Mrs. Genevieve (William) Hartle rests in her hospital bed after giving birth to triplets, a girl and two boys, born during the midnight hours of November 13 and 14, 1937, at Tacoma General Hospital, the first set in many years. Waunita Marie, 3 lb. 7 oz., was the first born, shortly before midnight on November 14th. William Henry, the heaviest at 4 lb. 7 oz., arrived a few minutes after midnight on the 15th followed by his brother, Warren Edward weighing in at 4 lb. 2 oz. The two lightest siblings were placed in incubators. Mr. and Mrs. Hartle were apparently shocked at the multiple births; they already had one daughter, age 3. William Hartle was a truck driver; the Hartles lived in a rural part of Tacoma. First pictures of the triplets were released on November 18, 1937, and appeared on the Tacoma Times front page. (T.Times, 11-15-37, p. 1, 11-18-37, p. 1).

Hartle, Genevieve; Mothers & children--Tacoma--1930-1940;

In October of 1926, three Junior League women show a passage in a book to an older gentleman in a wheelchair while a nurse looks on. The man is covered with a blanket stamped "Tacoma General Hospital." The book has been removed from a rolling cart used to transport the books from room to room for selection. One of projects of the Junior League was a traveling library maintained at Tacoma General Hospital. Two times a week, members of the library committee, chaired by Mrs. Frank Buckley (believed to be pictured center of the back row), visited the hospital and took the specially constructed set of shelves on wheels loaded with books from room to room. (WSHS) (TDL 10/22/1926, pg. 1- story, diff. picture)

Hospitals--Tacoma--1920-1930; Tacoma General Hospital (Tacoma); Books; Wheelchairs; Junior League (Tacoma);

16 members of the graduating class of nurses from Tacoma General Hospital posed for a group portrait on the grounds of the hospital in June of 1925. They would bid farewell to the hospital training school on June 18th in ceremonies held at the Scottish Rite Cathedral. Pictured in the upper row, left to right, are Sophia Anderson, Elizabeth Appelman, Mary L. Putnam, Eva V. Athow, Minnie E. Sternagle, Helen Needham, Marie W. Hack and Johanna L. Jansen. Seated are, left to right, Helen MacChapin, Nina A. Walker, class salutatorian Alice Carrick, Gladys H. Bright, Edythe Hansen, Gladys E.Strickland, Dora B. Winslow, and Nellie G.R. Frostad. Not pictured were class valedictorian Dorothy Kyne and Grace K. Smith. The Tacoma General Hospital School of Nursing was one of the oldest in the nation and was in existence from 1895 to 1980. During that extended period of time, the school graduated over 2,200 registered nurses. (TNT 6/10/1925, pg. 3; multicare.org) (WSHS)

Hospitals--Tacoma--1920-1930; Tacoma General Hospital (Tacoma); Nurses--Tacoma--1920-1930; Tacoma General Hospital School of Nursing (Tacoma);

ca. 1933. Tacoma General Hospital, ca. 1933; therapeutic pool inside the hospital. In August of 1929, the physiotherapy department opened a swimming pool for children suffering from infantile paralysis (polio.) The tiled pool was 10 foot by 9 foot and thirty to forty inches deep. Water temperature was maintained between 92 and 94 degrees. The overhead track had ropes and springs that supported the children while in the water. Nurses and assistants were photographed helping children with treatment in the pool. Physical therapy was often performed in a warm water pool to reduce the strain on muscles. (WSHS) ("A House of Mercy" by Mildred Bates, RN)

Hospitals--Tacoma--1930-1940; Tacoma General Hospital (Tacoma); Nurses--Tacoma--1930-1940; Physical therapy--Tacoma;

In March of 1938 the Red Top Cab Company added this state-of-the-art Packard ambulance to its fleet of vehicles. The new ambulance was considered a "hospital on wheels" that could provide complete care to patients while en route to the hospital. It is parked in front of the Tacoma General Hospital. (T. Times, 3/9/1938, p. 11).

Red Top Cab Co. (Tacoma); Ambulances; Tacoma General Hospital (Tacoma);

ca. 1933. Tacoma General Hospital School of Nursing. View of classroom. In 1933, Tacoma General offered a three year course of study; on completion, students would be registered nurses (R.N.) The school was established in 1895, and closed in 1980. The school graduated 2200 nurses during its years of operation. (WSHS)

Hospitals--Tacoma--1930-1940; Tacoma General Hospital (Tacoma); Nurses--Tacoma--1930-1940; Classrooms;

ca. 1933. Tacoma General Hospital School of Nursing. Woman pouring coffee for three nurses seated around a table. The coffee urn has an electric cord plugged into it. (WSHS)

