic was about break over the nation. Dark days lay ahead, but the hospital rode out the storm and emerged stronger than ever. Two decades later, reviewing these difficulties, Mrs. Vanderlip recalled that "in a spiritual, if not in a financial sense, the Infirmary was better equipped than many hospitals for the trials to come, for it was born and nurtured in adversity."
     The unemployment of the thirties was strongly reflected at the Infirmary, where patients streamed in  with endless demands for free care. Dr. Daniel's Out-Practice Department had twice as many calls to make, and visits to the Dispensary increased by 50 per cent. It was during this period, as never before, that the Infirmary was called upon to perform the task as outlined in its charter. To supply medicines and medical care to those unable to pay.
     Charitable contributions were, understandably, at a very low ebb, and everything was in critical supply at the Infirmary. The trustees and the newly formed Auxiliary exerted every effort to raise the necessary funds. In the hands of a scrupulously careful administrator, Miss M. Marion Smith, former superintendent of the Women's and Children's Hospital in Chicago, and head nurse of the Scottish Women's Hospitals during the First World War, existing resources were handled with utmost efficiency and used to best advantage.
     At this time, the Infirmary qualified to care for New York City cases,

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thereby relieving, to a certain extent, the desperately over crowded conditions at Bellevue and other public hospitals. The City contributed $2.00 a day to the care of these welfare patients.
     W. D. Cutter of the American Medical Association, wrote to Miss Smith on April 14, 1932: "Improvement was reported in the following departments:  autopsy service, record, medical library, staff meetings, and in the amount of clinical material available for teaching, both in the hospital and in the out-patient department. . . We wish to congratulate your staff and hospital organizations on the progress made."
     The New York State Department of Social Welfare reported that the administration of the hospital was unqualified Class I, although the building itself was Class B. As the only modern fireproof unit, the Dispensary was given a Class I rating, both in plant and administration. The department commended the Infirmary for its progressive administration, cleanliness and good order and paid special tribute to its case histories, which indicated "a high standard of professional and nursing care." The reports ended by urging that a new hospital be built. With World War II following close on the heels of Depression, it took nearly 20 years to fulfill this recommendation. 
     In 1935 a school for hospital record librarian and medical stenographers was set up in the Infirmary. Twelve young women received six months' training the first year and went off to serve in hospitals throughout the country, well equipped in a specialized field. This novel school, set up partly for economy, ran for eight years and trained students from many different states. It was an outstanding contribution, by the Infirmary, to better hospital management.
THE CLINICS
THE CLINICS, and important aspect of the Infirmary's work, increased in number and scope during the Thirties. The Child Guidance Clinic and a Psychiatric Clinic were opened in 1929, followed, in 1930, by a Health Clinic where periodical examinations were conducted. A Gynecological Clinic, open at night for the benefit of women employed during daytime, quickly became a valuable asset, as did the Orthodontia Clinic, established in 1933.
     The scope of the new clinics, and their reflection of contemporary advances in medicine, may be judged that in 1939 there were 96 weekly ses

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(sessions) at the Dispensary, devoted to such specialties as Allergy, Arthritis, Cardiac Cases, Child Guidance, Diabetes, Endocrinology, Maternal Welfare, Neuropsychiatry, Occupational Therapy, Pre-Natal Care, Pre-School Problems, Social Diseases, Sterility, Varicose Veins and Well Babies. By 1942, 39 clinics were operating throughout every weekday, with the exception of Saturday afternoons. By 1951, additional clinic covered the following partial list of special fields:
ADOLESCENCE     LANGUAGE DIAGNOSTIC     PEDIATRICS
BLOOD IRRADAITIONS     OPHTHALMOLOGY     REMEDIAL READING
CYCTOSCOPY     OTO-LARYNGOLOGY     SPEICAL DISABILITIES
DERMATOLOGY     ORTHOPEDIC     SPEECH
DIATHERMY     VASCULAR
     The most notable achievement in the field of clinical work at the Infirmary was marked by the opening on April 11, 1933, of the Kate Depew Strand Tumor Clinic, followed in 1937, by establishment of the first clinic in the world devoted to the prevention of cancer. This work is recognized on the international level today and more than 200 clinics, patterned after this original, are in operations throughout the United States.
     The Infirmary Cancer Clinics were founded in memory of Kate Depew Strang, a victim of cancer, by her two daughters, Dr. Elise L'Esperance and Miss May Strang.
     Dr. L'Esperance had developed her own methods of cancer detection in the course of a distinguished career in the study and teaching of pathology, and during many years' work with Dr. James Ewing, at Cornell University Medical School. She instituted a new approach to one of the great mysteries of medicine, applying methods that were searching, vigilant and sustained.
     Cancer had been one of the earliest, most consistent and most tragic of the ills brought to the Blackwell sisters in the early days, and it was fitting that the Infirmary should have pioneered and rendered distinguished service in this field.
     Very soon after its opening, the prevention clinic became booked six months in advance. Business women and housewives made appointments for corrective treatment or periodic examinations for early symptoms. Dr. L'Esperance found that 1 percent examined revealed indications of cancer, while another 18 per cent showed precancerous conditions. Under her vigilant system, regular checkups became routine, and hundreds of potential victims were saved by early detection and treatment of the disease.
     Over the years the Strang sisters' bounty spread to all phases of cancer work. In addition to making up deficits, they supplied the Infirmary with valuable equipment, as, for instance, the 500,000 volt therapy and diagnostic X-ray machine donated jointly by them and other benefactors. One of 

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[drawing of a room with ladies sitting around perimeter]The home of the first Strang Cancer Prevention Clinic on Livingston Place.

the latter, Mrs. George B. DeLong, gave the clinic a supply of radium in 1939.
     Dr. L'Esperance has been a forceful figure in the affairs of the Infirmary for more than half a century. Knowing, from first-hand experience, the problems of the pioneer woman physician, she consistently fostered the aims and growth of the New York Infirmary. Her place today in medicine is unique, and her name is known to thousands of men and women who have passed, with anxious hearts, through the doorways of the Kate Depew Strand Clinics.
     Another important expansion of the clinic took place with the merger in 1949 of the New York Dispensary with the Infirmary, brought about through the kind offices of Miss Esther Lape and Mr. Charles A. Greeff. This was a natural step for thee two institutions, similar in purpose and serving the same area.   
     The New York Dispensary was founded in 1790 and had a record of continuous service for 154 years before the merger. With its most distinguished board of trustees and medical staff it was an important center for empirical research in vaccine for smallpox, anti-toxin for diphtheria and pasteurized milk for babies.
     Provisions in the new hospital has been made for the larger service which these two fine old dispensaries will continue to give.

