By Kelsey L. Koym, Archivist and Special Collections Librarian.
Although the title says “mini-digitization,” the small project to digitize six photographs from IC 086 Hermann Hospital Archive Records, derives from a larger digitization effort. Thanks to a member of UTHealth, McGovern Historical Center now has a digital inventory and files to approximately 185 blueprints of the Hermann Professional Building. The item-level descriptions of the blueprint inventories are available through AToM. While examining the blueprints in IC 086, the researcher viewed the Archive’s physical photographs of the construction of the Hermann Professional Building, the very Building that is being remodeled today in 2025.
The photographs depict the construction of the Hermann Professional Building that is across the street of what was Hermann Hospital (now today known as Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center). In the 1947 aerial photograph above you can see the construction crew near the top of the Hermann Professional Building, and Hermann Hospital is visible across the street.
The photos also depict the Building’s later expansion between 1954-1955. McGovern has digitized the black-and-white print above that demonstrates this expansion. One can approximate the date of the photograph based on the cars that are in the photo. The blueprints also provide the primary evidence to approximate when this photograph was taken.
To see the rest of the photographs, check out McGovern’s portal on AToM.