Hospitals--Tacoma--1930-1940; Tacoma General Hospital (Tacoma); Nurses--Tacoma--1930-1940;

ca. 1933. Tacoma General Hospital; Laboratory circa 1933. Beakers and tubes on shelves and counters on laboratory cabinets. (WSHS)

Hospitals--Tacoma--1930-1940; Tacoma General Hospital (Tacoma); Laboratories--1930-1940;

ca. 1933. Tacoma General Hospital School of Nursing. Six nurses gathered around upright piano in living quarters. (WSHS)

Hospitals--Tacoma--1930-1940; Tacoma General Hospital (Tacoma); Nurses--Tacoma--1930-1940; Pianos;

ca. 1933. Tacoma General Hospital. Nurses preparing food trays in kitchen area. (WSHS)

Hospitals--Tacoma--1930-1940; Tacoma General Hospital (Tacoma); Nurses--Tacoma--1930-1940;

ca. 1936. Doctors and attendants in Tacoma General Hospital operating room, circa 1936. Large windows and skylights supplied natural light; which, along with the operating lights, flooded the operating table. Several large tanks, right, supplied oxygen and probably gaseous anesthesia. A curved stand held operating instruments and several bowls sat on stands. By the mid 1930's, the new Heidbrink anesthetic machine and uniform sterilization of instruments and equipment had reached Tacoma. (filed with Argentum)

Hospitals--Tacoma--1930-1940; Tacoma General Hospital (Tacoma); Operating rooms--Tacoma--1930-1940; Surgery--Tacoma--1930-1940; Physicians; Medical personnel--Tacoma--1930-1940;

Bedroom with twin beds, possibly in the Tacoma General Hospital nurses' quarters, circa 1936. For 85 years, from 1895-1980, Tacoma General ran its own nurse training program. The nurses studied for three years, emerging as Registered Nurses. In its years of operation, Tacoma General graduated 2200 nurses.(filed with Argentum)

Hospitals--Tacoma--1930-1940; Tacoma General Hospital (Tacoma);

On Friday evening, January 8, 1937, twenty five students in the Tacoma General Hospital nursing program took their first step toward graduating as nurses. The women received their caps, signifying that they had completed the preliminary four month basic course in theory and practice. The students will receive their full graduation honors when they complete their studies in May of 1939. Photograph of nurses congratulating one another. Left to right, Miss Sutherling congratulates Miss Baskerville, Miss Gibson and Miss Rembert, Miss Timmerman and Miss Phillips, Miss Harvey and Miss Barton, and Miss Pederson is congratulated by Clarence Cummings, superintendent of Tacoma General. (T.Times 1/7/1937, pg.. 4- picture; TNT 1/8/1937, pg. 2) (filed with Argentum)

Hospitals--Tacoma--1930-1940; Tacoma General Hospital (Tacoma); Nurses--Tacoma--1930-1940;

ca. 1936. Exterior view of Tacoma General Hospital with an ambulance parked in front, ca. 1936. The original $100,000 hospital, front, opened in 1915. It was designed by the architectural firm of Heath and Gove. It had a capacity for 150 beds and was virtually fireproof. The East wing, or "C" Wing, opened in 1926, Sutton, Whitney & Dugan architects. It brought the hospital's capacity to 250 beds. (filed with Argentum) ("A House of Mercy" by Mildred Bates, RN)

Hospitals--Tacoma--1930-1940; Tacoma General Hospital (Tacoma); Ambulances--Tacoma--1930-1940;

Tacoma General Hospital annual pictures. The nursery where three nurses wearing masks over their lower faces care for babies in rolling carts. Each cart has room for four or five babies.

Nurses--Tacoma--1940-1950; Nurseries--1940-1950; Tacoma General Hospital (Tacoma);

Tacoma's first senior hospital aides. 15-18 year old Girl Scouts are receiving intensive training to become Senior Scout Hospital Aides. They will assist nurses at Tacoma General with hospital duties. Group portrait of 14 young women and nurse. Names appear in newspaper (T. Times, 6/21/44, p. 4).

Girl Scouts (Tacoma); Nursing--Tacoma; Uniforms; Community service--Tacoma--1940-1950; Tacoma General Hospital (Tacoma);

Tacoma General pictures for Bulletin. Tacoma General Hospital's Library was founded in 1935 by the Tacoma alumnae chapter of Alpha Delta Pi, a national Greek letter sorority. View of Tacoma General Hospital's Library and five unidentified nurses.

Nurses--Tacoma; Medical libraries--Tacoma; Tacoma General Hospital (Tacoma);

Four unidentified nursing students relax in the nurses' quarters at Tacoma General Hospital in March 1944. They have just received news that the recent acquisition of an entire half block across "K" Street from the hospital, will enable a nurse's home to be built in the near future. Samuel Morley Jackson Hall was completed in 1945. Tacoma General's nursing school program was established in 1895, it was discontinued in 1980. Photo taken for the hospital bulletin.

