The Basement

The main work space for the Children's Hospital history project is a suite of rooms in the basement of one of our buildings. Each of these rooms is filled with boxes and files of material. Until recently, there was no order to it, but now, thanks to Liz Beckman and Bernadette Callery, PhD, of the University of Pittsburgh School of Information Sciences' graduate program in Library and Information Science, we have a complete survey of the general contents of the rooms. This will provide us with a roadmap to take us back through Children's history.

Here are some of our interesting finds as of December 2011.

1894 Report

The earliest report of the hospital I’ve found so far – from 1894, four years after Children’s was founded.
A newspaper cartoon from May 27, 1911, cut out and pasted in a scrapbook that documents the beginnings of Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh’s “Tag Day.”

A newspaper cartoon from May 27, 1911, cut out and pasted in a scrapbook that documents the beginnings of Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh’s “Tag Day.”
One of the tags from the first “Tag Day” in 1911, pasted in the same scrapbook.

One of the tags from the first “Tag Day” in 1911, pasted in the same scrapbook.
A child’s shirt from 1951 – the shirt is accompanied by a story by its owner’s mother of how her daughter recovered from pneumonia thanks to the care she received at Children’s.

A child’s shirt from 1951 – the shirt is accompanied by a story by its owner’s mother of how her daughter recovered from pneumonia thanks to the care she received at Children’s.
History of Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC 1926 time capsule

The hospital’s 1926 time capsule, complete with its original box (which appears to be copper).

Norm Rabinovitz, the director of Medical Photography at Children’s for many years, recently donated some of his vast collection to the archives, including this letter.

Norm Rabinovitz, the director of Medical Photography at Children’s for many years, recently donated some of his vast collection to the archives, including this letter.

A proclamation by then mayor of Pittsburgh Tom Murphy in recognition of the 25th anniversary of Mr. Yuk in 1996.

A proclamation by then mayor of Pittsburgh Tom Murphy in recognition of the 25th anniversary of Mr. Yuk in 1996.

If you have photos, artifacts, or other historical memorabilia you would like to share with us, please email feedback@chp.edu.