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PEDIATRICS

"CHILDREN ARE BORN TO LIVE, NOT DIE," Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell had been heard to say frequently. From the Infirmary's very beginning, in the days of high infant mortality, its staff has worked for what has been achieved today: the low maternal and infant death rate which is now an accepted fact.
The Child Care story has lengthened with the passing years. It no longer ends with the safe delivery of the baby, but follows him through infancy, childhood and adolescence, taking into account his psychological and mental, as well as his physical, development.
From as far back as 1886, when the Infirmary opened its first three-bed children's ward, efforts were continuous in the carrying out of Elizabeth Blackwell's principles--the value of preventive measures, the benefits of air and sunshine. The children's beds were moved into the back yard whenever possible, and later on a roof playground was provided.
In 1886, The New York Tribune Fresh Air Fund sent Infirmary tenement children to visit farmers' families. A large group of women and children were given a day's excursion around Staten Island. 37 children who could not go to the country were cheered by a visit to Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show.
This kind of treat became a yearly tradition, culminating 57 years later in the arrival at the Infirmary of Roy Rogers and his horse Trigger, prancing down a special ramp to entertain young patients in the clinic waiting room.
The Child Guidance Clinic started operating in 1929, under the direction of Dr. Margaret E. Fries. In 1936 Dr. Ruth Morris Bakwin took over this phase of the work, and made many contributions to its development in the course of a long and distinguished career.
During the 30's, with the help of the Works Progress Administration, the Infirmary intensified its study of the emotional development of children. A corps of special workers initiated continuous observations, which were recorded for future appraisal. They made pre-natal and post-natal studies; observed child-parent relationships; and evaluated the influence of environment, as well as other factors, both physical and psychological.
This voluminous research resulted in sounder knowledge, a better equipped Child Clinic and better trained personnel. A series of educational films, prepared at this time under Dr. Fries' direction, have been extensively used as 

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teaching material by medical schools, army units and other agencies interested in the emotional development of children. 
Schools and community agencies began sending troubled children to the Infirmary for help, and soon the clinic had changed from a research laboratory into a neighborhood health service.
The Adolescent Clinic, established in 1941, evolved naturally from the Child Guidance Clinic and was an immediate success. It was followed, in 1946, by a Language Diagnostic Clinic, where speech difficulties are analyzed and treated and, in 1947, by a Remedial Reading Clinic which has answered a long-

[Image description: The summer play school on the Infirmary roof, opened in 1932, was a huge success.]

-felt need. In these two clinics children receive training, at exceedingly low rates or for nothing at all, under highly specialized teachers.
In all the clinics the child's whole personality--his physical, mental and emotional needs--is taken into consideration. At a special clinic for the handicapped, each child--whether deaf, blind, crippled, backward or emotionally disturbed--is treated with understanding, and with the application of both psychological and physical therapy. The objective is to improve the child's condition through every available means.

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VOLUNTEERS

FROM THE DAYS WHEN THE MODEST QUAKER LADIES rustled through the 
Bleecker Street Infirmary to count the linen, supply the Christmas plum 
pudding and order weather stripping to keep out the drafts, the institution 
has been blessed with a host of generous friends. These benefactors have expressed 
their generosity in terms of time, work, money and a multitude of tangible gifts 
ranging from the little luxuries which do so much to enhance the patient's 
comfort, to vitally needed medical equipment. 
The nature of tangible gifts has varied with the passage of time. A ledger 
dated 1865 tells us that material donations for the year included a Sitz bath, 
Chinese flags, Harper's Weekly, lamp chimneys, lambrequins, and a tin foot 
warmer. In 1894 the record lists a bivalve specula, a dozen bunches of violets 
and a peck of gooseberries. By 1932 a number of 20th century items had been 
added: a waxing machine, an adding machine, a cash register. Apples, grapes, 
jelly, flowers and books still come in as welcome gifts, but each year something 
new is added to keep pace with the times: an X-ray machine (in 1935), an 
electrocardiograph, ophthalmological equipment, radium (1939), radio and 
television sets, sun lamps, typewriter desks and streptomycin (1950).
Volunteer service, or the gift of time and work, is as old, at the Infirmary, 
as the institution itself. Mrs. Cornelia Hussey was the first volunteer, helping 
Dr. Blackwell arrange her medicine shelf in 1854. Miss Julia B. de Forest, who 
assisted in the establishment of the Medical College, Miss Marion Satterlee, Miss 
Ann Seaman, Miss Esme Wedgewood were other notable volunteers. Down 
through the years this service has been intelligently and generously given.
The list of volunteers must always be headed by the medical board, who 
as a matter of course give free care to needy patients in wards and clinics, teach 
interns, residents and younger doctors, and serve on various committees.
The trustees' volunteer work is on an equal level with that of the physicians. 
They are also responsible for the general operation of the hospital, including 
a competent and conscientious medical staff and efficient, business-like 
administration. Last, but not least, of the trustees' duties is the raising of money 
to meet operating deficits and other needs.
Of the other volunteer organizations, the Auxiliary was the first to come 
into being, in 1931, under the guidance of Mrs. George K. Weeks. Its original 
purpose was to undertake money-raising projects. When necessity arose, however - 
during World War II, for instance - it has expanded its activities to 
include any kind of work which needed doing. It now numbers 350 members, 
regularly contributes $11,000 to the Maintenance Fund, raised $300,000 for 

40

the Building Fund, and is the largest and most helpful body of friends to aid 
the financing of the Infirmary.
Among its many other activities, the Auxiliary runs the Hospitality Shop 
and Gift Shop originated at the Infirmary by Mrs. Philip W. Henry. The Hospitality 
Shop, with a snack bar staffed by volunteers, provides an oasis of peace 
and rest for the staff and visitors. Other volunteers serve as salesmen of necessities 
and articles which have been donated.
Benefits organized by the Auxiliary have included the Cinderella Ball, 
Celebrity Luncheons and Musicales; a few theatre benefits, including a performance 
of Harriet, starring Helen Hayes, at which Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt 
was guest of honor; City and Country Luncheons; a forum on "Woman's 
Work in World War III," and bridge classes and tournaments.
In 1938 a Junior Auxiliary developed from former members of the Debutante 
Cotillion. Its contributions to the Infirmary are raised by tea dances 
and bridge classes, and the members are always helpful at benefits. They have 
raised $5,000 for an examining room in the new hospital. 
In 1941, a small group of young married women who had no time for 
regular volunteer work, organized the New York Infirmary Guild, headed by 
Mrs. Charles Nichols. This unit, which remained in existence for 10 years, 
supplied to patients the special care and necessities which were beyond the scope 
of the Infirmary's limited budget. Two of its members held monthly consultations 
with the staff to consider special needs: dried blood plasma, breast milk, unusual 
drugs, special equipment and nurses for seriously ill ward cases. Four former 
members of the Guild are now trustees.
The oldest group of special volunteers is the Social Service Committee. 
Working closely with the professional staff of the Social Service Department, 
the committee keeps up to date with important trends in this field. Its "small 
business enterprise," the Bargain Box, is conducted in partnership with eight 
other charities, and through the hard work and devotion of its volunteers, provides 
a constant source of revenue for the Department.
The in-service volunteer workers, headed by Mrs. David Sarnoff, came into 
prominence during World War II, when they helped to meet the emergency 
caused by shortage of staff personnel. Their light blue uniforms became a 
familiar and welcome sight throughout the Infirmary as they took over a huge 
variety of functions in every department. The presence of these volunteers in 
the hospital gives a lift to staff and patients alike by their warmth, kindness 
and good cheer. They symbolize the spirit of helpful, devoted personal service 
for which the Infirmary is recognized by the community.
Whenever a fund-raising benefit is planned, committees of volunteers - 
some of whom have become expert in their various fields - gather to get the 
work done. The hours which these individuals have devoted to fund-raising,

