Minor Private Hospital was founded in January 1906, and a two-story, brick hospital building constructed at 1420 Spring Street in Seattle’s First Hill neighborhood. Most hospitals of the time had a religious affiliation, and the St. Anthony Association operated Minor Private Hospital. The hospital was named for one of Seattle’s leading philanthropists, Dr. Thomas T. Minor (1844-1889.)
Legislation passed by the Washington Legislature in 1909 required that nurses complete a course of study and be certified by a state licensing board. This led to a proliferation of so-called “Nightingale schools,” or nurse training programs. In September 1906, a school for nurses was established at Minor Hospital with a three-year course of training.
The Hospital provided the nursing students with the basic clinical and practical experience considered necessary. There was a minimum of formal classroom instruction. The hospital hired only supervisory nurses, so the student nurses provided the patient care and housekeeping. Probationers, as student nurses were called, worked eight to ten hours a day, seven days a week, and were expected to adhere to a strict code of conduct and obey physicians and supervisors without question. At the end of the program, students received a diploma and were eligible to work as a trained nurse, earning about five dollars a week in 1910.
The Minor Hospital nursing students originally resided in the main building, but as the hospital expanded a home was leased for them nearby at Boylston and Spring Streets, increasing the hospital capacity from 43 to 60 beds. Minor Private Hospital closed in 1928, and the last nursing school class graduated in 1930.
The nurses later organized the Minor Hospital Alumnae Association, and the Seattle group continued to meet into the 1950s, hosting events such as banquets and holiday parties. In 1948, the Association began compiling a memoir scrapbook for presentation to the Seattle Historical Society (now the Museum of History & Industry). Amateur photographer Enid Bell Ericksson, class of 1921, spearheaded the project and was responsible for the artistic design and organization of the alumnae class pages. She died unexpectedly in 1949, and Margaret E. Bateman, class of 1922, donated the scrapbook to the Historical Society in 1954.
The collection consists of one 12 x 14 inch leather bound, 200-page scrapbook, and five loose photographs from alumnae social events in the 1940s and 1950s. The scrapbook is primarily organized in chronological order, with a separate section dedicated to each nursing class between 1910 and 1930. These class sections include small portraits and names of the graduating nurses, informal snapshots, updated biographical information and photographs of diplomas, licenses, and commencement programs. Other photographs depict the hospital exterior, Thomas T. Minor’s home and the nurses' residence.
The scrapbook also includes a three-page typewritten history of Minor Private Hospital, the nursing curriculum, and a detailed biography of Thomas T. Minor. Several pages are dedicated to the Minor Hospital doctors, including small photographs and autographs. A collection of newspaper clippings and magazine articles document the accomplishments of Minor Hospital nursing graduates.
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"Memoirs of Minor Hospital Alumnae" Scrapbook , Museum of History & Industry, Seattle
Gift of Margaret E. Bateman; received in 1954. Donor was Secretary of the Minor Private Hospital Alumnae Association.
Scrapbook was interleaved with acid-free paper in 2014 to protect the photographs from acid migration from the facing scrapbook pages.
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the online catalog. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or places should search the catalog using these headings.
Date of materials in the scrapbook is circa 1910-1952; the scrapbook itself was created beginning in 1949. Brown leather cover with attached painted leather emblem stamped "Minor Private Hospital, Seattle 1906" with image of caduceus in center. Embossed in gold with "Memoirs of Minor Hospital Alumnae." The cover page for each class is hand-lettered and illustrated, listing the class flower (with color illustration), class colors, and class motto, and listing the names of the women comprising that class.
Note on page indicates that this handwritten essay is condensed from a biography, "Dr. Minor," written by his grandson Thomas Minor Pelly in 1933.
Photographs of Lucy I. Pringle, P. Josephine Prince, Ethel M. Sikes, Caroline E. Davis
Education, dates of service and biographical summary for five nursing superintendents: Lucy I. Pringle, P. Josephine Prince, Ethel M. Sikes, Caroline E. Davis, and Edna Duskin
Names, class year and death dates of 24 deceased alumnae.
Photograph of cap used from 1907-1918, and cap adopted for use in 1918, when the ruching used in the original caps was unavailable during World War I.
Includes nine small individual portraits of class members Elizabeth Matheson, Lena J. Watt, Imogene Thompson, Elizabeth M. Eby, Marguarite A. Brogan, Idella M. Weston, Edith S. Goodrich, Lillian V. Thompson and superintendent Lucy Pringle; an invitation to commencement of this first graduating class of Minor Private Hospital School of Nursing; two photographs of the commencement program; six photographs of the nurses in groups and individually; and current biographical information about class members.
Includes one composite photograph showing six of the nine class members, who are listed as: Ellen B. Johnson, N. Maude Hosfelt, Della Locy, Cora A. Cathcart, Caroline P. Mann, Estelle Hoskinson, Ina B. Jenks, Avis Weed. Also includes a small portrait of a baby wearing a nursing cap, identified as Maravene Scarborough, "class mascot," and current biographical information about class members.
