
View of Mitchell-Nelson Library, formerly the Pratt and Research Foundation Library, location of the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center Archives. Cincinnati Children’s.
Archival Spotlights: Post #3
The Society of Ohio Archivists Advocacy and Outreach Committee wanted to celebrate Archives Month in a new way, so we featured three archives in a series of posts we are calling Archival Spotlights. Since the Archives Month poster’s theme was “Ohio’s Healthcare Workers: The True Heart of it All,” we felt it a good idea to feature archives that focus on healthcare or have interesting collections related to healthcare.
About the Cincinnati Children’s Archives and its Collections
By A&O Committee member Erin Wilson, Ohio University Libraries
The Cincinnati Children’s Archives are a unique community resource, preserving the history of local patient care, institutional research, and developments in pediatric medicine. With collections dating back to the hospital’s founding in 1883, the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC) Archives document nearly 140 years of healthcare in the Queen City.

Articles of incorporation of the Hospital of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Southern Ohio, 1883. Cincinnati Children’s.
The Center’s first facility, the “Hospital of the Protestant Episcopal Church” was a rented home in Cincinnati’s Walnut Hills neighborhood with a capacity of fourteen beds. The hospital was cooperatively governed by a Board of Trustees and a Board of Lady Managers until 1921. The first annual report from 1884 concludes with a historically significant statement by the Board of Lady Managers affirming their commitment to patient admission and care regardless of faith, race, or ethnicity, “all being welcomed and treated alike…” Continue reading