41

beginning with early morning phone calls and ending up, often late at night
with gathering up the remnants of a sale, can never be evaluated. All manner
of persons have given thought and assistance to the Infirmary in its struggle
from penury to the achievement of a stabilized financial program. From the
bedside sales of bibs and bootees in the early days, the fund-raising devices,
organized to supplement the regular appeals for voluntary contributions, have
grown steadily in scope of effectiveness.
At the turn of the century money was raised at such functions as a spring
flower festival held, in 1894, at the studio of Louis C. Tiffany ; a benefit performance
at Abbey's Theatre; a pottery and a Puerto Rican basket sale.
In 1929, a Silver Ball attracted public attention and helped raise the first
substantial sum of money for a Building Fund. Later a Cinderella Ball, given 
by the Auxiliary, raised $5,000 for the Free Care Fund. These balls have been
followed by many others: the Champagne, the Green, the Velvet, the Victory,
the Allied Flag, the Lace, the Diamond Balls, and the annual Debutante Cotillion
and Christmas Ball, now in its 19th year. These balls, under the brilliant
chairmanship of Mrs. Eugene W. Ong, have proven the major support of the
Infirmary's maintenance and to some extent of its building funds during the past
two decades.
The Spring balls, the Enchanted Lilac, the Ciro and other balls at first
climaxed the opening of several exhibitions of paintings and sculpture at the
Wildenstein Galleries. These included loan collections of the work of Renoir,
Degas, Van Gogh and Manet as well as a group of painting on horse racing.
One notable affair was the loan collection of paintings showing the influence
of famous artists on fashion for the head — hats, crowns, and coiffures. All
these benefits added to the maintenance fund. Ingenious trustees have from time
to time devised fund raising events — horse shows and polo matches,
symphony concerts, fashion shows and a jewelry show In the indoor tennis
court of the Court House a tennis match was held between professional baseball
player and tennis players, followed by a baseball game in which the tennis
players were pitted against the ball team.
One of the Infirmary's most powerful aids, in money-raising as well as in
other projects, has always been the press. From the days of Horace Greeley,
Charles Dana and Henry Raymond, down to the present, journalists have been 
generous with time, sympathy and space.
In 1931 the first of a series of annual rotogravure sections, some of them
published in magazine format, on behalf of the infirmary by Mr. and Mrs.
Ogden Reid, appeared in The New York Herald Tribune. This has helped
materially in adding to its revenue. When Mr. Reid died, in 1947, the trustees
voted, "with a deep sense of gratitude," to build a ward in the new building

to his memory. Mr. Roy W. Howard and Mr. Arthur H. Sulzberger continue this
generous cooperation. Radio, motion picture and television programs have
rounded out the facilities for public good will and information.
BUILDING DRIVE
AT THE CLOSE OF THE WAR, the moment had arrived to press forward for the
new hospital. The crowding and inadequacies of the old plant were becoming
a severe handicap to the work of the Infirmary. The building was
no longer fireproof by revised modern standards. Variations in floor levels made
free circulation difficult, as did the antiquated elevators and the narrow hallways
interrupted by fire doors. The continual patching up was a ceaseless drain on the
budget.
Various sites for the new building were considered, before the decision was
made to stay in the charming old-fashioned neighborhood where the Infirmary
had taken root. One of these was on York Avenue, where a plot of ground was actually 
purchased. In 1947, however, when the Greater New York Hospital Council
had completed its master plan for distribution of hospitals in the city, the need
for a hospital in the downtown area became the decisive factor, aside from historical
associations. The Council urged the trustees to abandon the York Avenue site,
which was in close proximity to a number of existing hospitals, and to put up a
250-bed general hospital on Stuyvesant Square, where new housing developments
indicated an increased need for clinic and bed care. Thus the Infirmary remained
in its ideal position overlooking the square.
The campaign for building funds, which began in the spring of 1946, was
headed by Mrs. Harold E. Talbott. A dinner at the Hotel Roosevelt has initiated
the drive, and each Infirmary group: Auxiliary, Guild, Trustees, In-service
Volunteers, Social Service Committee, Doctors, Nurses and Employees, accepted
a generous quota of funds to be raised. The help of community leaders was
enlisted to head various fund-raising committees, to organize the efforts of large
numbers of workers and to develop a great network of coordinated activity.
The fund-raising projects were many and varied. A two-day street fair,
organized by the staff and volunteer groups of the Infirmary, was held on Livingston
Place. Neighborhood shops contributed merchandise and the Infirmary's
engineering department enacted booths for the occasion. The fair ended with
a supper at St. George's Memorial Hall, and netted a sizable sum. The employees
added $9,299.

In the winter of 1947, a brilliant theatrical review, Women in White, was 
arranged by Mr. and Mrs. Nicholas Schenck and Mr. Harry Brandt in Madison 
Square Garden. This event was preceded by an old-fashioned torchlight parade 
up Fifth Avenue.
A concert at Carnegie Hall, at which Arturo Toscanini conducted a program 
with orchestra and chorus, added still further to the Building Fund. 
By 1950, as a result of these efforts, nearly half the needed money had been 
pledged. The second phase of the campaign was then launched, with the help 
of new leaders--Mr. Frederick H. Ecker, Mrs. Harold E. B. Pardee, Mr. 
Stewart P. Coleman and Mr. John B. Clark.
It was decided to acquire the block front from 15th and 16th Streets, on 
Livingston Place, by buying a few necessary old houses and tenements. Mr. 
James Felt contributed his services for this, and later for the delicate task of 
relocating the tenants of these old buildings. With the help of his organization, 
tenants were persuaded to move into apartments as good or better than 
their previous ones. Only a few bonus payments were necessary; there was no hardship 
and no controversy arose.
The architectural firm of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill was engaged, and 
architects and Infirmary personnel pooled forces in drawing up of plans. 
The doctors, the administrator, the chief dietitian, chief accountant, head

Some of spectators at cornerstone laying ceremonies, held November 17, 1953.

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Mrs. Vanderlip and Dr. L'Esperance place plaque over new hospital's 
historical vault, assisted by Camille Anne Giordano, who was born 
in Infirmary, and Elisabeth Palmer, Mrs. Vanderlip's great granddaughter. 
Date on plaque refers to incorporation; Infirmary opened in March, 1854.

nurse, laboratory and clinic directors, the head housekeeper and chief engineer 
contributed their experience and technical knowledge to the design of a thoroughly 
practical and efficient new hospital.
The Construction Committee, which included Mr. Stewart P. Coleman, 
Mr. Charles A. Greeff, Mr. George T. Warren, Mr. William Zeckendorf, Mr. 
Thomas Chamberlain and Mr. E. H. Barlow, undertook to construct the hospital 
and engaged the George A. Fuller Construction Company as general contractor. 
The total cost of the new hospital came to $4,890,000.
Thanks to the cooperation and hospitality of two old institutions on 
Stuyvesant Square, the Manhattan General Hospital and Booth Memorial Hospital, 
the Infirmary was able to continue functioning during the 17 months 
it took to build the new hospital.

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  The hospital moved into the temporary quarters at Manhattan General in February, 1952. Few bed patients had to be moved, as the majority had been discharged after a normal hospital stay and new admissions sent directly to Manhattan General. The move was a large undertaking which required careful planning so that each department could be transferred with a minimum of dislocation. The entire process took three weeks.
  Once the hospital was operating in its new surroundings, the Dispensary moved to the building allotted to it at Booth Memorial. In a single day three floors and 30 rooms were cleared out, and their contents carried or dollied across the street to the new quarters. Here the clinics functioned except for the Strang Cancer Clinics which had been moved to Manhattan General.
  To save space in the new building, old records and medical charts were microfilmed, and only a few original documents preserved for historical interest.
  Although demolition ceremonies had taken place in December, 1951, in the presence of Mayor Vincent R. Impellitteri, the actual work of demolition, delayed by strikes, did not start until April, 1952. The old buildings had been remodelled so many times that few interesting relics were left. Only the Della Robbia terra-cotta bambino, which was part of the Julia B. de Forest memorial, stayed in place on the garden wall, safely protected from damage, throughout demolition, excavation and construction.
  Construction began on October 14, 1952. On November 17, 1953, the cornerstone laying took place - the memorial vault was sealed into the western wall by the President, Mrs. Frank A. Vanderlip. The first event in the new hospital was the Elizabeth Blackwell Citation Award Ceremony held on January 20, 1954. 
  On May 19th, 1954 the new building was dedicated at a ceremony attended by Mayor Robert F. Wagner's representative and Mrs. Olveta Culp Hobby, Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare. Among the honored guests were Dr. Julius Mark, Senior Rabbi of Congregation Emanu-El, Rev. Daniel Fant, Pastor of St. Ann's Church, and Rev. Edward O. Miller, Rector of St. George's Church, who came to bless and dedicate the hospital to the Glory of God and the service of the Neighbor. On August 1st, 1954 patients were admitted to the new hospital and clinics, and so a second century of devoted service began.