Includes two small group photographs of class members Ada M. Merrifield, Elizabeth A. Lancaster, Daisy Kensley, Frances A. Norquist, Harriet E. Dougherty, P. Josephine Prince, Ethel Duncan, and Muriel T. Dunstan; a photograph of the commencement invitation; a composite photograph of five of the nurses; and current biographical information about class members.
Includes one composite photograph of small oval portraits of nurses Nellie Top, Lorena Marsden, Mary Jolliete Glen, Matilda Rasmussen, Margaret Mason, Mira Fletcher, Bernice Hart, Rose Van Dame, Nell Poersel, Irene Williams, and superintendent Lucy Pringle; a photograph of the commencement invitation; sixteen group and individual snapshots of the nurses; and current biographical information. Also includes photographs of the exteriors of Minor Hospital and the nurses' residence. The residence was on the southeast corner of Seneca and Boylston Streets.
Includes twelve small portraits of students Ina M. Houze, Hannah Hall, Coral E. Vader, Bessie Kennedy, Sophia M. Tanck, Irene Ms Givern, Lucile Jennison, Lennah Parker, Eleanor Patteson, Hilda J. Smailes, Margaret Robertson, and Luella Webster, and one portrait of superintendent Lucy Pringle; sixteen informal snapshots of the nurses; a photograph of the commencement invitation; and current biographical information on class members.
Includes a composite photo of nurses Dorothy A. Preston, Gene Marie Fuller, Edna Neil Smith, Margaret Metcalfe Bothwell, Emily Elizabeth Ogilvie and Eve Goode and superintendent Lucy Pringle; a photograph of the commencement invitation, four snapshots of the nurses, and current biographical information.
Includes small portraits of ten of the eleven students listed: Marie Morrison, Vivian Easton Wickwire, Mary Alice Smith, Vera Van Tine, Susie May Meadowcroft, Rosa Mae Stanhope, Laura O. Sund, Mabel Elizabeth Holmes, Florence Lindsay Tucker, Mary L. Tope, and Nellie Robitaille; photographs of the commencement invitation, ten snapshots of nurses and one photo of the Samuel and Jessie Kenney Presbyterian Home; and current biographical information.
Includes one composite photo with small oval portraits of nurses Edna Bridges, Ina Grace Soutar, Grace Barnard, Margaret Castlio, Esther Julia Anderson, Ruth Elena Cunningham, Ruth Dearborn, Helen Beeler, Catherine Forbes Bothwell, and superintendent Lucy Pringle; a photograph of the commencement invitation; nine snapshots of the nurses and a group photograph of nurses posing with superintendent Lucy Pringle; and current biographical information about the nurses.
Includes small portraits of eight of the nine nurses listed: Caroline Parker, Addie Algier, Ester Joslin, Inez Davis, Eva Johnson, Ruth E. Metcalfe, Betty Blakinstone, Ruth Clegg, Charlotte Jones (missing); a photograph of the commencement invitation; a snapshot of Ruth Dearborn and Ester Joslin; and current biographical information.
Includes small photographs of seven of eight class members: Margaret G. Creasy, Ester Edwards, Edith A. Christensen, Hazel M. Crooks, Leah F. Babcock, Hannah E. Hughes, Lucille M. Hohn, Ruth C.Gilson (missing); photographs of the commencement invitation and program; nine snapshots; and current biographical information.
Includes eleven small photographs of Ruth Morgan, Georgia Stewart, Yuanita Horstman, Helen McLean, Ruth Tait, Jessie Jolliffe, Berneice Jones, Bernice Jamieson, Gladys Buckley, and Marjorie Thornton; photograph of the commencement invitation; photographs of the Minor Private Hospital School for Nurses curriculum for 1919-1920; twenty snapshots of the nurses at work and recreation; and current biographical information.
Includes eight small photographs of nurses Ada B. Cloukie, Helen Dorety, Lillian May Sain, Emma Haworth, Enid Bell, Catherine E. Johnson, Zita Mescher, and Elsie Scott; photographs of the commencement invitation and program; nineteen snapshots of the nurses; photographs of a dance card for 1921 graduates; and current biographical information.
Includes fifteen small photographs of nurses Rose G. Fine, Winnifred G. Little, Ida M. McEwan, Alice M. Carroll, Borghild O. Winter, Bee. E Johnson, Fannie E. Burrows, Frances A. Lanches, Ethel Eaden, Dorothy Minnis, Sadie A. Moores, Margaret E, Bateman, Olive Eadie, Mary E. Carhart, and Ethel M. Nordquist; photographs of the commencement invitation and program; seventeen snapshots of the nurses; and current biographical information.
