Identity elements
Reference code
Name and location of repository
Level of description
File
Title
Jesse H. Jones Library Dedication, original footage, color
Date(s)
- 1973 May 25 (Creation)
Extent
one 16mm acetate film (3:35)
Name of creator
Administrative history
The Texas Medical Center is a comprehensive medical community located south of downtown Houston. It comprises 54 institutions, including four medical and seven nursing schools, 21 hospitals, three level-I trauma centers [8], eight specialty institutions, and academic and research institutions for many other health-related disciplines[9]. The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center is among the top-ranked cancer hospitals in the country[10]. As of 2017, it is one of the largest medical centers in the world[7].
The Texas Medical Center was proposed by Horace Wilkins, Col. William Bates, and John H. Freeman, the trustees of the M.D. Anderson Foundation. Established by cotton magnate Monroe Dunaway Anderson in 1936[1], the Foundation supported a variety of small causes until Anderson’s death in 1939, at which point the trustees, with the encouragement of Ernst Bertner, M.D., and Frederick Elliott, D.D.S., decided the funds should be used to build a medical center on par with Johns Hopkins and the Mayo Clinic[2]. When, in 1941, the state legislature approved an act to create a cancer hospital[3], the Anderson Foundation trustees secured Houston as the location for the M.D. Anderson Cancer Hospital, which would become first component of the medical center. The Texas Medical Center would be located on a site adjacent to Hermann Hospital, which had opened south of downtown in 1925.
The Texas Medical Center was officially incorporated in 1946 and Bertner was appointed president, replaced at the Cancer Hospital by R. Lee Clark, M.D. The Cancer Hospital was quickly joined by the Dental College, by then affiliated with the University of Texas[16], and Baylor University College of Medicine, which moved from Waco. The Anderson Foundation made grants to Methodist Hospital, Shriners Hospital for Crippled Children, St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital, Texas Children’s Hospital, a new building for Hermann Hospital, and for a library[15].
The Texas Medical Center grew quickly and has provided a home for innovators such as heart surgeons Michael DeBakey and Denton Cooley; William Spencer and his work on rehabilitation of paralysis patients; trauma surgeon and medevac pioneer James “Red” Duke; and Nobel Prize-winning pharmacology researcher Ferid Murad[17].
SOURCES:
[1-5] TMC History 1971
[6] Handbook of Texas Online, Ernst W. Bertner.
[7] Facts and Figures, About Houston, City of Houston, 2017 July 24, www.houstontx.gov/abouthouston/houstonfacts.html
[8] Texas Trauma Facilities, Texas Health and Human Services, Texas Department of Health and Human Services, 2017 July 24, https://www.dshs.texas.gov/emstraumasystems/etrahosp.shtm.
[9] “Texas Medical Center: Houston is where the world comes for treatment”, About Houston, Greater Houston Convention & Visitors Bureau, 2017 July 24, https://www.visithoustontexas.com/about-houston/texas-medical-center/
[10] Institutional profile, Facts and History, 2017 July 24, The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, https://www.mdanderson.org/about-md-anderson/facts-history/institutional-profile.html.
[12] Handbook of Texas Online
[13] New York Times, 1994 May 05, online.
[11] Mary Schiflett obituary, Houston Chronicle online, January 19, 2007.
[14] Bryant Boutwell, Ph.D, Bout Time blog, 2014 January 31
[15] TMC History 1971, p178
[16] Handbook of Texas Online, University of Texas Dental Branch
[17] TMC News, 2014 August 19
Content and structure elements
Scope and content
This 16mm color film is an original with no sound. It records the dedication ceremony of an expansion to the Jesse H. Jones Library, home of the Houston Academy of Medicine-Texas Medical Center Library, on May 25, 1973.
The film opens on a scene on a stage with a podium and microphone in front of Library. There are images of people walking around, seemingly in preparation for the event.
(0:08) As this segment begins, the event is underway. A man stands speaking at the podium, with others seated behind him on stage. The Library is visible in the background.
(0:49) A plaque honoring John T. Armstrong, MD is unveiled.
(1:16) Presentation of a portrait--a drawing of a man's head in three-quarter profile.
(1:49) TMC President Richard T. Eastwood is presented with a framed text, which appears to be a resolution by the Houston Academy of Medicine.
(2:09) As the program continues, the film cuts from a close-up on the activity on stage to several wider views showing the stage as well as the seated audience in front of the Jones Library exterior.
Note: This original film corresponds to the workprint AVF-IC002-005. It contains the same scenes at the workprint, but the final two scenes of this film appear at the beginning of the workprint.
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use elements
Conditions governing access
Digital copy made available by the Texas Medical Center Library
Physical access
Moving Image
Technical access
Conditions governing reproduction
Creative Commons License 4.0, Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs. Images are to be used for educational purposes only, and are not to be reproduced without permission from The TMC Library, McGovern Historical Center, 1133 John Freeman Blvd, Houston, TX, 77030, mcgovern@library.tmc.edu, 713-799-7899
Languages of the material
- English
Scripts of the material
Language and script notes
Finding aids
Generated finding aid
Acquisition and appraisal elements
Custodial history
Immediate source of acquisition
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information
Accruals
Related materials elements
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related archival materials
Related descriptions
Notes element
Specialized notes
- Processing information: Digitization supported by South Central Academic Medical Libraries Consortium (SCAMeL) Speedy Startup funds, 2022.
Alternative identifier(s)
Description control element
Rules or conventions
Sources used
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
- Eastwood, Richard T. (Subject)
- Texas Medical Center (Subject)
- Houston Academy of Medicine-Texas Medical Center Library (Subject)