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[[image "NEW YORK INFIRMARY 
MAIN ENTRANCE"]]

The New Hospital
  THE PHOTOGRAPHS on these fifteen pages provide some idea of the magnificent facilities afforded in the Infirmary's new quarters. With its splendid modern physical plant, with its highly skilled professional staff, and with its corps of loyal, devoted volunteer workers, the New York Infirmary enters its second century, equipped as never before to be of service to the community in which its roots are so deeply embedded.

In new hospital no ward contains more than four beds. Room shown below is on the obstetrical floor.

Caesarian section shown
below is performed by
Infirmary staff in one
of hospotal's three superbly
equipped delivery rooms.

Newborn baby is weighed (5 lbs. 11 oz.) in one of the nurseries.

There are special quarters and equipment for premature babies.

Formulas for the new arrivals are sterilized in autoclave.

[top left image caption] Diagnostic X-Ray equipment is adjusted by technician to make negative of patient's skull.

[middle left image caption] X-Ray negatives are compared and studied in viewing room.

[bottom left image caption] Patient suffering from tumor of the neck receives treatment with X-Ray apparatus.

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[top right image caption] Physician and nurse in psychiatric department prepare to administer electroshock therapy.

[bottom right image caption] Patients wait for their appointments in the Strang cancer prevention and detection clinics.

Child suffering from negativism shows marked 
improvement as result of treatment in speech clinic.

Orthodontia clinic--straight teeth 
will help to keep this young lady healthy.

Two young ladies attend remedial reading 
clinic in which usually costly treatment 
is available at extremely low cost.

Soundproof room in child guidance clinic 
is also equipped with "one-way" glass 
window which permits physician to observe 
her patients without being seen herself.

52

Resident physician takes case history from patient in gynecology clinic. Note New York scenes on curtains.

Equipment in clinic for physical medicine and rehabilitation is one of most complete collections in New York City.

53

[top left image caption] Typical two-bed rooms in Infirmary's pediatric department on the tenth floor,

[bottom left image caption] The day room for children on tenth floor has furniture built to scale,

[bottom middle image caption] Volunteers for Hospitality Shop display their wagon's wares to patient in adolescent sections.

[far right image caption] This young lady is one of the proudest ornaments of the tenth floor.

[left image caption] The facilities in the infirmary's laboratories are unusually extensive.
Here a technician uses a Thomas-Van Slyke manometric apparatus to make a blood determination.

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[top right image caption] Valuable information about the blood is also obtained from flame spectrophotometer shown at the right.

[middle right image caption] Technician in foreground is mounting sections of biopsies from patients with suspected cancer, while in the background cytological smears are being stained. Both procedures are important in making accurate diagnoses of cancer.

[bottom middle image caption] Automatic machine washes laboratory glassware chemically clean, saves many hours of hand labor.

[image top right caption] Cafeteria for Infirmary staff has capacity for 128 persons, serves excellent food at low prices.

[image top left caption] Food for hospital is prepared in large kitchens, equipped with all sorts of labor-saving devices.

[image middle right caption] Hospitality Shop, staffed by volunteers, provides peaceful oasis in midst of busy hospital.

[image bottom left caption] Large wheeled cabinets bring food from kitchen to pantries on patient floors.

[image bottom right caption] Joint Conferences Committee of trustees and medical board members meets to discuss policy.

[image top left caption] Social work supervisor interviews mother of family to help iron out domestic problems.

[image middle left caption] Large room on ground floor of hospital is completely equipped for treating emergencies.

[image bottom left caption] Pipes in walls carry oxygen throughout hospital from central supply tanks in basement.

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[image top right caption] Chief engineer checks master panel which controls hospital's electrical and heating systems.

[image middle right caption] Prescriptions are compounded in the large pharmacy on the ground floor of the hospital.

[image bottom right caption] Resident physicians and internes study medical books and magazines in library. 

[[LEFT PAGE]]
[[LEFT MARGIN]] A Few Statistics [[/LEFT MARGIN]]

DURING ITS FIRST HUNDRED YEARS, the New York Infirmary has cared for more than 1,000,000 men, women and children of 50 different nationalities and 30 religious faiths. This tremendous total is composed of patients treated in the dispensary and the various clinics: patients admitted to the hospital; and patients visited by the Out-Practice Department.

  As might be expected, the Infirmary's record-keeping procedures have undergone a number of changes during the last century. Due to this and other factors, precise numerical comparisons are not possible. The following statistical summary, however, reflects the Infirmary's progress over the past ten decades.

[[bullet point]] 1854-63-- In first year, 200 patients were treated in dispensary. By 1863, total had risen to 6,008 patients, of whom 5,308 were treated in dispensary, 200 in hospital, 400 at home. Almost 31,000 patients were treated during decade.

[[bullet point]] 1864-73-- During Civil War and Reconstruction, over 6,000 patients were treated each year. During this period, Infirmary doctors saw an annual average of more that 5,500 persons in dispensary, 500 in their homes. Total for decade exceeded 68,000.

[[bullet point]] 1874-83-- After move to Livingston Place in 1875, number of hospital patients more than doubled, with annual average approximating 210. In 1878 alone, 20,068 prescriptions were dispensed, 6,409 of them free. 42 medical students were graduated in 1877. More than 66,000 patients were treated in decade.

[[bullet point]] 1884-93-- 114 babies were born in 1884. Two years later 3-bed children's ward was opened. Cost for food in 1891 was $.31 per patient per day. Dispensary patients averaged 7,500 annually. In decade total number of patients rose to more than 94,000.

[[bullet point]] 1894-1903-- A decade of tremendous activity, with an annual average of 13,500 persons treated in dispensary, 750 in hospital, 1,600 at home. In 1898, 28 Spanish-American veterans were treated in hospital and discharged cured. Emily Blackwell retired in 1900. Total for decade: more than 156,000.

[[bullet point]] 1904-13-- In 1909, for first time, number of patients treated in hospital exceeded 1,000 in one year 7,639 patients were seen in dispensary; 226 at home. Elizabeth Blackwell died in England on May 31, 1910. Emily Blackwell died 3 months later, in Maine. Infirmary's total for decade: more than 131,000.

[[bullet point]] 1924-33-- In 1929, Infirmary hospital carried for 2,212 patients, gave 29,318 days of bed care. Out-Practice visits rose sharply, due to depression. 529 babies were born in 1930. In 1932 there were 1,095 operations, 40,581 visits to the dispensary. By 1933, free care was being given to 44 per cent of the patients. During decade, more than 142,000 patients received treatment.

[[bullet point]] 1934-43-- In first five years almost 11,000 individuals attended dispensary each year. During decade number of bed-patients averaged 3,300. In 1940 there were 830 births, including 7 sets of twins and one of triplets. Names of these triplets were Wendell, Louisa, and Willkie. Total for these ten years was more than 125,000.

[[bullet point]] 1944-53-- In 1949, 3,259 patients made 7,753 visits to the Strang Cancer Prevention Clinic. By 1951, 27 separate clinics were in operation. During 1952 and 1953, hospital and clinics were located in temporary quarters, with resulting drop in number of patients treated. Average number of dispensary and hospital patients was about 4,500 each. Total for decade: more than 89,000. 

