Identity elements
Reference code
Name and location of repository
Level of description
Collection
Title
Texas Medical Center (TMC) Photograph Collection
Date(s)
- 1938-1982 (Creation)
Extent
3.5 cubic feet (7 boxes)
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
The Texas Medical Center (TMC) Photograph Collection contains photographic materials that document the growth and development of the TMC from the 1930s to 1980s. The collection consists of 2525 items and includes photographic prints, aerial photographs, negatives, transparencies and printed materials. The materials depict the institutions of the TMC, their staff, facilities, services, and patient care. Images show buildings and their construction as well as some photographic copies of architectural renderings. Aerial photographs from the 1940s to 1980s show the TMC grow from marshland to an urban center. The collection provides images of the leaders and historical figures that shaped the TMC from concept to reality. The collection totals 7 boxes, equaling 3.5 cubic feet. The materials are in good condition.
System of arrangement
The collection is arranged in the following series:
Series I: Photographs, 1938-1982
Series II: Oversize and Framed Photographs, 1939-1980
Conditions of access and use elements
Conditions governing access
Unrestricted. Material is open for research.
Physical access
Materials are in good condition.
Technical access
Conditions governing reproduction
Permission to publish from this material must be facilitated through the repository, McGovern Historical Center.
Languages of the material
- English
Scripts of the material
Language and script notes
Finding aids
Yes.
Generated finding aid
Acquisition and appraisal elements
Custodial history
Deed-1
Immediate source of acquisition
Texas Medical Center, Inc. donated the photographs in 1980.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information
Accruals
No accurals are expected for this collection.
Related materials elements
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related archival materials
IC 002 Texas Medical Center records; IC 098 TMC Library Historical Photograph Collection;
Notes element
Specialized notes
- Citation: Texas Medical Center (TMC) Photograph Collection; IC 104; John P. McGovern Historical Collections and Research Center, Houston Academy of Medicine-Texas Medical Center Library. Please cite the box and folder numbers where appropriate.
- Processing information: The collection materials were pulled from IC 098 TMC Library Historical Photograph Collection to create this collection based on the donor, Texas Medical Center, Inc. The images were previously cataloged and housed in acid-free envelopes. At that time, a photo identification number (P-### for prints or N-### for negatives) was assigned to each photograph or group of photographs. In 2018-2019 the collection was processed as a new collection and inventoried by Archives Assistant, Gagina Leonard. The items were kept in the acid-free envelops from the previous processing. The descriptions provided on the catalog cards were written on the envelope and inventoried, noting the description, dimensions, and quantity. The descriptive information was encoded for each envelope along with the color and quantity of photographs ([in square brackets]) in each envelope. When available, the photographer, agency, studio, or department is credited within the item description. For items without catalog cards, descriptions were created from either annotations available on the item or summarizing visual content.
- Processing information: Materials were arranged in ascending order according to catalog number (P-###). Oversize materials were stored in appropriate oversize boxes and placed in the oversize (OV) section. Oversize materials were separated by size between two oversize boxes. Framed images were placed in the Garment, Artifacts, and Framed (GAF) section. These items were photographed, inventoried and assigned identification numbers (GAF-####). Separation sheets were placed within the main collection boxes to help locate specific items in OV and GAF storage locations.
Alternative identifier(s)
TARO
Description control element
Rules or conventions
Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS)
Sources used
Archivist's note
Processed by Gagina Leonard and Sandra Yates, 2019. Encoded by Sandra Yates, 2019.
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
- Baylor College of Medicine (Subject)
- Institute for Rehabilitation and Research (Houston, Tex.) (Subject)
- Texas Research Institute of Mental Sciences (Subject)
- Shriner's Hospital for Crippled Children (Subject)
- Texas Children's Hospital (Subject)
- Texas Woman's University (Subject)
- Houston Academy of Medicine-Texas Medical Center Library (Subject)
- Elliott, Frederick C. (Subject)
- Clark, Randolph Lee, 1906- (Subject)
- Bertner, Ernst William (Subject)
- DeBakey, Michael E. (Michael Ellis), 1908-2008 (Subject)
- Cullen, Hugh Roy, 1881-1957 (Subject)
- Hermann, George H. (Subject)
- Seybold, William Dempsey (Subject)
- Cooley, Denton A., 1920-2016 (Subject)
- Hermann Hospital (Houston, Tex.) (Subject)
- Texas Medical Center (Subject)
- University of Texas Medical School at Houston (Subject)
- University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (Subject)
- Ben Taub General Hospital (Subject)
- St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital (Houston, Tex.) (Subject)
- Institute of Religion (Houston, Tex.) (Subject)
- University of Texas Dental Branch at Houston (Subject)
- University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Houston (Subject)
- University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. School of Public Health (Subject)
- U.S. Public Health Service Hospital (Subject)
- University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. School of Nursing (Subject)
- Veteran's Administration Hospital (Houston, Tex.) (Subject)