Archives West Finding Aid
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People's Institute and Free Dispensary records, 1919-1932
Overview of the Collection
- Creator
- People's Institute; Prichard, Valentine; Phelps, Grace, 1871-1952; Dillehunt, Richard B.; Myers, Harold B.
- Title
- People's Institute and Free Dispensary records
- Dates
- 1919-1932 (inclusive)19191932
- Quantity
- 0.25 linear feet
- Collection Number
- 2008-010
- Summary
- The People's Institute worked to provide social services for the urban poor while the Portland Free Dispensary was an early effort to provide health services to the underserved. They served as a model of collaboration between the city's charitable organizations and its medical community. This collection contains a variety of reports, correspondence, and other materials relating to the work of the People's Institute and Portland Free Dispensary.
- Repository
-
Oregon Health & Science University, Historical Collections & Archives
OHSU Historical Collections & Archives
Oregon Health & Science University
3181 SW Sam Jackson Park Rd. MC:LIB
Portland, OR
97239
Telephone: 5034945587
hcaref@ohsu.edu - Access Restrictions
-
There are no restrictions on access. The collection is open to the public.
- Languages
- English
Historical NoteReturn to Top
The Portland Free Dispensary, an early effort to provide health services to the underserved in Portland, was a model of collaboration between the city's charitable organizations and its medical community.
In 1904, Valentine Prichard, supervisor of the Portland Public School kindergartens, issued a report on what she found to be the deplorable living conditions of many of the city's poorest residents. As a result, a group of prominent local women, including Caroline Ladd and Helen Ladd Corbett, organized to establish and fund the People's Institute Settlement Work. Modeled on Chicago's Hull House, the settlement house worked to provide social services for the urban poor.
By 1907, it was clear that the service most in demand for many of Portland's neediest people was health care. Inspired by the idea that those who were physically capable of helping themselves would do so, the group founded the Portland Free Dispensary. The People's Institute had already obtained the necessary medical equipment during its efforts to provide health care to refugees from the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. The equipment was moved into a space shared with the Boys' Club, and several physicians were enlisted as volunteers.
In 1909, Dr. Clarence J. McCusker made a report on the dispensary's activities to the faculty at the University of Oregon Medical School (UOMS), then located at Twenty-Third and Lovejoy streets. Soon after, the school agreed to affiliate with the dispensary on the condition that larger quarters would be provided for the clinics. Accordingly, the equipment was moved to five rooms on the lower floors of the quarters of the People's Institute at Fourth and Burnside streets.
Third- and fourth-year medical students from UOMS made mandatory rotations through the clinics, working alongside volunteer physicians. Medical graduate Adelaide Lake later shared her recollections of time spent in the Portland Free Dispensary, noting that "some of the most important assistance gleaned by the students from the dispensary is aside from knowledge of medicine and surgery which they gain there. They learn through contact with people who are aided by the organization that medical aid can be benefited by a knowledge of home conditions of the patient and by friendly aid. They are taught that cures are often more easily effected by elimination of aggravating surroundings and mental conditions than by the administration of drugs."
Forty-one separate clinics were eventually established at the dispensary, including the state's first well-baby clinics. The Visiting Nurse Association and nursing schools around the city provided nursing services. Local hospitals also affiliated themselves with the dispensary, and many patients were transferred to the Multnomah County Hospital, St. Vincent Hospital, and Good Samaritan Hospital. Medical prescriptions were given out as needed, and local druggists were enlisted to provide medications to dispensary patients "in accordance with the individual's ability to pay"—often at no cost.
By 1916, five rooms were no longer sufficient to accommodate the growth of services, and the Dispensary was moved to a building on the corner of Fourth and Jefferson streets. In 1921, a local headline declared: "Portland Free Dispensary is building on the principle that a healthful city is a hopeful and a happy city and that the right of every man is health." By 1923, the dispensary was seeing up to 165 patients a day and providing over 25,000 treatments per year.
The arrangement begun in 1907 continued for twenty-four years, until the Portland Free Dispensary was formally turned over to UOMS. In February 1931, the Outpatient Clinic of the medical school opened in a new building on the Marquam Hill campus, outfitted with the latest in medical technology and amenities. Both building and furnishings had been funded by a $400,000 grant from the Rockefeller Foundation. All dispensary employees were transferred to the new Outpatient Clinic facility.
The building still stands on the Marquam Hill campus of the Oregon Health & Science University and still houses many of the university's outpatient clinics. In 2006, the building was renamed Sam Jackson Hall.