[[/LEFT PAGE]]
[[RIGHT PAGE]]

[[HEADER]] Elizabeth Blackwell Citations [[/HEADER]]
ON JANUARY 23, 1949, on the hundredth anniversary of the graduation of Elizabeth Blackwell from Hobart Medical College, the New York Infirmary established the Elizabeth Blackwell Citations, to be awarded annually to women physicians for distinguished achievement in the field of medicine. The recipients of these awards to date have been as follows:

[[LEFT MARGIN]] 1949 [[/LEFT MARGIN]]
DR. MAY G. WILSON, New York City, N.Y. ... [[[italicize]] Pediatric Cardiology [[/italicize]]
DR. LAURETTA BENDER, New York City, N.Y. ... [[[italicize]] Child Psychiatry [[/italicize]]
DR. CONNIE MYERS GUION, New York City, N.Y. ... [[italicize]] Clinical Medicine [[/italicize]]
DR. ANNA HUBERT, New York City, N.Y. ... [[italicize]] Surgery [[/italicize]]
DR. ADA CHREE REID, New York City, N.Y. ... [[italicize]] Industrial Medicine [[/italicize]]

[[LEFT MARGIN]] 1950 [[/LEFT MARGIN]]
DR. RUTH MORRIS BAKWIN, New York City, N.Y. ... [[italicize]] Pediatrics [[/italicize]]
DR. LEONA BAUMGARTNER, New York City, N.Y. ... [[italicize]] Child Health Worker [[/italicize]]
DR. ELISE STRANG L'ESPERANCE, New York City, N.Y. ... [[italicize]] Cancer Detection & Pathology [[/italicize]]
DR. ELAINE RALLI, New York City, N.Y. ... [[italicize]] Diseases of Metabolism & Nutrition [[/italicize]]
DR. BARBARA B. STIMSON, Poughkeepsie, N.Y. ... [[italicize]] Orthopedic Surgery [[/italicize]]

[[LEFT MARGIN]] 1951 [[/LEFT MARGIN]]
DR. SARAH MURRAY JORDAN, Boston, Mass. ... [[italicize]] Internal Medicine & Gastroenterology [[/italicize]]
DR. EDITH MAAS LINCOLN, New York City, N.Y. ... [[italicize]] Pediatrics, Childhood Tuberculosis [[/italicize]]
DR. LOUISE PEARCE, Belle Meade, N.J. ... [[italicize]] Cellular Pathology [[/italicize]]
DR. WILHELMINA RAGLAND, New York City, N.Y. ... [[italicize]] Obstetrics [[/italicize]]

[[LEFT MARGIN]] 1952 [[/LEFT MARGIN]] 
DR. ETHEL DUNHAM, Yorktown Village, Md. ... [[italicize]] Study of Premature Infants [[/italicize]]
DR. MARTHA ELIOT, Yorktown Village, Md. ... [[italicize]] Child Welfare Public Health [[/italicize]]
DR. CATHERINE MACFARLANE, Philadelphia, Pa. ... [[italicize]] Gynecology [[/italicize]]
DR. EDITH POTTER, Chicago, Ill. ... [[italicize]] Infant Pathology [[/italicize]]
DR. ANNIE V. SCOTT, New York City, N.Y. ... [[italicize]] Pediatrics in Foreign Missions [[/italicize]]

[[LEFT MARGIN]] 1953 [[/LEFT MARGIN]]
DR. ALICE HAMILTON, Hadlyme, Conn. ... [[italicize]] Industrial Medicine [[/italicize]] 
DR. JOSEPHINE NEAL, New York City, N.Y. ... [[italicize]] Communicable Diseases [[/italicize]]
DR. ELLEN C. POTTER, Trenton, N.J. ... [[italicize]] Public Health & Welfare [[/italicize]]
DR. FLORENCE SABIN, Denver, Colorado ... [[italicize]] Medical Research & Public Health [[/italicize]]
DR. IDA S. SCUDDER, Vellore, India ... [[italicize]] Missionary Medicine [[/italicize]]

[[LEFT MARGIN]] 1954 [[/LEFT MARGIN]]
DR. DOROTH H. ANDERSON, New York City, N.Y. ... [[italicize]] Pediatric Pathology [[/italicize]]
DR. EMILY DUNNING BARRINGER, New Caanan, Conn. ... [[italicize]] Social Hygiene & Gynecology [[/italicize]]
DR. MADELAINE BROWN, Boston, Mass. ... [[italicize]] Neurology [[/italicize]]
DR. JESSIE GRAY, Toronto, Canada ... [[italicize]] Surgery [[/italicize]]
DR. ALICE F. MAXWELL, Los Altos, Calif. ... [[italicize]] Obstetrics & Gynecology [[/italicize]]
DR. JANE SANDS ROBB, Syracuse, N.Y. ... [[italicize]] Cardio-Vascular Physiology & Disease [[/italicize]]
DR. HELEN B. TAUSSIG, Baltimore, Md. ... [[italicize]] Congenital Malformation of the Heart [[/italicize]]
DR. PRISCILLA WHITE, Boston, Mass. ... [[italicize]] Diabetes in Children [[/italicize]]

63

[[/RIGHT PAGE]] 

New York Infirmary, Board of Trustees, 1954
Mrs. Frank A. Vanderlip, President 
Mrs. Harold E. Talbott, Vice-President
Mrs. Dodge Sloane, Vice-President
Mrs. Nicholas M. Schenek, Vice-President
Mrs. Eugene W. Ong, Vice-President
Mrs. David Sarnoff, Vice-President
Mr. Bascom H. Torrance, Treasurer
Mr. Charles A. Greeff, Secretary 
Mr. Thomas G. Chamberlain, Counsel  

Mrs. V. Beaumont Allen
Mrs. Frank Altschul
Miss Mary Vail andress
Mrs. Max Ascoli
Mrs. Thomas M. Bancroft
Mrs. Wolcott Blair 
Mrs. William A. Blout
Dr. Katherine Dodge Brownwell
Mrs. A. Schuyler Clark
Mr. John B. Clark
Mrs. Lewis Latham Clarke
Mrs. Thomas Ludlow Clarke
Mr. Stewart P. Coleman
Mr, Lou R. Grandall
Mrs. Lewis W. Douglas
Mrs. Edgar A. Eyre
Mrs. Samuel E. Gates
Mrs. Edward H. Gerry
Mrs. Raymond R. Guest 
Mrs. George U. Harris 
Mrs. Roy W. Howard 

Mrs. Edward F. Hutton
Miss Caroline F. Lexow
Mrs. Cyrus McCormick
Mrs. Gilbert Miller
Mrs. John A. Morris
Mrs. Charles W. Nichols, Jr.
Mrs. Harold E. B. Pardee
Dr. Ada Chree Reid, Ex Officio
Mr. Curt H. Reisinger
Mrs. Edward V. Rickenbacker
Mr. H. O. Rightmire
Mrs. Ted Saucier
Mr. Dudley N. Schoales 
Mrs. Charles Speaks
Mrs. Donald B. Tansill
Mr. Murray Taylor 
Mrs. Elisha Walker, Jr.
Mr. George E. Warren 
Mrs. Wendell L. Willkie
Mr. William Zeckendorf 

This book has been based on painstaking research and narrative contributed by Ishbel Ross. The New York Infirmary acknowledge with deep appreciation this generous gift of time and talent. 

Produced for the New York Infirmary by the Philip Boyer Organization, New York. 
Design by Nelson Gruppo; Photography by Dick Hanley; Illustrations by Graham Kaye. 
Printed in U.S.A by The Comet Press, Inc.

