Ragan, Betty.

The album was donated by Mrs. Betty Ragan of Mount Pleasant (Mich.), who worked at the hospital as a licensed practical nurse with heart patients and polio victims. A large collection (33.5 linear feet) of the administrative records of the hospital is housed at the Walter P. Reuther Library of Labor and Urban Affairs at Wayne State University. The following information is from the Reuther's finding aid for the collection. The hospital was founded in 1886 as the Children's Free Hospital Association by Dr. Charles Devandorf, to provide medical care for sick children of indigent parents in Detroit. The hospital began as twelve beds in Harper Hospital. By 1890 the hospital moved into Caskey House with nearby Pope House used for contagious disease. By 1896 the Children's Free Hospital building was built at the corner of St. Antoine and Farnsworth. A Training School for Nurses was established, as well as a Social Service Dept., Physical Therapy Dept., and a Dental Clinic in 1915. In 1922 the hospital merged with the Michigan Hospital School in Farmington under the name of the Children's Hospital of Michigan. By 1927 services were available to all children, not just the indigent. In 1957, Children's Hospital became affiliated with Wayne State University College of Medicine. A new complex was dedicated in 1971.