Includes nine small oval portraits of nurses Gertrude Mae Williams, Lena Hyacinth Lennan, Harriet Margaret Goodhead, Lillian Ester Niemela, Margaret Jeanette Porter, Florence Gilbert Unwin, Sara Anne Walden, Jessie Virginia Ibex, and Marie Wilderman; photographs of commencement program; 21 snapshots of the nurses; and current biographical information.
Includes nine small photographs of Elsie Grondal, Margaret Mercer, Freda Bess Wray, Isabel Hodding, Dorothy Jeffares, Alma Bishop, Yolande Sanders, Loure Duke, and Margaret Larson; photographs of the commencement invitation and program; nine snapshots; and current biographical information.
Includes a group photograph of nurses Marjorie Agnes Graves, Elda May Hardin, Kate Constance Jay, Lydia Weiger, Birdie Catharine Chamberlain, Llellwyn Virginia Hagan, Ruth Fallis, Josephine Raab, Margaret Ellen Murray, Lydia Gwendolyn Jones, Lilly M. Jones, Edith Bell MacDonald, and Helen Petit; photographs of the commencement invitation and program; sixteen snapshots; a clipping about five of the nurses winning a First Aid contest; and current biographical information.
Includes a composite photograph with small portrait of students Beatrice Turtle, Lutie Gough, Nancy Shore, Hope Lyman, Matilda Fiegle, and superintendent Caroline E. Davis surrounding an image of the Minor Hospital building; a photograph of the commencement program; seven snapshots; and current biographical information.
Includes twelve small portraits of nurses Olive Claire Adams, Beulah Muriel Crawford, Myrtle Adelia Harmon, Helene Jane Newland, Elizabeth May Moran, Edith May McDaniel, Barbara Layton Freer, Frankie Esther Hicks, Georgia Beatrice McGee, Jean Elizabeth Greer, Georgia Kathleen Moss, and Evelyn Louise Johnson; a photograph of the commencement program; thirteen snapshots; and current biographical information.
Includes a group photograph of nurses Ann Marie Barkley, Sara Eleanor Morris, Viola Bertha Hunziker, Hattie Margaret Meyer, Beulah Cathern Nixon, Mary Virginia Linton, Luella Ruth Griswold, Lou Ella Elise Nelson, and superintendent Carolyn Davis; photographs of the commencement invitation and program; six snapshots; and current biographical information.
The listing of the Class of 1929 is captioned "Minor's Unfinished Symphony," possibly due to the closing of Minor Private Hospital in 1928. One caption indicates that four of the "1929's" finished their training at Seattle General Hospital. Includes two group photographs with students Betty Frank, Naoma Scott, Amie McKee, June Tyler, Jeanette Byford, Ruth Cleland, Kay Hart, Bertha Hart, Louise Preston, Gertrude Lewis, Martha Short, Verla Miller, and Jane McNickol. Includes fifteen snapshots and Class of 1929 and Class of 1930 current biographical information
Small oval portraits of "Class Reporters from the years 1910 through 1929. In order, they are Edith Goodrich, Ellen Ellis, Ina Jenks Buck, Jolly Glen, Ina Groat, Gene Shugren, Mary Alice Smith, Catherine Mallory, Grace Cox, Ruth Clegg, Leah Rutherford, Hazel Holderness, Marjorie Bilworth, Jessie Hutchinson, Catherine Lundgren, Margaret Bateman, Lena Bosselman, Margaret Dawley, Josephine Drummey, Birdie Ghiglione, Hope Wise, Georgia McGee, Anne Greer, Betty Moburg, and June Beezer.
Eighteen photographs, depicting nurses Margaret Bateman, Rose Fine, Ester (Pete) Anderson, Catherine Johnson, Juanita Horstman, Jolly Glen, Tillie Fiegle, Lydia Weiger, Ada B. Cloukey, Yolande Norton, Margaret Mason, Helen Pettit, Eva Johnson, Peggy Wood, G. Williams, Ruth Forsberg, Miss Dawson, and Georgie Moss.
Five snapshots
Group photograph of nurses and doctors posing outdoors in native parkas
Doctors depicted include Dr. William Glasglow, Dr. John Lundy, Dr. James Thompson, Dr. Alexander Peacock, Dr. E.W. Young, Dr. J.K. Holloway, Dr. Arthur Gray, Dr. George Beeler, Dr. Bruce Elmore, Dr. Houston, Dr. Hunter, Dr. P.C. Irwin, Dr. Carroll, Dr. Hancock, Ira McLemore, Glenn Rotton, E.E. Beckett, Copeland Plummer, Edward Fick, Hubbard T. Buckner, H. Eugene Allen, William C. Kantner, H.J. Wyckoff, Dr. Louis Maxson, Clark Goss, Dr. C.E. Watts. Also includes a newspaper obituary for Dr. A.J. Ghiglione.
Photograph of cap and pin of Minor Private Hospital Training School
Thirteen group and individual photographs
Includes a photograph and biography of Eriksson.