Elizabeth Blackwell 1854
[photograph]

64 Bleecker Street  1857
[photograph]

1875 Livingston Place
[photograph]

1954
The New Hospital

This painting tells the story of the New York Infirmary
over a hundred years.

1854:  Opened by Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell, first woman graduate of a
           Medical College (Hobat 1849).
                Its purposes were to give free medical care and medicines to
           the poor; to provide post-graduate training to women graduates
           of medical colleges, and to train nurses.
1856:  The doctors and their friends bought the old Dutch house
           at 68 Bleecker Street from Mrs. James Roosevelt, for a 12-bed
           hospital.  Here young women graduates were given practical
           teaching.  As the threat of Civil War approached, Dr. Blackwell
           set up a course of lectures and practical bedside training for
           nurses for military hospitals.
1868:  A doctor's education was still difficult for women.  The Medical
           College of the Infirmary was chartered and established in two
           old houses on Second Avenue, thanks to Miss Julia B. de Forest.
                 Many of the most renowned medical men of the time gave
           their services and encouragement to the young women:  Willard
           Parker, Austin Flint, L. Emmett Holt, Valentine Mott;  Albert
           Strang, Richard S. Kissam, Isaac E Taylor, Abraham Jacobi,
           George P. Cammann, Alexander Lambert.
1875:  A 36-bed hospital was established in the mansion on Stuyvesant
           Square.  This is the site of the present hospital.
1886:  A new Medical College Building was erected adjoining the
           hospital on 15th Street.  Several hundred women got their medical
           degrees before  1899.
1899:  Cornell Medical opened its doors to women.  A special woman's
           college was no longer necessary.
                   As the services of the Infirmary grew, a new hospital containing
           115 beds and 35 bassinets and a clinic were added on
           15th Street.
                  A million patients were cared for in the first century.
1935:  The old mansion was altered for the Kate Depew Strang Cancer
           Prevention Clinic.  Established by Dr. Elise L'Esperance and her
           sister Miss May Strang, it is the model for 400 similar clinics in
           this country.
1954:  A new five million dollar New York Infirmary replaced the
           old buildings.
1958:  Ready for it second century of service.


The New York Infirmary
Second Century of Service
[photograph of new building]
Stuyvesant Square East & 15th Street, New York


Historical Mural
of
The New York Infirmary
First Century of Service
1854-1954
___________________________
Greetings:

Hannah Haydock
Robert Haydock
Mrs. Irving Putnam
Horace Greeley
Dr. Helen Baldwin
Henry J. Raymond
Charles A. Dana
Mrs. Frank A. Vanderlip
Mrs. Harold E. Talbott
Mrs. Eugene W. Ong
Mrs. Nicholas M. Schenck
Mrs. Isabel Dodge Sloane
Mrs. David Sarnoff
Mrs. Harold E. B. Pardee

DONORS OF EXTRAORDINARY SERVICES TO THE NEW YORK INFIRMARY

Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell standing before the 
one-room dispensary 207 E. 7th St., near 
Tompkins Sq. 1854.

12-bed hospital in James Roosevelt mansion,
64 Bleecker St. 1856.

Dr. Emily Blackwell, Mrs. Cordelia 
Hussey and Lucretia Mott, welcoming 
passengers arriving on the "Underground Railway", 1862.

Gateway to Stuyvesant Square. 
Friends School and St. George's 
Church.

126 & 128 - 2nd Ave. First Woman's 
Medical College of New York Infirmary, 
1868-1886.

Old Mansion 25-bed hospital. Opened in 1875. 
In 1933 became first Kate Depew Strang 
Clinic for prevention of cancer. 
Founder, Dr. Elise L'Esperance driving her 
phaeton.

Women's Medical College of the New 
York Infirmary from 1886 to 1899. 
Director Out-Service Dr. Anna Daniel. 
1881-1944.

325 East 15th St. 
New Clinic. 1920.

The Mural is located in the Dispensary 
Waiting Room - 15th Street Entrance.

Mural by Josephine Truslow Adams 
Portrait Border by Adele Greeff

Monday, January 30, 1950.                 K
Doctors Honored for Their Outstanding Achievements
[photograph of six women]
Mrs. Frank A. Vanderlip (left) as she presented Elizabeth Blackwell Citation to
Dr. Elaine T. Ralli.  Other recipients (left to right) were Dr. Barbara B. Stimson,
Dr. Leona Baumgartner, Dr. Ruth Morris Bakwin and Dr. EliseS L'Esperance.
The New York Times.

5 Women Honored 
for Medical Work
Blackwell Awards Conferred
for Physicians' Role in
Practice and Teaching

Five prominent American women
physicians received yesterday
the Elizabeth Blackwell Citations
for 1950 for their significant contributions
to the practice and
teaching of medicine.
   Those receiving the awards were:

Dr. Ruth Morris Bakwin, assistant
clinical professor of pediatrics at
New York University, director of
the pediatric service at New York
Infirmary, and assistant visiting
pediatrician at Bellevue Hopital,
for her work in pediatrics.

Dr. Leona Baumgartner, associate
chief United States Children's Bureau, 
assistant commissioner of the
New York City Department of 
Health, for her achievement in improving
Public Health Services for
Children.

Dr. Elise S. L'Esperance, pathologist
and director of laboratories at the
New York Infirmary since 1910, director
of the Strang Cancer Detection 
Clinic at the New York Infirmary,
director of the Strang Cancer 
Detection Clinic of Memorial Hospital, 
assistant professor of preventive
medicine (cancer) at the Medical
College of Cornell University,
cited for her achievements in pathology
and cancer detection.

Dr. Elaine T. Ralli, associate professor
of medicine and chief of the 
Metabolic Clinic at New York University-
Bellevue Medical Center, 
cited for her work in the study of 
metabolic and nutritional diseases.

Dr. Barbara B. Stimson, member of
the American College of Surgeons,
orthopedist and director of Services
at the St. Francis and Vassar
Brothers Hospitals in Poughkeepsie,
cited for her work in orthopedic
surgery.

   Dr. Ada Chree Reid, editor of
The Journal of the American Medical
Women's Association, was
present to receive her citation
awarded in 1949 for work on tuberculosis
control.
   The awards were presented at
the New York Infirmary, 321 East
Fifteenth Street, by Mrs. Frank A.
Vanderlip, president.
   The Blackwell awards were established
last year to commemorate
the one-hundredth anniversary
of the graduation of Dr. Elizabeth
Blackwell, the first woman to receive
a medical degree in America.
   A special citation was awarded
to Ishbel Ross for her book, "Child
of Destiny," which is a biography
of Dr. Blackwell.  A hundred persons
attended the ceremonies.

Tuesday, May 29, 1947   The New Y
Torchlight Parade
Starts Fund Drive
_______
3,000 Women Stage Spectacle
in $5,000,000 Campaign
for Infirmary Building
_______
200,000 Line the Curbs
_______
Floats and Bands Bring Cheers
as Procession Moves Down
Fifth Avenue in Rain
_______
   Fifth Avenue from Fifty-sixth
Street to Thirty-fifth glowed
Women in White.  Three thousand
women, thirty-five illuminated
floats, thirty uniformed bands
moved down the glistening black pavement
to open the $5,000,000 drive
for the new medical center for the
New York Infirmary Building
Fund.
   The procession was spectacularly
staged and the rain, instead of
spoiling it, made it more impressive.
Advertised as the first torch-
light parade of the Twentieth Century,
it converted Fifth Avenue
into a lane of fire.  Red beads glittered
on band instruments, on the
brilliant floats, on the drumheads,
and made red snow of confetti
that fluttered from Fifth Avenue
skyscrapers.
   Two hundred thousand lined the 
curbs, some under umbrellas, some
under newspapers in the light drizzle,
but the vast majority took the 
rainfall straight.  The brave music
rising and shattering on the
avenue's canyoned walls, the bright
colors and the brisk step of marching
women brought wave after 
wave of pattering applause and
shrill whistles.  Two hundred models
riding the floats and the jeeps
that pulled them glistened with
rain.
          Lucille Ball Grand Marshal
   Lucille Ball, the motion picture
star, was grand marshal.  She
perched on the back of an open 
carriage.  An umbrella sheltered
her but she bowed graciously in
the light of the red fire carried by
flanking marchers-the torch bearers
were 600 uniformed ushers 
from motion picture theatres -
and the crowds rewarded her with
shrill acclaim.  Helen Hayes was to
have shared marshal honors but
was on the stage when the procession
moved off at 8:20 P.M.