Nurses--Tacoma; Tacoma General Hospital (Tacoma);

Tacoma General Hospital annual pictures. Employees enjoy a meal in the dining hall in this scene from April of 1945. Several nurses in the foreground are wearing Red Cross uniforms.

Hospitals--Tacoma--1940-1950; Tacoma General Hospital (Tacoma); Employee eating facilities; Nurses--Tacoma--1940-1950;

Tacoma General Hospital. Two nurses working with x-ray equipment. Patient lying on table and covered with white sheet. Pathology and clinical laboratories. Ordered by Clarence J. Cummings, Superintendent. (filed with Argentum) see also D8155 image 3

Hospitals--Tacoma--1930-1940; Tacoma General Hospital (Tacoma); Nurses--Tacoma--1930-1940; Radiography--1930-1940;

This Tacoma trio is leaving by automobile for a pair of medical conventions in St. Louis, Missouri. They are, left to right, Annabell Norton, photographer for the pathology clinic at Tacoma General Hospital, Dr. Benjamin T. Terry, pathologist, and Mrs. Alice Kern, technician and secretary to Dr. Terry. Dr. Terry is the originator of the latest method of rapid razor diagnosis of cancer. The trio have prepared exhibits, which they will explain at the American Society of Clinical Pathologists, May 11-14, and the convention of the American Medical Association, May 15-19, 1939. (T. Times 5/5/1939, pg. 9)

Hospitals--Tacoma--1930-1940; Tacoma General Hospital (Tacoma); Norton, Annabell; Terry, Benjamin; Kern, Alice;

Swimming pool provided at Tacoma General by Orthopedic Group for physical therapy. Two nurses are pictured on February 23, 1940, working with two children. The older child is already in the water kicking away.

Swimming pools--Tacoma--1940-1950; Tacoma General Hospital (Tacoma); Hospitals--Tacoma--1940-1950; Children--Tacoma--1940-1950; Physical therapy--Tacoma; Nurses--Tacoma--1940-1950;

In April of 1940, these patients of the Rust Memorial Ward and the Tacoma Orthopedic Clinic were able to learn their 3 R's despite being at the Tacoma General Hospital, thanks to a compact school room furnished by the Auxiliary to the Veterans of Foreign Wars. The newly decorated room held regular classes five days a week for children with physical disabilities. Some of the children, under the supervision of the Orthopedic Clinic, were transported from their homes daily for school sessions. The schoolwork was done under the direction of Mrs. Meredith Duguay, whose services were provided by the Tacoma School District. The woman in front of the bookcase at the back of the room may be Mrs. Duguay. (T. Times, 4-19-40, p. 3-alternate picture )

School children--Tacoma--1940-1950; Tacoma General Hospital (Tacoma); People with disabilities--Tacoma;

Blood Bank at Tacoma General Hospital; publicity for War Chest. The War Chest was a wartime branch of the Community Chest and one of its projects was a local Blood Bank. In the photograph, a young patient is either donating or receiving blood. In 1941, the Red Cross organized the first civilian blood donor service to collect plasma for the war effort. In later years, Blood Banks sprang up across the country as medical professionals established them after seeing the success of transfusion therapy on the battlefield.

Hospitals--Tacoma--1940-1950; Tacoma General Hospital (Tacoma); Tacoma Community Chest (Tacoma); Blood donations; Blood transfusions;

Printed on front: The Tacoma General Hospital, Tacoma, U.S.A.

Printed on front: Tacoma General Hospital, Tacoma, Washington

ca. 1933. Tacoma General Hospital. Large room with square columns covered with wood paneling. Rattan chairs and Mission-style rocking chair. (WSHS)

Hospitals--Tacoma--1930-1940; Tacoma General Hospital (Tacoma);

ca. 1933. Tacoma General Hospital. Four-bed ward. Metal frame beds with neatly folded covers and pillow. Walls and ceiling painted with high-gloss enamel paint. (WSHS)

Hospitals--Tacoma--1930-1940; Tacoma General Hospital (Tacoma);

ca. 1933. Tacoma General Hospital, circa 1933. Doctor or radiologist and nurses working in X-ray room with patient on table. One piece of equipment has a large dial and the other is a camera and screen mounted on a steel frame. X-rays were accepted as a medical practice in the 1920s. (WSHS)

Hospitals--Tacoma--1930-1940; Tacoma General Hospital (Tacoma); Nurses--Tacoma--1930-1940; Radiography--1930-1940; Radiologists--1930-1940;

Tacoma General Hospital. Six women having afternoon tea. (filed with Argentum)

Hospitals--Tacoma--1930-1940; Tacoma General Hospital (Tacoma); Tea parties--Tacoma--1930-1940;