Free Hospital for Women.

In 1875, Dr. William Henry Baker founded the Free Hospital for Women in Boston, Massachusetts to provide free medical care to poor women. The facility, dedicated to teaching, researching, and caring for the diseases of women, was also utilized as a medical teaching adjunct of Harvard University. Requests for treatment increased progressively and by 1882, the FHW had established of one of the nation's first cancer wards. In 1895, the FHW relocated to a new facility built in Brookline Massachusetts. Later that year, a training school for gynecological nurses was established.

A new wing for paying patients was completed in 1922. In 1928, the President of the Corporation, George R. Fearing, donated the funds to erect a modern research laboratory devoted to the study diseases of the female reproduction organs. In 1944, Dr. John Charles Rock founded the Rock Reproductive Study Center at the Free Hospital for Women to study infertility.

The Free Hospital for Women's gynecology training program and the Boston Lying-in Hospital's obstetrics training program, informally associated since 1922, were formally united in 1951. In 1966, the Free Hospital for Women merged with the Boston Lying-in Hospital in cooperation with Harvard Medical School, to form the Boston Hospital for Women (BHW). In 1975, BHW merged with the Peter Bent Brigham and the Robert B. Brigham Hospitals forming the Affiliated Hospitals Center. In 1980, at the time of the opening of a new state-of-the-art facility, the Affiliated Hospitals Center became known as the Brigham and Women's Hospital, a teaching affiliate of the Harvard Medical School.

From the description of Records, 1875-1975. (Harvard University). WorldCat record id: 231054198