TORCHLIGHT PARADE FEATURES 'TRIBUTE TO WOMEN WEEK'
[photograph]
One of the many floats in the procession on Fifth Avenue last night.
   Rain fell just before the whistles
stirred the marchers into
formation.  They moved into Fifth
Avenue out of Fifty-sixth Street
to a march step blared from the
horns and trumpets of the 581st
Army Air Force Band.  Mounted
policemen led the way, their horses
curveting and pirouetting on the 
glistening pavement.  Behind them
marched a detachment of police-
women, massed colors.  A 
Navy duck manned by Waves was
a brilliant unit, its riders waving
sparklers.
   A much-applauded float depicted
"The Girl of the Future," portrayed
by professional models, most of
them clad in silken white.  Miss
Kaye Lyder, 21 years old, of 60
Palmer Avenue, Larchmont, N.Y.,
who served the United Service Organizations
in the South Pacific,
rode as winner of the "Girl of the 
Year" contest, staged for the New
York Infirmary fund drive.  The
other floats dramatized the careers
of America's most famous 
women, of the past and of our own
time.

         Story of the Founders
   The lead float told the story of
Drs. Elizabeth and Emily Blackwell,
who founded the all-woman-
staffed hospital for women almost
ninety-four years ago at 321 East
Fifteenth Street.  A log cabin for
women in pre-Civil War garments
paid tribute to Nancy Hanks Lincoln.
Other float subjects included
Harriet Beecher Stowe, Susan B.
Anthony, Evangeline Booth, Lucy 
Stone, Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt,
Ethel Barrymore, Amelia Earhart,
Clara Barton.

   In the jeeps that hauled the
floats announcers with amplilfiers
advertised the all-start theatrical
show to be put on at Madison
Square Garden tonight by stage
and screen personalities in behalf
of the New York Infirmary drive.
Along the route, debutantes offered
single blossoms and corsages
for sale, as they had done up and
down Fifth Avenue all through the
day.  They reported generous response
to their appeals.

         Officials Review Parade
   In an open reviewing stand in
front of the New York Public Library,
at Forty-first Street and 
Fifth Avenue, city officials and 
hospital representatives watched
the marchers sweep past in the red
glare of the torches.  Reviewers included
Mrs. Frank Vanderlip, president 
of the New York Infirmary;
Mrs. Wendell Willkie, Mrs. Nicholas
Schenck, hospital treasurer, License
Commissioner Benjamin
Fielding, Mrs. Edward Rickenbacker.
   All told, there were sixty-five
women's delegations in the line of ]
march.  They included Army, Navy
and Marine Corps formations, 
social, fraternal, medical and religious
groups and semi-military 
organizations, the Red Cross, the
Girl Scouts, the Campfire Girls.
Midway in the formation, as it
snaked down the hill in the Fifties
an Army searchlight truck
broke out its blinding beams and
swept the skies over Fifth Avenue.
Torches around it sent fire snakes
wriggling down the wet pavement.

   The procession kept step and the
music never softened until the last
unit, surrounding the Amelia Earhart
float, passed the reviewing
spot at 9:45 P.M.  From beginning
to end it held the throng, and
applause was maintained.  The formation
turned west into Thirty-
fifth street, marched in unbroken
line to Seventh Avenue, and there
broke for the waiting buses.






   

HOSPITAL BENEFIT
FILLS THE GARDEN

Stars of Stage, Screen, Radio
Give Brilliant Performance
for New York Infirmary

Madison Square Garden was sold
out last night as nearly 20,000 persons
assembled to see stars of
stage, screen and radio give a benefit
performance for the New York
Infirmary, which has started a
campaign for $5,000,000 for a new
building at York Avenue and
Sixty-first Street.
For nearly four hours taxis and
buses went to the Garden with
bands, comedians, singers, actors
and dancer from the city's theatres,
radio studios and night clubs.
Many movie stars flew from the
West Coast for the occasion, which
was eight months in preparation
under the supervision of Harry
Brandt, president of Brandt Theatres.
Arthur Knorr of the Roxy
Theatre staged the production.
The performance was gay, but
there were serious parts, too, including
the reading of a letter from
President Truman, a telegram
from Governor Dewey and a special
appeal written by Helen
Hayes.

Letter From President

President Truman's letter, read
by James Stewart, actor, told of
the founding of the New York Infirmary
ninety-four years ago by
Drs. Elizabeth and Emily Blackwell
and of the fine work done by
the woman-staffed hospital since
its inception. The message, addressed
to Mrs. Nicholas M.
Schenck, treasurer of the New
York Infirmary Building Fund,
said:
"The success of the admirable
work of the infirmary through
more than nine decades bears eloquent
witness to Dr. Blackwell's
vision. It is particularly fitting that
women should provide such inspiring
leadership in a program of
such proportion as to improve the
health of our people.
"The New York Infirmary has
proved its worth and it stands as
a monument to the valor, course
and vision of women. I trust that
the sphere of the influence of this
noble institution will increase
through many decades to come."
Governor Dewey's telegram, read
by Joseph Cotten, actor, apologized
for the Governor's inability
to attend the benefit, adding:
"I am happy indeed most heartily
to endorse the splendid program
which the New York Infirmary
is planning for its future
expansion. The education and
training of women doctors is an
essential part of a sound program
for the health of the people of our
state and nation and it is important
in order to get the best that
it be done through our fine, voluntary
hospitals like the New York
Infirmary."

Standing Room Sign Goes Up

Two hours before the 8:15 "curtain"
the last of the seats was sold
and standing room tickets went
on sale. The price range was from 
$25 for the best seats to $1.20 for
standing room.
The garden was bedecked with
red, white and blue bunting, with
large American flags suspended
from the ceiling. Rising almost to
the roof from behind the stage at
the west end of the arena was a
backdrop on which was painted a
cyclorama of the infirmary's proposed
building. Spotlights played
from behind this drop, creating the
impression of sunlight filtering
through stained-glass windows of
the painted structure, which was
done by the Jules Laurence Studios.
The show, entitled "Stars Shine
Bright for Women in White," was
broadcast by several stations. Lucille
Ball, motion-picture actress,
explained the purposes of the drive.
Ed Sullivan, columnist, was master
of ceremonies.
Among the performers were 
Duke Ellington and his band, the
Andrews Sisters, Fred and Elaine
Barry, Lucienne Boyer, Carmen
Cavallaro, Brian Donlevy, Jessica
Dragonette, Tony and Sally De
Marco, Jennifer Jones, Victor Mature,
Ethel Merman, Margaret
O'Brien, Lew Parker, Bill Robinson,
the Rockets, the Roxyettes,
Hazel Scott, Fred Waring and his
orchestra and glee club, Louis
Prima and his orchestra, Henry
Youngman and Jackie Miles. The
grand finale, staged by Leon Leonidoff,
was the production number
from the musical "Barefoot Boy
With Cheek."