In 1939, Valentine Prichard, who had served as superintendent of the People's Institute since its founding, wrote: "The record of history is that upon the initiative of private philanthropy depends the recognition of public duty. . . . Legislatures and municipalities have little time for originating and testing new programs, and it is here that philanthropy has rendered its most patriotic service by accepting as its mission the awakening and the stimulating of the conscience of the state and the nation."
Content DescriptionReturn to Top
Contains a series of annual reports, many of them small statistical booklets. There is also correspondence; reports, articles of incorporation, agreement documentation with UOMS, position papers, instructions for staff, and other miscellany.
Use of the CollectionReturn to Top
Restrictions on Use
OHSU Historical Collections & Archives (HC&A) is the owner of the original materials and digitized images in our collections, however, the collection may contain materials for which copyright is not held. Patrons are responsible for determining the appropriate use or reuse of materials. Consult with HC&A to determine if we can provide permission for use.
Preferred Citation
People's Institute and Free Dispensary records, Collection Number 2008-010, Oregon Health & Science University, Historical Collections & Archives
Administrative InformationReturn to Top
Acquisition Information
Original source of the materials not definitively known, but assumed to be the Institute or UOMS staff with ties to it. They were deaccessioned from the Pacific Northwest Archives in July 2008.
Related Materials
1999-010 People's Institute Image Collection
2001-002 Portland Free Dispensary Board of Trustees Minutes
2005-010 Portland Free Dispensary Letters Collection
Detailed Description of the CollectionReturn to Top
Statistical Reports-Community Health Services, 1919-1931Return to Top
Container(s): Box 1, Folder 1
Container(s) | Description | Dates | |
---|---|---|---|
Statistical Report of the Portland Free Dispensary |
1919-1920 | ||
Statistical Report of the Portland Free Dispensary |
1920-1921 | ||
People's Institute and Free Dispensary-Outline |
1921 | ||
Statistical Report of the Portland Free Dispensary (2) |
1921-1922 | ||
Statistical Report of the Portland Free Dispensary (2) |
1923-1924 | ||
Statistical Report of the Portland Free Dispensary |
1924-1925 | ||
Statistical Report of the Portland Free Dispensary |
1928-1929 | ||
Statistical Report of the Portland Free Dispensary |
1930-1931 | ||
People's Institute and Free Dispensary (outline and history) |
1920 | ||
Annual Report of the Portland Free Dispensary |
1921 March | ||
Portland Free Dispensary Statistical Report |
1921 April | ||
Portland Free Dispensary Statistical Report |
1921 May | ||
Portland Free Dispensary Statistical Report |
1921 June | ||
Portland Free Dispensary Statistical Report |
1921 July | ||
Portland Free Dispensary Statistical Report |
1921 August | ||
Portland Free Dispensary Statistical Report |
1922 May |
Correspondence, 1918-1932Return to Top
Container(s): Box 1, Folder 2
Container(s) | Description | Dates | |
---|---|---|---|
Helen Ladd Corbett-City of Portland correspondence |
1918 | ||
Lola G. Baldwin-Valentine Prichard |
1918 December 16 | ||
A.C. Seely, Acting Asst. Surgeon-Valentine Prichard |
1919 January 31 | ||
A.C. Seely, Acting Asst. Surgeon-Valentine Prichard |
1919 March 13 | ||
C.C. Pierce, Assistant Surgeon-General Public Health Service-Portland Free Dispensary |
1919 March 29 | ||
Free Dispensary reply to C.C.Pierce, Asst. Surg.-Gen. US Public Health Service |
1919 April 7 | ||
Free Dispensary-Dr. A.C.Seely |
1919 April 9 | ||
David N. Roberg, State Health Officer-Valentine Prichard |
1919 May 24 | ||
Free Dispensary-C.C.Pierce |
1919 July 17 | ||
Prichard-R.E.L.Holt M.D., Dir. Venereal Disease Control, Portland |
1919 July 19 | ||
Harold B. Myers,Asst. Dean, UOMS-Prichard |
1919 July 29 | ||
C.C. Pierce-Dr. H.W. Howard, Venereal Disease Clinic Free Dispensary |
1919 August 21 | ||
