The House of the Good Samaritan
Scope and Content
The records of the House of the Good Samaritan span 1860 to 1967. They have been divided into four series: Annual Reports, Subject Files, Patient Records, and Objects.
The Annual Reports are dated 1864-1961. The annual reports for 1936 to 1939 and 1945 are missing. In 1962 the Good Samaritan annual report became a part of the Children's Hospital Medical Center annual report.
The Subject Files include, fund-raising information, correspondence, pamphlets, reprints, and histories. Notes of the establishment of the hospital are in the handwritten volume "Bylaws: Association of the House of the Good Samaritan, 1860-1922," (Box 5, Folder 82). Board of Managers meeting minutes are in a handwritten volume (Box 4, Folder 54) entitled "Annual Meetings of the Association and Board of Managers: Minutes, 1903-06." The bulk of the Board of Managers meeting minutes, 1945 to 1967, are located in folders entitled "Board of Managers meeting minutes, followed by the date (Boxes 4-5, Folders 61-80). There are no minutes from 1906 to 1944. Financial information, other than that found in the annual reports, is limited but does span the years 1861-1966. There is also a Medical and Surgical Physicians Register (Box 7, Folder 114) that lists doctors who worked at the hospital from 1905-1958.
Of special interest is the December 30, 1955 document by George E. Gardner, Ph.D., M.D., entitled "Preliminary Proposals for a Child Care Center Affiliated with Harvard University" (Box 6, Folder 86). Historical information can be found on Anne Smith Robbins (Box 8, Folder 132). There is a listing of references made of Buckminster Brown, M.D., taken from annual report dated 1862-1900 (Box 5, Folder 81). Another interesting folder is that of T. Duckett Jones, M.D. It is filled with correspondence, lists of his books and publications, and notes on his memorial service and his life (Box 7, Folder 111). There are also four publicity scrapbooks of various clippings about the House of the Good Samaritan.
The bulk of the Patient Records include admission logs from 1861-1905 (Box 10), Surgical Records from the cancer ward, 1905-32 (Boxes 17-25, Folders 142-197), and Medical and Surgical records from 1869-1932 (Boxes 11-16 and 26-27). There are some incomplete orthopedic records dated 1905-21, Taf-Z (Box 25, Folders 198-200).
The Objects series consists of various artifacts, most of which came from the House of the Good Samaritan's chapel.
Photographs from the House of the Good Samaritan are located in Children's Photograph Collection and Glass Plate Collection.
Dates
- 1860-1966
Historical Note
The House of the Good Samaritan was founded as a charitable hospital in 1860 by Anne Smith Robbins (1827-1899). It was established to care for chronically ill women and children who could not be helped in existing hospitals. It was the first hospital in Boston to admit patients with chronic illness.
Under the leadership of Dr. Buckminster Brown, the House of the Good Samaritan opened the first orthopedic ward for children in the United States in 1864.
In 1906 the Good Samaritan operated the first summer and winter tuberculosis camp in Massachusetts. By 1911 the city and state had taken over the responsibility for care of tuberculosis patients, so the Board of Managers voted to admit cancer patients, becoming the first hospital in Boston to admit women with incurable cancer.
By 1929, the city and state provided facilities for the care of cancer, so the Good Samaritan again changed its focus to provide services to a group of patients for whom there was no existing care, children with rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease. In 1932 the Research Program for Rheumatic heart disease was started and the House of the Good Samaritan became known worldwide for its research into the cause and cure of the disease.
In 1946 the Good Samaritan became affiliated with Children's Hospital, and on March 15, 1967 it became legally incorporated into the Children's Hospital Medical Center.
Additional historical information can be found in the subject file entitled "Histories" (Box 7, Folder 105) and in the annual reports (Boxes 1-3).
Sources:
Smith, Clement A., M.D. The Children's Hospital of Boston. Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1983.
Snedeker, Lendon. One Hundred Years at Children's. Boston: Privately printed, 1969.
"To Wider Spheres of Usefulness": The Hundredth Anniversary of the House of the Good Samaritan, 1861-1961. (Box 7, Folder 106)
Extent
13 Linear Feet (27 Hollinger boxes, 2 oversize boxes, and 1 record carton.)
Language of Materials
English
Acquisition
The majority of records were delivered to the Hospital Archives from the Medical Staff Library, Hunnewell 3, on April 23, 1992. The archivist moved several volumes of medical records from the Board Room, Wolbach 1 to the Archives on November 10, 1992.
- Title
- THE HOUSE OF THE GOOD SAMARITAN
- Subtitle
- Records, 1860-1970
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Tina Chrismore
- Date
- December 1993
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the Boston Children’s Hospital Archives Repository
300 Longwood Ave, Boston, MA 02115
Boston MA 02115 United States
(617) 355-5286
archives@childrens.harvard.edu