Toscanini Spurns Gift,
Donates $250 for Box

Arturo Toscanini, who will
conduct the NBC Symphony in
Carnegie Hall on April 26 for the
Building Fund of the New York
Infirmary for Women and Children,
has refused to accept the
free box usually reserved for
family and guests of artists who
perform at benefits. Instead, he
has personally donated $250, the
contribution suggested for an
eight-seat box at the affair.  
His donation was included in 
a special delivery letter to Mrs. 
David Sarnoff, chairman of the
volunteer concert committee,
which said in part: "To be associated
with you in such a 
worth-while project makes me
the happiest man in the world."
Mr. Toscanini will conduct the
Collegiate Chorale in Verdi's Requiem,
the first time he has led
the work since 1940.


CONCERT TAKES IN $28,500

Advance for Toscanini Program Passes Carnegie Hall Record

Cash receipts of $28,500 have
been taken in to date for the NBC
Orchestra performance of Verdi's
Requiem to be conducted by
Arturo Toscanini at Carnegie Hall
on April 26, it was announced yesterday.
The sum, reportedly, surpasses
the box office record for
that hall. The performance will be
for the benefit of the New York
Infirmary for Women and Children.
The previous was set in
1936 at Mr. Toscanini's farewell
performance with the New York
Philharmonic-Symphony, when the
gross was $28,000. The benefit
concert is expected to gross
$55,000. Tickets are still available
in exchange for suggested donations
of from $10 to $250. 


BOSTON TRAVELER

DNESDAY, MARCH 2, 1932
WOMEN M.D.'S
ARE TRUE FOLK

One Big Infirmary Is
Wholly Run by
Them

Lucy Ann Marshall, superintendent of
the New York Infirmary for Women
and Children, run entirely by women,
sees absolutely no difference between
working with women doctors and working
with men doctors.
Women doctors have the same devotion
to duty, the same skill and judgement
as men doctors, she says. There
is no more professional jealousy among
them and if anything the women are
more interested in helping younger
doctors to get experience, women doctors,
that is, than the men are in
helping the young doctors of their own
sex.
That is the opinion of Miss Marshall,
who came to the New York Infirmary
for Women and Children as superintendent
in September with the aim of
helping the hospital through a reorganization
period, with an interest in
the hospital because of its unusual history,
but with a small reservation in the
back of her mind about an "all-woman"
institution. Miss Marshall had had
many years of experience in hospitals
run by men where an occasional woman
interne was admitted and occasionally
a woman practitioner had the courtesy 
of the hospital.
She spent two years in France with
the American expeditionary force and
then returned home to continue her
work of taking on difficult jobs of hospitals
going through the agonies and 
throes of reorganization. All of this
experience had been in man-run hospitals.
Since she has been superintendent
of the New York Infirmary for
Women and Children, whatever reservation
she may have had in the back
of her mind about working solely with
women has dissolved completely leaving 
her a great enthusiast on the subject of 
woman-run hospitals, women surgeons 
and women doctors.
The infirmary, she says, has a real
future because of the spirit of its staff,
the excellence of the work done which
compares favorably with that of any
hospital in which Miss Marshall has
had experience and surpasses many
first-class hospitals in its obstetrical
work. The rating of the hospital under
the College of Physicians and Surgeons
and the American Medical Association
as a grade A institution substantiates
Miss Marshall's assertion.

HOSPITAL ESTABLISHED 75 YEARS
AGO

The infirmary has an astounding history.
It was established 75 years ago
by Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell in the face
of great opposition and no little amusement
on the part of a public which
failed to appreciate the intelligence and
capabilities of women in medical and
other professions. A woman's institution
offered the only possibility of practice
to Dr. Blackwell, as she had found to
her sorrow in working as an intern
during the summer vacations of her
course at Hobart College.

The first annual report of the infirmary,
then known as the New York
Dispensary for Poor Women and Children,
published in 1855, states: "The
design of this institution is to give poor
women an opportunity of consulting
physicians of their own sex. The existing
charities of our city regard the employment,
the success of which has not
yet been sufficiently proved to admit
of cordial co-operation. It was therefore
necessary to form a separate institution
which should furnish to poor
women the medical air which they
could not obtain elsewhere.
The necessary rooms were found and
were ready for the reception of patients 
in the month of March. The dispensary
has been regularly opened through
the year on Monday, Wednesday and
Friday afternoons.
"This institution was commenced by
the subscriptions of a few friends; its
expenses have been kept within its
means but the power of doing good has
necessarily been limited by the smallness
of its funds. It is found desirable
to enlarge its operations and place it
on a permanent basis. For this purpose
the trustees wish to raise the sum of
$5000 and contributions are earnestly
solicited. The amount raised will be
invested as a permanent fund for the
institution. It is the hope of the
founders of this charity to make it
eventually a hospital for women and a 
school for the education of nurses."
This hope has been realized to the 
extent that the New York Infirmary for
Women and Children, located on Stuyvesant
square at East Fifteenth street,
grew into one of the best hospitals in
the city, that its nursing school attained
fame, that the patients now include
occasionally a "fourth generation" of
infirmary patients, and that now it has
not only outgrown its quarters but part
of its building has been condemned. A
new building is necessary, the approximate
cost of which will be $1,500,000.
A modern, up-to-date hospital must be
built on the old site to replace the
antiquated structure. 
For this reason a group of able
women, strong feminists who could not
see a pioneer institution for and by
women fail from lack of support from
women, have organized themselves to 
raise funds for building the new Infirmary.
One of the ways of raising
this fund and of calling the need to
the attention of the public is the Silver
Ball to be given in Madison Square
Garden next Monday evening. Mrs.
Norman de R. Whitehouse is chairman
of this committee, Mrs. Frank A. Vanderlip
as secretary and Mrs. Myron C.
Taylor as treasurer, have planned and
executed a ball which promises to be
one of the largest affairs of its kind
ever to be given in the city. The entire
proceeds will go to the building
fund.
The ball has many features including 
a midnight entertainment, culminating
in a pageant, "The Crystal Fountain,"
which includes some three hundred 
young women who have come out
during the last three seasons. Boxes
for the affair are selling at $500, reserved
seats for the performance including
admission to the arena for the 
dancing are selling at $10; supper
tickets at $5. Headquarters for the ball
are maintained by Mrs. Whitehouse and
Mrs. Vanderlip at 522 Fifth avenue,
though a shop has recently been opened
in the Dobbs Building on Fifth avenue
near Fifty-seventh street, where tickets
are to be had; silver balloons, specially
designed bridge pads and other novelties
are being sold to swell the building
fund.

[*Boston Post*]

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1933

The Observant Citizen

Mention has occasionally been made
in this column of Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell,
who was the first woman to take
a medical degree.

I was interested to hear that about
30 of her relatives, from Boston, Cambridge,
New Jersey and New York, now
spend their summers at Chilmark on
Martha's Vineyard.

Miss Alice Stone Blackwell tells me 
this little colony at Chilmark has been
much elated over a newly-issued report
of a remarkable year's work done by
the New York Infirmary for Women 
and Children, which was founded in 
1857 by Drs. Elizabeth and Emily
Blackwell and Dr. Marie R. Zakrzewska.

This hospital is run wholly by women
physicians.

The hospital serves a poor district,
and four fifths of the cases are treated
wholly or partly free. Yet the infirmary
has kept well within its budget,
and also paid off considerable indebtedness.

Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell is believed to
have been the first physician to establish
a social service department in connection
with a hospital. This department
has become very efficient.

In heart troubles, the report says
"three-fourths of the treatment consists
of easing fears and home worries."

Transcribed and reviewed by contributors participating in the By The People project at crowd.loc.gov.