Prichard-Pierce |
1919 September 25 | ||
City Health Officer-John Mann, Commissioner, Portland Public Utilities |
1919 December 11 | ||
Hugh H.Herdman, Portland Community Chest-Beneficiaries of PCC (with attachement "The Dispensary") |
1922 November 14 | ||
People's Institute-Portland Junior League |
1924 December 1 | ||
E.L. Braden, Blumauer-rank Drug Co.-Prichard: Reply with previous correspondence |
1926 July 2 | ||
Richard B. Dillehunt, Dean UOMS-Mrs. L. Allen Lewis |
1929 January 29 | ||
Prichard-Dillehunt |
1929 February 2 | ||
Frederick D. Stricker, Oregon State Board of Health-Dilehunt |
1929 February 6 | ||
Gainor Minott, Visiting Nurse Association-Dillehunt |
1929 February 12 | ||
Resolutions of Multnomah Co. Board of Commissioners-Dillehunt |
1929 February 13 | ||
Sadie Orr Dunbar,Oregon Tuberculosis Association-Dillehunt |
1929 February 14 | ||
Herdman, Community Chest-Dillehunt |
1929 February 15 | ||
Grace Phelps, R.N.-Miss Cecil L.Schreyer, Supervising Nurse,Portland Free Dispensary |
1930 May 19 | ||
Phelps-Dillehunt with attachement on staffing durng Nurse Schreyers leave. |
1930 May 19 | ||
Ralf Couch,Secretary UOMS-Dr. A.E. Mackay |
1930 July 1 | ||
Dispensary-Portland Community Chest Finance Committee (2) |
1930 July 7 | ||
Dillehunt-Community Chest with attachement "Concerning People's Institute Budget for 1931" |
1930 July 22 | ||
Board of Directors, Dispensary-Portland Community Chest (2copies 1 handwritten,1 typed) |
1930 September | ||
Dillehunt-Prichard |
1930 November 26 | ||
Dispensary-Dillehunt |
1930 December 2 | ||
Annual Report 1930 |
1931 | ||
People's Institute BoD-Absentee members of May 18 meeting |
1931 May 19 | ||
Prichard-Sec., Portland Comm.Chest |
1931 June 29 | ||
Form letter-People's Institute membership drive |
1931 | ||
Items of Interest Regarding the People's Institute Auxiliary |
1931 | ||
Frederick Stricker, OSBH-Form letter re: Health Exposition |
1932 May 10 | ||
Doernbecher Hospital Guild-Prichard |
no date | ||
Form letter from Kenneth A.J. Mackenzie (2) |
undated | ||
A.E. Mackay-Prichard |
undated | ||
Dispensary-Mackenzie re: nursing shortage |
undated | ||
Notes scribbled on back of an envelope of Miss Prichard |
undated |
Miscellaneous, 1916-1931Return to Top
Container(s): Box 1, Folder 3
Container(s) | Description | Dates | |
---|---|---|---|
Report of the Portland Free Dispensary |
1910 March 4 | ||
Articles of Incorporation People's Institute
|
1916 May 1 | ||
Tentative Agreement between Univ. of Oregon Medical School and the Oregon State Bd. of Health to establish a free venereal dispensary |
1919 | ||
A Brief History of the Portland Free Dispensary- A Department of the People's Institute in Affiliation with the Medical School of the University of Oregon- rendered with the annual report |
1920 June | ||
Report of the committee for cooperation with allied agencies in interesting the Child Health Committee in Oregon as a demonstration center |
1923 January 4 | ||
Cooperative Organization of Dispensary and the Medical School |
1928 | ||
Items of Interest Regarding the People's Institute Auxiliary |
1931 | ||
A Brief History of the Portland Free Dispensary-short version |
undated | ||
Statement of Agreement Regarding the New Children's Clinic of the Portland Free Dispensary,UOMS,People's Institute, Visiting Nurse Assoc., and Oregon Tuberculosis Assoc., Cooperating |
undated | ||
Statements Regarding the People's Institute and Portland Free Dispensary |
undated | ||
Items for Consideration Regarding the Portland Free Dispensary |
undated | ||
Report on clinic work |
undated | ||
Outline for Volunteers |
undated | ||
Fragment of history (p13-22) of People's Institute & Dispensary |
undated | ||
Misc. fragments(5) |
undated |
Names and SubjectsReturn to Top
Subject Terms
- Education
- Hospital Administration
- Public Health
- Tuberculosis
Corporate Names
- Portland Free Dispensary
Other Creators
-
Personal Names
- Dillehunt, Richard B. (fmo)
- Myers, Harold B. (fmo)
- Phelps, Grace, 1871-1952 (fmo)
- Prichard, Valentine (fmo)