{"id":272,"date":"2010-08-27T17:10:02","date_gmt":"2010-08-27T17:10:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tmcldev.wpengine.com\/mcgovern\/2010\/08\/27\/thingamajig-hermann-hospital-1949\/"},"modified":"2019-08-30T18:02:21","modified_gmt":"2019-08-30T18:02:21","slug":"thingamajig-hermann-hospital-1949","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/library.tmc.edu\/mcgovern\/2010\/08\/27\/thingamajig-hermann-hospital-1949\/","title":{"rendered":"Thingamajig: Hermann Hospital, 1949"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Alethea Drexler<\/strong>
\narchives assistant<\/em>
\nI spent a good part of this week unscrambling a box of photographs that had gotten caught up in a re-organization project of some sort, ages ago.\u00a0 Luckily, there weren’t very many pictures involved, although cross-checking them against the card catalog (in two series!) and the online catalog was a bit of a mind-bender.
\nThere weren’t any true thingamajigs involved, but I thought I’d use this week’s post to display some of them, since we do have some interesting and beautiful images in our photo files.
\nThe following are part of P-892, a series of photographs of the grand opening of the Corbin J. and Wilhelmina C. Robertson Pavilion, the new wing of Hermann Hospital, in 1949.
\n

\"\"<\/a>
Hermann Hospital re-opening<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nThe couple to our right are Mr. Hugh Roy<\/a> and Mrs. Lillie Cullen.\u00a0 The Cullens and the Cullen Foundation were, and are, longtime supporters of the Medical Center.
\nNote the beautiful mid-century streamline style of the entry.
\nOnce inside, they were probably greeted by a pair of receptionists, who dressed to the nines for the occasion:
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Reception desk<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nNotice they’re handing out cigars.\u00a0 In a hospital.\u00a0 My, how times have changed.
\nA private room seems not to have looked much different then than it does now:
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Patient room<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nThe x-ray machine looks like it was designed by Harley Earl:
\n
\"\"<\/a>
X-ray machine<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nThe staff dining and conference room:
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Staff dining & conference room<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nThe main cafeteria was less home-like, but I the next picture is one of my personal favorites for two reasons.\u00a0 One is that I am fascinated by how little commercial kitchens have changed: I worked in the dining hall when I was in college and our kitchen installations were virtually identical to these.\u00a0 This picture was taken sixty years ago<\/em>.
\nThe second reason is that I think this must be one of the most dramatic and artistic pictures I’ve ever seen of an industrial kitchen.\u00a0 It looks like a movie still.\u00a0 Check out that lighting!
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Main cafeteria<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nI thought the next picture was part of the laundry room, but the notation on the back says they’re vegetable cookers.\u00a0 Wow.\u00a0 Don’t fall in!
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Vegetable cookers<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nWe feared this next picture might\u00a0 be the morgue, but it’s not.\u00a0 It’s the autoclave room.\u00a0 (An autoclave is a machine that uses steam and high pressure to sterilize things.\u00a0 Some of them are no bigger than household microwave ovens.\u00a0 These are huge.)
\n
\"\"<\/a>
The Great Wall of Autoclaves<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nLast, but certainly not least, they appear to have spent quite a bit of time in the laundry room.\u00a0 The laundry facilities were highly mechanized and quite impressive, although I imagine they were also very noisy and rather dangerous, looking at all those rollers and belts.\u00a0 The following include what I think must be a washer, a folding machine (it’s literally called a Foldmaster), and possibly a presser or wringer.
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Washing vat?<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\n
\"\"<\/a>
The Foldmaster<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Presser or wringer<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nThat’s the tip of the iceberg with regards to the photo collection, but I already have ideas for future posts to share more of our images.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Alethea Drexler archives assistant I spent a good part of this week unscrambling a box of photographs that had gotten caught up in a re-organization project of some sort, ages ago.\u00a0 Luckily, there weren’t very many pictures involved, although cross-checking them against the card catalog (in two series!) and the online catalog was a […]<\/p>\n

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